Prior To The Race
There were many announcements prior to the race, Brabham announced they would use Yamaha engines for 1991, Footwork also announced a Porsche engine deal for 1991 and they also retained both drivers in Alex Caffi and Michele Alboreto. Prior to the race, the Life Racing Engines and EuroBrun teams withdrew from the sport. EuroBrun's Roberto Moreno joined the Benetton team replacing Alessandro Nannini who was injured in a helicopter crash after the Spanish Grand Prix.
Alesi did not start due to a neck injury during Friday's practice. As his grid position was left empty, this was the third race in the running to have only 25 starters instead of the usual 26.
Nigel Mansell also announced a u-turn on his decision to retire by making public his agreement to join Williams-Renault for two years from 1991 after being given assurances from Frank Williams, Patrick Head and Renault that they could deliver him a car in which he could win a world championship. On Saturday Soichiro Honda, the founder of Honda, met Ayrton Senna in the McLaren pit.
Read more about this topic: 1990 Japanese Grand Prix
Famous quotes containing the words prior to, prior and/or race:
“Prior to the meeting, there was a prayer. In general, in the United States there was always praying.”
—Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)
“And ‘tis remarkable that they
Talk most who have the least to say.”
—Matthew Prior (1664–1721)
“The Laws of Nature are just, but terrible. There is no weak mercy in them. Cause and consequence are inseparable and inevitable. The elements have no forbearance. The fire burns, the water drowns, the air consumes, the earth buries. And perhaps it would be well for our race if the punishment of crimes against the Laws of Man were as inevitable as the punishment of crimes against the Laws of Nature—were Man as unerring in his judgments as Nature.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)