ADELAIDE, Australia -- Gerhard Berger of Austria won a thrilling and dramatic Australian Formula One Grand Prix Sunday after Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell collided early in the race and were forced out.
Berger, driving a McLaren-Honda, completed the 81-lap race in one hour, 46 minutes and 54 seconds, just seven-tenths of a second ahead of a fast-finishing Michael Schumacher of Germany in a Benetton-Ford.
Schumacher's teammate, Martin Brundle of England, was third, 54 seconds behind the winner, followed by Ferrari's Jean Alesi, Thierry Boutsen in a Ligier-Renault and Stefano Modena in a Jordan-Yamaha.
Mansell, who is quitting Formula One to race on the American Indycar circuitnext year, led from the start and was hotly pursued by Senna.
Approaching the last hairpin bend before the starting line on lap 19, Senna appeared to misjudge his braking and ploughed into the back of Mansell's Williams-Renault.
The impact tore the left front wheel from Senna's McLaren and both cars speared off the track. Neither driver was injured.
Mansell, who was hoping for a record 10 victories in one season with an Australian win, was seething over the crash.
'All I can say is that someone hit me at about 40 or 50 miles per hour up the back as I was turning into the corner,' he said.
'I went to see the stewards who said it was a sporting accident, but I didn't see it that way at all ... I am disgusted and I really have nothing further to add'.
Senna, however, claimed Mansell braked early.
'Nigel and I had passed the car that had been holding us up, then he braked earlier. He knew I was very close,' the Brazilian said.
'I was closing on the limit and I could not stop my car when he braked early.'
The crash ended Mansell's Formula One career with a total of 30 victories in 181 races, including a record nine wins this season.
He scored 108 points this year to bring his career tally to 469 points, fourth behind Frenchman Alain Prost, and Brazilians Senna and Nelson Piquet.
