Mexico City, June 16. It was going to happen sooner or later. A Williams victory, that is. Several times this year the developing Patrick Head/Adrian Newey package has been hammering on the Honda Marlboro McLaren door. In Mexico, it finally took it off its hinges.
The signs were all there, of course, in Canada, and even though the real cause of Nigel Mansell's last lap catastrophe there remained uncertain, there was an upbeat air in the Didcot quarters. The FW14s handled the notorious bumps of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez markedly better than anything the opposition could put up, and where the McLarens and the Benettons edged pointily over them, and the Ferraris looked far, far too stiff, the Williamses seemed to glide along, in a class of their own.
Irked by suggestions in the French media that Alain Prost might be Williams-Renault bound for 1992, Nigel Mansell had to watch again as team-mate Riccardo Patrese outqualified him, for the sixth time in six races. But there were reasons. Riccardo felt unwell all weekend, attacked by the infamous Mexican tummy, but his run on Friday was ultimately good enough for the pole, his second in succession, and unsettled weather on Saturday prevented anyone bettering it. For Mansell, it was Canada all over again, as he was quick to point out.
