1986 Australian Grand Prix

August 2015 August 2015 F1 Australia Australian LI Foster's Australian Grand Prix Adelaide (long route).svg 26 October 1986 16 16 Adelaide Street CircuitAdelaide, South Australia Temporary street circuit 2.348 3.779https://www.statsf1.com/en/1986/australie.aspx Australia 1986 StatsF1.com 2022-12-15Contemporary race broadcast recordings confirm the lap length of 3779 m (via best lap time/speed combinations shown during the race). 82 192.549 309.878 Sunny Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 1:18.403 GBR Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 1:20.787 82 BRA 1968 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG FRA Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda BRA 1968 Stefan Johansson Ferrari SWE AUS 1987 Brazilian Grand Prix 1986 Mexican Grand Prix The 1986 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 26 October 1986 at the Adelaide Street Circuit, Adelaide, Australia. It was the sixteenth and final race of the 1986 Formula One World Championship. The race decided a three-way battle for the Drivers' Championship between Brit Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Honda; his Brazilian teammate Nelson Piquet; and Frenchman Alain Prost, driving a McLaren-TAG. Mansell took pole position for the race, but a poor start off the grid enabled teammate Piquet, Ayrton Senna and Keke Rosberg to overtake him and demote him to fourth by the end of the first lap. A few laps into the race, Finland's Keke Rosberg, in his final Grand Prix, took the lead from Piquet. However, the Finn retired with a puncture on lap 63, handing the lead back to Piquet and elevating Mansell into third place, which would have been sufficient to secure the championship. One lap later, Mansell's race ended as his left-rear tyre exploded on the main straight with 19 laps remaining. The title was then between Piquet and Prost with the latter needing to finish ahead of the former to successfully defend his title. Following the tyre failures of Rosberg and Mansell, the Williams team called Piquet in for a precautionary tyre change leaving him 15 seconds behind. He made a late charge to close the gap to 4.2 seconds but Prost took victory to win his second of four titles. It was not until the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix that there were again three possible drivers' title contenders entering the final race of the season. This was the final Grand Prix for 1980 World Champion Alan Jones and for 1982 World Champion Keke Rosberg. Background Going into the race, three drivers were in contention for the World Championship. Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Honda, led with 70 points, while reigning champion Alain Prost, driving a McLaren-TAG, was second on 64 and Mansell's teammate Nelson Piquet was third on 63. The Williams-Honda was superior in speed to the McLaren-TAG, with Mansell and Piquet having won nine of the previous fifteen races between them, and the team sealing the Constructors' Championship at the Portuguese Grand Prix in late September. However, Mansell and Piquet had been battling with one another and had taken points from each other on a number of occasions, while Prost's consistency had seen him accumulate points all year and thus remain in touch with the Williams drivers. Championship permutations After being outscored by Piquet and Prost at the preceding Mexican Grand Prix, Mansell therefore failed to prematurely secure the Drivers' Championship. Nonetheless, he went into the race in the strongest position among the three title contenders as he only needed a third place to win the championship, as opposed to his title rivals who needed to win the race in order to keep their respective title hopes alive. It was the first time in two years that the championship was decided at the final round and the first time since 1983 that three drivers were still in contention for the Drivers' Championship at the season finale. Mansell had the opportunity to both winning his first Drivers' Championship overall and becoming Britain's first World Drivers' Champion since James Hunt in 1976. If Prost won, he would have successfully defended his title, while Piquet had the chance to win his third world championship overall, becoming Brazil's most successful Formula One driver by the number of Drivers' Championships in the process, as he was tied with Emerson Fittipaldi, who won the drivers' title in 1972 and 1974. The championship would have been won by either of the top three drivers in the following manner: Mansell would have won if: GBR Nigel Mansell FRA Alain Prost BRA Nelson PiquetPos. Position3rd or better Any position Any position4th5th 2nd or lower6th2nd or lower Prost would have won if: FRA Alain Prost GBR Nigel Mansell BRA Nelson PiquetPos. Position1st6th or lowerAny position Piquet would have won if: BRA Nelson Piquet GBR Nigel Mansell FRA Alain ProstPos. Position1st5th or lowerAny position Qualifying report Qualifying saw Mansell