1989 United States Grand Prix

August 2023 F1 United States United States XXVI Iceberg United States Grand Prix June 4 Phoenix Grand Prix Route - 1989, 1990.svg 1989 5 16 Phoenix Street CircuitPhoenix, Arizona Temporary street circuit 2.361 3.800 75 177.075 285.00 Hot, sunny; temperature up to maximum of 100.9 F C fliphttps://weatherspark.ucom/history/30435/1989/Phoenix-Arizona-United-States Historical Weather For 1989 in Phoenix, Arizona, USA WeatherSpark 2015-12-24 August 2019 InternetArchiveBot yes 31,441 Hot, slow Phoenix race flops, Press news services The Pittsburgh Press June 5, 1989 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:30.108 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:33.969 38 FRA 1974 Alain Prost McLaren-Honda ITA 1946 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault USA Eddie Cheever Arrows-Ford USA The 1989 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held in Phoenix, Arizona on June 4, 1989. It was the fifth race of the 1989 Formula One World Championship and the first United States Grand Prix to be held in Phoenix. Background In October 1988, officials in the city of Detroit, Michigan, refused to invest more money to bring the Detroit Street Circuit up to new Formula 1 regulations, and an attempt to move the circuit to a new circuit on Belle Isle, an island in the Detroit River, failed (although there was success for IndyCar's move to Belle Isle for 1992). This resulted in the cancellation of the Detroit Grand Prix for the 1989 season. City officials in Phoenix, Arizona, were interested in hosting a major sporting event to promote their city, and with Bernie Ecclestone desperate to retain a US race in the Formula 1 calendar, on January 13, 1989 the Phoenix City Council approved a five-year contract to promote and run the race. Because of the relatively short notice, the first race was scheduled for June 4, despite the weather in Phoenix typically being extremely hot in June.Grand Prix Moves to Phoenix Joseph Siano The New York Times January 30, 1989 July 15, 2014 https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/30/sports/auto-racing-grand-prix-moves-to-phoenix.html On the Thursday before qualifying, Formula Atlantic, the support category for the weekend, had the first practice session on the new track before the Formula One cars hit the circuit for pre-qualifying at 8 o'clock on Friday morning. The Formula Atlantic session caused a couple of problems: a manhole cover was lifted, and the track surface at turn 9 at the end of the back straight (Washington Street) had begun to break up in the same way Detroit and Dallas had done in the past. Overnight, quick-dry cement was used to patch up the broken surface and while dusty and bumpy, the cement held for the remainder of the weekend. Qualifying Pre-qualifying report A Brabham topped the pre-qualifying session time sheets for the fifth time this season as Martin Brundle was fastest. It was the same four pre-qualifiers as at the last event in Mexico, albeit in a different order, as Alex Caffi took second in the Dallara, Stefan Johansson was third in the Onyx, and Brundle's Brabham team-mate Stefano Modena was fourth. Those to miss out included Piercarlo Ghinzani, who was fifth in his Osella, and sixth-fastest Pierre-Henri Raphanel in the Coloni. Seventh was Gregor Foitek in the EuroBrun, ahead of the second Osella of Nicola Larini. In a better showing than in previous races, Joachim Winkelhock was ninth in his AGS, followed by Volker Weidler in the Rial. Then came the two Zakspeeds of Bernd Schneider and Aguri Suzuki, with Bertrand Gachot slowest in the other Onyx, after a CV joint failed on his car, and the spare car would not start.Walker Murray 1989 Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year First Formula Publishing 45–52 1-870066-22-7 Pre-qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 7 GBR Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd 1:32.293 — 2 21 ITA 1946 Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 1:32.992 +0.699 3 36 SWE Stefan Johansson Onyx-Ford 1:33.768 +1.475 4 8 ITA 1946 Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 1:33.924 +1.631 5 18 ITA 1946 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Ford 1:34.281 +1.988 6 32 FRA 1974 Pierre-Henri Raphanel Coloni-Ford 1.35.110 +2.817 7 33 CHE Gregor Foitek Euro Brun-Judd 1:35.805 +3.512 8 17 ITA 1946 Nicola Larini Osella-Ford 1:36.470 +4.177 9 41 FRG Joachim Winkelhock AGS-Ford 1:36.498 +4.205 10 39 FRG Volker Weidler Rial-Ford 1:36.583 +4.290 11 34 FRG Bernd Schneider Zakspeed-Yamaha 1:36.610 +4.317 12 35 JPN 1947 Aguri Suzuki Zakspeed-Yamaha 1:37.776 +5.483 13 37 BEL Bertrand Gachot Onyx-Ford 1:45.530 +13.237 Qualifying report In qualifying on Friday, Ayrton Senna went