in 1992. The qualifying session was split into two one-hour sessions; the first was held on Thursday afternoon with the second held on Saturday afternoon. The fastest time from either sessions counted towards their final grid position. The Thursday afternoon qualifying session was held under warm but overcast conditions. Mansell finished Thursday qualifying fastest with a 1:20.714. Senna was second fastest ahead of Riccardo Patrese in third. Berger was fourth fastest with a time of 1:22.359, but halfway through the session his McLaren's front suspension broke at Massenet causing him to crash heavily into the barriers. Berger commented: Jean Alesi had a spin in the session and was forced to use the spare Ferrari F92A on used tyres, however he still finished with the fifth fastest time. Schumacher rounded out the top six with Andrea de Cesaris up in seventh place in the Tyrrell 020B. Having pre-qualified for the first time with Andrea Moda, Roberto Moreno continued to show improved speed by posting a 1:25.185 in the first twenty minutes, which put him 11th on the grid at the time despite Moreno's complaints of a "down-on-power engine". He managed no further laps in the session due to overheating problems and slipped to 20th fastest by the end of Thursday qualifying. Andrea Chiesa had an engine changed on his Fondmetal GR01 during the session and started late, finishing with a best lap time of 1:27.140, the slowest time of Thursday qualifying. The weather conditions on Saturday were sunny and dry, but gradually became more overcast later into the afternoon. Within the first practice session on Saturday morning Pierluigi Martini crashed in the tunnel, causing damage to the barrier which took 40 minutes to repair and delayed the start of Saturday Qualifying by 30 minutes. Mansell went even faster on Saturday with a 1:19.495 and took his sixth pole position of the season. He later described his time as a "totally clear lap". Patrese improved to qualify second fastest, however he was held up by Bertrand Gachot on one of his qualifying laps, and reacted by heading over to the Larrousse pit and trying to punch the Frenchman. Senna finished qualifying third on the grid despite spinning the rear of his car into the tyre barrier at the Mirabeau corner, damaging both his rear suspension and wing which eventually broke off in the tunnel as he returned his damaged car to the