There have been plenty of famous drives at Interlagos down the years that will be talked about for generations to come. Ayrton Senna’s emotional home win, stuck in sixth gear in the 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix, is often cited, while Juan Pablo Montoya’s breakout Formula 1 drive came 20 years later after a robust pass on Michael Schumacher. Felipe Massa upheld his end of the bargain in the famous 2008 title decider with a dominant win, while his victorious adversary that day Lewis Hamilton became the latest driver to produce an Interlagos masterclass in 2021 by defying Max Verstappen after starting 10th.
It would be easy therefore to overlook the achievement of Gianni Morbidelli qualifying a career-best sixth for the 1994 Brazilian GP in Alan Jenkins’ humble Footwork, 0.312s behind the Williams FW16 that Damon Hill would take to six grand prix wins that year and only narrowly miss out on the world title.
The Italian describes the lap “as one of the most gratification [giving] that I had in my life”, not least because it came in his first race back after sitting out the 1993 F1 season while he raced in Super Touring with Alfa Romeo. Unfortunately, his race lasted only five laps before the gearbox broke to deny a likely points score, given fourth-place finisher Rubens Barrichello’s Jordan started eight places behind him on the grid.
“We did only 120 kilometres or something like that before flying to Sao Paolo, and I qualified sixth on the grid,” remembers Morbidelli, who singles out the 2.677-mile circuit as his favourite track in conversation with Autosport.
“In that period don’t forget there was the two Ferraris, two Williams, two McLaren, two Benetton, two Tyrrell, they were quick. It was quite hard to qualify in the top 10 and I did immediately sixth on the grid. That car was incredible, the best car I drove ever.”
Morbidelli had a stop-start F1 career that counted 67 grand prix starts between 1990 and 1997, including one for Ferrari as a replacement for the axed Alain Prost at the monsoon-esque 1991 Australian Grand Prix.
He only completed three full seasons during that time, also sitting out the entirety of the 1996 season after scoring his sole F1 podium at the 1995 season-ending Australian GP, before returning for a partial campaign at Sauber in 1997.
Morbidelli (right, with Scuderia Italia team-mate Andrea de Cesaris), made his F1 debut at Interlagos in 1990
Photo by: Ercole Colombo
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