progressively faster and faster, eventually posting a time 1.5 seconds ahead of McLaren teammate Alain Prost and the rest of the field. Senna's Friday time of 1:30.710 stood up through the second session and gave him his 34th career pole position, breaking Jim Clark's record of 33 which he had equalled in the previous race in Mexico. During the morning practice on Saturday, Prost spun backward into a wall and damaged the monocoque and gearbox. It was the first monocoque Prost had broken since returning to the team in 1984. Prost then had to take Senna's spare car for the race. The only American driver in the field, Phoenix native Eddie Cheever, qualified his Arrows-Ford in 17th place, some 3.1 seconds slower than pole man Senna. Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 1 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:30.108 1:30.710 — 2 2 FRA 1974 Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 1:31.620 1:31.517 +1.409 3 19 ITA 1946 Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 1:32.924 1:31.799 +1.691 4 27 GBR Nigel Mansell Ferrari 1:31.927 1:33.383 +1.819 5 7 GBR Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd 1:32.750 1:31.960 +1.852 6 21 ITA 1946 Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 1:32.819 1:32.160 +2.052 7 8 ITA 1946 Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 1:34.267 1:32.286 +2.178 8 28 AUT Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:33.697 1:32.364 +2.256 9 4 ITA 1946 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 1:33.377 1:32.491 +2.383 10 9 GBR Derek Warwick Arrows-Ford 1:32.640 1:32.492 +2.384 11 16 ITA 1946 Ivan Capelli March-Judd 1:36.136 1:32.493 +2.385 12 30 FRA 1974 Philippe Alliot Lola-Lamborghini 1:34.721 1:32.562 +2.454 13 22 ITA 1946 Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 1:33.061 1:32.649 +2.541 14 6 ITA 1946 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:34.523 1:32.795 +2.687 15 23 ITA 1946 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:34.794 1:33.031 +2.923 16 5 BEL Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 1:35.227 1:33.044 +2.936 17 10 USA Eddie Cheever Arrows-Ford 1:33.214 1:33.361 +3.106 18 15 BRA 1968 Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 1:35.236 1:33.324 +3.216 19 36 SWE Stefan Johansson Onyx-Ford 1:34.637 1:33.370 +3.262 20 24 ESP Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford 1:34.636 1:33.724 +3.616 21 3 GBR Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 1:34.748 1:33.741 +3.633 22 11 BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet Lotus-Judd 1:33.745 1:33.804 +3.637 23 12 JPN 1947 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Judd 1:35.188 1:33.782 +3.674 24 40 ITA 1946 Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:34.455 1:33.790 +3.682 25 20 GBR Johnny Herbert Benetton-Ford 1:35.377 1:33.806 +3.698 26 38 FRG Christian Danner Rial-Ford 1:35.453 1:33.848 +3.740 27 26 FRA 1974 Olivier Grouillard Ligier-Ford 1:35.124 1:34.153 +4.045 28 31 BRA 1968 Roberto Moreno Coloni-Ford 2:10.795 1:34.352 +4.244 29 25 FRA 1974 René Arnoux Ligier-Ford 1:35.823 1:34.798 +4.715 30 29 FRA 1974 Yannick Dalmas Lola-Lamborghini 1:35.771 1:35.496 +5.388 Race Race report Alessandro Nannini crashed his Benetton heavily in the morning warm-up session and was forced to start the race not only in the spare car but also wearing a neck brace due to a very sore neck.Rob Walker, Road & Track page 82, September 1989 edition Prost got a jump on Senna at the start, but hit a bump in the straight, causing his wheels to spin and the engine to be cut momentarily by the rev limiter allowing Senna to pull ahead, but by the end of the first lap his lead was only 0.45 seconds. Nannini ran third followed by Nigel Mansell, Alex Caffi, Stefano Modena, Martin Brundle, Gerhard Berger, Andrea de Cesaris and Michele Alboreto. Nannini's neck could only take 10 laps of racing before he pulled into the pits to retire. He had been third until a spin on lap four dropped him to eighth and retired after not being able to hold his head up properly and complaining of dizziness. After 16 laps, Senna's lead over Prost was 4.25 seconds. He suddenly doubled that on the next lap when Prost's engine began overheating, forcing the Frenchman to back off for a few laps in a bid to get the water and oil temperatures back to normal. Despite Senna's seemingly commanding position, Prost remained confident of winning as he had seen that his McLaren was handling better than his teammate's. He reasoned that later in the race his only problem would be getting past. Maurício Gugelmin was black flagged for adding brake fluid in contravention of the regulations.7 July 2014 United States Grand Prix – A sense of relief http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/july-1989/25/sense-relief 