| 1990 Japanese Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 15 of 16 in the 1990 Formula One World Championship | |||
.svg) | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 21 October 1990 | ||
| Official name | XVI Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix | ||
| Location | Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Mie, Japan | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 5.860 km (3.641[1] miles) | ||
| Distance | 53 laps, 310.580 km (192.985 miles) | ||
| Weather | Sunny | ||
| Attendance | 316,000[2] | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Time | 1:36.996 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Riccardo Patrese | Williams-Renault | |
| Time | 1:44.233 on lap 40 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Benetton-Ford | ||
| Second | Benetton-Ford | ||
| Third | Lola-Lamborghini | ||
|
Lap leaders | |||
The 1990 Japanese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 21 October 1990 at Suzuka. It was the fifteenth and penultimate race of the 1990 Formula One season. It was the 16th Japanese Grand Prix and the 6th held at Suzuka. The race saw a first-corner collision between World Championship rivals Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna and French driver Alain Prost, the second consecutive year that the World Championship had been decided by a collision between the two at the same track. The collision immediately put both cars out of the race and secured Senna his second World Championship, a reversal of fortunes from the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix, where the collision had secured the championship for Prost.
The race saw a best result to that point for the Benetton Formula team, with their drivers Brazilian veteran Nelson Piquet and his protégé Roberto Moreno finishing first and second in their Benetton B190s. It was back to back wins for Benetton in Japan after the team's win the previous year. Japanese driver Aguri Suzuki scored a career-best result for himself, the Larrousse team and the Lamborghini engine, finishing third in his Lola LC90. With Ferrari scoring no points after Nigel Mansell's retirement, the McLaren team secured their sixth and third consecutive Constructors' Championship.
As of September 2024[update], this was the last race where no European driver finished the race on the podium, and two South American drivers and an Asian driver filled the top three positions. It was also the only race where the Larrousse team scored a podium finish during their eight seasons of competing in Formula One, and the first and only podium finish for the Lamborghini V12 engine in Formula One. Suzuki's podium finish was the first for a Japanese driver (later matched by Takuma Sato and Kamui Kobayashi) and the last for a Japanese driver at his home race until Kamui Kobayashi did so at the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix. Moreover, it was the last of Brazil's eleven one-twos in Formula One, the only one featuring Piquet and Moreno; of the other ten, eight featured Piquet and Senna and the other two had Emerson Fittipaldi and José Carlos Pace.
- ^ "1990 Japanese Grand Prix". Motorsport Database. 21 October 1990. Archived from the original on 29 September 2023. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
- ^ "Formula 1 Honda Japanese Grand Prix 2022 – Media Kit" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 5 October 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2023. Retrieved 8 February 2024.