MONTREAL -- Gerhard Berger of Austria took the lead with 31 laps remaining Sunday to win the Canadian Grand Prix -- a race marked by a clash between rivals Nigel Mansell of Britain and Ayrton Senna of Brazil.
This was Berger's first victory since the Japanese Grand Prix at the end of the 1991 season and the seventh of his career.
He averaged 117.318 mph and finished 12.4 seconds ahead of Germany's Michael Schumacher in the 69-lap event. Schumacher has two second-place finishes this year to go with three thirds and a fourth.
Jean Alesi of France was third, followed by Karl Wendlinger of Austria and Andrea De Cesaris of Italy. Only the top three drivers were on the lead lap.
Neither Mansell, the standings leader, nor Senna, the defending champion, finished the race. Mansell attempted to overtake Senna on lap 15 of the 69-lap race only to spin off the track and into a cloud of dust through a sandtrap.
'I pulled up alongside him and then he just pushed me off the track, ' said Mansell, before charging off the circuit in disgust.
Senna had to retire 23 laps later with engine problems after leading from the pole position.
'Mansell was going too fast,' he said. 'The speed he was traveling at he had no chance of making the corner so I think he decided to go straight through the sand trap. The problem was that his car hit its nose first.'
Clouds of debris flew everywhere as Mansell spun to a halt before being helped from his car.
It was in this same race last year that Mansell led from the start until an electrical problem stopped him with one lap remaining.
Senna led for the first 37 laps but an apparent engine problem put him out of the running.
Mansell, on the strength of his season-opening five-race winning streak, remains the overall leader in the driver standings with 56 points. Teammate Riccardo Patrese of Italy is second with 28 points, followed by Schumacher with 26.