14 November 2016 motorsportmagazine.com The gap between the two McLarens varied as they worked their way through traffic, but on lap 29, Prost closed the gap when Senna suffered a misfire. The problem disappeared momentarily, with Senna doing his fastest lap of the race, but then returned, worse than before. Nigel Mansell would soon retire for the 4th time out of 5 races by lap 32 with the result of an alternator failure. On lap 34, with Prost only one second back, Senna waved his teammate past as they went down the back straight and then pitted at the end of the lap. The Honda engine's electronic fuel injection system was acting up and after two pit stops to change the black box, battery and plugs, and with successive fastest laps in between, Senna retired on lap 44 with electrical problems (notably his 1st retirement of the season). Since joining McLaren at the start of 1988 it was his first ever retirement because of a Honda engine failure and the first failure of their V10 engine under race conditions. It was also only the second time in 21 races with McLaren that a Honda engine had failed, the first being when Prost's V6 turbo had blown up halfway through the 1988 Italian Grand Prix, the only race of the 1988 season that McLaren did not win. Alex Caffi, who had started in sixth in his Pirelli shod Dallara-Ford, was up to second with Senna's retirement. A stop for new tires, after being passed by Berger (whose palms were still raw and sore from his Imola crash only six weeks before), dropped him back two more spots to fifth. As he tried to re-lap his teammate de Cesaris, however, de Cesaris turned in, forcing Caffi into the wall and out of the race. After the race de Cesaris said that he simply did not see Caffi and did not even know about putting him into the wall until after the race. De Cesaris continued on to an 8th-place finish. Berger's Ferrari suffered alternator failure (meaning no power to the revolutionary semi-automatic transmission) 9 laps after Caffi's retirement. Reporters tried to interview Berger but his mechanic closed the garage door; just before the garage door closed ESPN pit reporter John Bisignano saw Berger being splashed with water. Throughout the race, Riccardo Patrese, Ivan Capelli and Eddie Cheever had been in close contact. When Capelli retired on lap 21 with a gearbox failure, Patrese and Cheever carried on the battle alone. After lap 51, the fight was for second place, with Patrese ahead. Despite a fuel pickup problem with his engine, Cheever mounted a challenge in the closing laps until his front brakes and one rear brake failed. He finished in third place. Stefan Johansson had managed to drag the Onyx not only through pre-qualifying but also onto the grid and drove a steady race to be running in 7th place just outside the points before having to retire on lap 50 with suspension damage from a previous puncture. As was predicted, the two-hour time limit was reached after 75 of the scheduled 81 laps, and Prost coasted to his only United States win (after not having won at Watkins Glen, Long Beach, Las Vegas, Detroit or Dallas), and increased his then all-time record victory total to 36 and his first win in a naturally aspirated car (his only other season in F1 without turbo power had been his rookie season with McLaren in 1980 when the team used the Cosworth DFV V8 engine). He also took the lead, by two points over Senna, in the Driver's Championship, which he eventually won. Patrese's runner-up placing was his second in a row. After struggling through practice, qualifying and warm up, and starting from 14th spot, Patrese and technical director Patrick Head had guessed at a setup and finally got it right for the race. Eddie Cheever's third place was the ninth and last podium finish of his F1 career. Christian Danner benefited from retirements ahead of him to take fourth place for Rial. It was his best career finish and matched the best ever finish for the team. Post-race Before the race there was a push to reduce the number of race laps from 81 to 70, due to the expected hot weather and after practice times had revealed the race would likely hit the two hour mark well before the scheduled number of laps had been reached. With the track slightly longer than the Adelaide Street Circuit used for the Australian Grand Prix (measuring 3800 metres, against 3780 metres of the Australian track), the prediction was that lap times would be around the 1:15 to 1:20 mark; however, qualifying times were around 15 seconds slower than this. Ken Tyrrell was the only team boss who refused to sign the document which would have allowed the race length to be reduced. In the race, Jonathan Palmer lost a certain 4th place when his Tyrrell 018 ran out of fuel on lap 69. Had the race been flagged after 70 laps, Palmer would have finished 4th having already been lapped by Prost instead of running out of fuel and being classified as 9th and last. The organizers were slightly disappointed with a crowd of 31,441 turning out for the race on Sunday in 100 F out heat, having hoped for 40,000. Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/retired Grid Points 1 2 FRA 1974 Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 75 2:01:33.133 2 9 2 6 ITA 1946 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 75 + 39.696 14 6 3 10 USA Eddie Cheever Arrows-Ford 75 + 43.210 17 4 4 38 FRG Christian Danner Rial-Ford 74 + 1 lap 26 3 5 20 GBR Johnny Herbert Benetton-Ford 74 + 1 lap 25 2 6 5 BEL Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 74 + 1 lap 16 1 7 40 ITA 1946 Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 73 Engine 24 8 22 ITA 1946 Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 70 Out of fuel 13 9 3 GBR Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 69 Out of fuel 21 Ret Retired 28 AUT Gerhard Berger Ferrari 61 Alternator 8 Ret Retired 21 ITA 1946 Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 52 Collision 6 Ret Retired 11 BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet Lotus-Judd 52 Spun off 22 Ret Retired 36 SWE Stefan Johansson Onyx-Ford 50 Suspension 19 Ret Retired 24 ESP Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford 46 Engine 20 Ret Retired 1 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 44 Electrical 1 Ret Retired 7 GBR Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd 43 Brakes 5 Ret Retired 8 ITA 1946 Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 37 Brakes 7 Ret Retired 27 GBR Nigel Mansell Ferrari 31 Alternator 4 Ret Retired 23 ITA 1946 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 26 Engine 15 Ret Retired 12 JPN 1947 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Judd 24 Throttle 23 Ret Retired 16 ITA 1946 Ivan Capelli March-Judd 22 Transmission 11 DSQ Disqualified 15 BRA 1968 Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 20 Additional brake fluid 18 Ret Retired 4 ITA 1946 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 17 Gearbox 9 Ret Retired 19 ITA 1946 Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 10 Physical 3 Ret Retired 9 GBR Derek Warwick Arrows-Ford 7 Collision 10 Ret Retired 30 FRA 1974 Philippe Alliot Lola-Lamborghini 3 Spun off 12 DNQ Did not qualify 26 FRA 1974 Olivier Grouillard Ligier-Ford DNQ Did not qualify 31 BRA 1968 Roberto Moreno Coloni-Ford DNQ Did not qualify 25 FRA 1974 René Arnoux Ligier-Ford DNQ Did not qualify 29 FRA 1974 Yannick Dalmas Lola-Lamborghini DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 18 ITA 1946 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 32 FRA 1974 Pierre-Henri Raphanel Coloni-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 33 CHE Gregor Foitek Euro Brun-Judd DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 17 ITA 1946 Nicola Larini Osella-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 41 FRG Joachim Winkelhock AGS-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 39 FRG Volker Weidler Rial-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 34 FRG Bernd Schneider Zakspeed-Yamaha DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 35 JPN 1947 Aguri Suzuki Zakspeed-Yamaha DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 37 BEL Bertrand Gachot Onyx-FordSource:http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1989/235/ 1989 United States Grand Prix formula1.com 23 December 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150118224303/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1989/235/ 18 January 2015 Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 FRA 1974 Alain Prost 29 2 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna 27 3 ITA 1946 Riccardo Patrese 12 4 GBR Nigel Mansell 9 5 ITA 1946 Alessandro Nannini 8Source:https://www.statsf1.com/en/1989/etats-unis/championnat.aspx United States 1989 - Championship • STATS F1 www.statsf1.com 21 March 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 GBR McLaren-Honda56 2 GBR Williams-Renault16 3 GBR Benetton-Ford13 4 ITA 1946 Ferrari9 5 GBR Arrows-Ford8Source: Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. References Further reading Rob Walker (September, 1989). "United States Grand Prix at Phoenix: Just Desert". Road & Track, 82–85. United States Grand Prix 1989 1989 Mexican Grand Prix 1989 Canadian Grand Prix 1980 United States Grand Prix 1990 United States Grand Prix 33 26 52.5 N 112 4 28.5 W title United States Grand Prix Category:United States Grand Prix United States Grand Prix United States Grand Prix Category:1980s in Phoenix, Arizona United States Grand Prix