take pole position from teammate Piquet by 0.3 seconds, with Ayrton Senna third in his Lotus, a further 0.2 seconds back. Prost was fourth but 1.2 seconds behind Mansell, followed by René Arnoux in the Ligier and Gerhard Berger in the Benetton. Completing the top ten were Keke Rosberg in the second McLaren, Philippe Alliot in the second Ligier, Michele Alboreto in the Ferrari and Philippe Streiff in the Tyrrell. Andrea de Cesaris surprised by taking eleventh, the best grid position for the Minardi team up to this point, ahead of Stefan Johansson in the second Ferrari, Teo Fabi in the second Benetton and Johnny Dumfries in the second Lotus. Friday's qualifying was interrupted about halfway through by a sudden and heavy downpour which caught out both Patrick Tambay (Haas Lola) and Johansson who (in separate accidents) slid off the road behind the pits and across the wet, muddy grass of the Victoria Park Racecourse infield before hitting an unprotected concrete wall side on with both the Lola-Ford and the Ferrari wrecked upon impact.1986 Australian Grand Prix - Tambay practice crash1986 Australian Grand Prix - Johansson practice crash The wall, not previously seen as a problem as it was well off the track, had 2 rows of tyres protecting it by Saturday morning. Both drivers were OK other than general soreness and bruising. During the morning practice, Prost had been the fastest with a 1:19.121, 4 seconds inside the lap record, faster than Mansell's Friday qualifying time, 7/10ths faster than his own Friday time and faster even than Senna's 1985 pole time. However, while others around them improved on their Friday times, neither the reigning World Champion nor his soon to be retired teammate Rosberg (who was 2nd in the morning session) could get near the morning times in the afternoon, reporting a distinct lack of grip even before Streiff's Renault blew-up and all but ruined the last 20 minutes of qualifying after he coated the racing line down the Brabham Straight and around the right hand hairpin with a good amount of Elf's finest before parking his Tyrrell off to the inside of the hairpin exit. Home country hero Alan Jones in his last drive in Formula One was ahead of his team mate Tambay on the grid. Using a revised Ford engine, the Lola's qualified 15th and 17th, though both were over 4.3 seconds slower than Mansell's pole time. The Australian Grand Prix also saw Tambay's Lola and the Lotus of Johnny Dumfries each carrying an onboard camera for television use. During qualifying, Martin Brundle's Tyrrell-Renault was timed at a fastest of all 205 mph km/h 0 on on the 900 metre long Brabham Straight. Due to the FISA mandated turbo boost restrictions in 1987 (4.0 Bar) and 1988 (2.5 Bar), plus the cars having Naturally aspirated engines from 1989, Brundle's speed would be the fastest ever recorded on the Adelaide Street Circuit.1986 Australian Grand Prix - 2nd Qualifying (Ch.9/BBC)Nigel Roebuck John Townsend Grand Prix - 1986 Formula One World Championship 1986 Garry Sparke & Associates Glen Waverly, Victoria, Australia 0 908081 03 0 154–158 Qualifying classification Pos No Car number Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 5GBR Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 1:19.255 1:18.403 2 6BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 1:20.088 1:18.714 +0.311 3 12BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault 1:21.302 1:18.906 +0.503 4 1FRA Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:19.785 1:19.654 +1.251 5 25FRA René Arnoux Ligier-Renault 1:20.491 1:19.976 +1.573 6 20AUT Gerhard Berger Benetton-BMW 1:22.260 1:20.554 +2.151 7 2FIN Keke Rosberg McLaren-TAG 1:21.295 1:20.778 +2.375 8 26FRA Philippe Alliot Ligier-Renault 1:22.765 1:20.981 +2.578 9 27ITA Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:21.709 1:21.747 +3.306 10 4FRA Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Renault 1:23.262 1:21.720 +3.317 11 23ITA Andrea de Cesaris Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:23.476 1:22.012 +3.609 12 28SWE Stefan Johansson Ferrari 1:22.050 1:22.309 +3.647 13 19ITA Teo Fabi Benetton-BMW 1:22.584 1:22.129 +3.726 14 11GBR Johnny Dumfries Lotus-Renault 1:23.786 1:22.664 +4.261 15 15AUS Alan Jones Lola-Ford 24:46.383 1:22.796 +4.393 16 3GBR Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Renault 1:24.061 1:23.004 +4.601 17 16FRA Patrick Tambay Lola-Ford 1:24.584 1:23.008 +4.605 18 24ITA Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:25.593 1:23.052 +4.649 19 7ITA Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 1:23.396 1:23.230 +4.827 20 8GBR Derek Warwick Brabham-BMW 1:23.552 1:23.313 +4.910 21 14GBR Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed 1:24.509 1:23.476 +5.073 22 18BEL Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 1:24.768 1:24.295 +5.892 23 29NED Huub Rothengatter Zakspeed 1:25.746 1:25.181 +6.778 24 17FRG Christian Danner Arrows-BMW 1:25.296 1:25.233 +6.831 25 21ITA Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 3:03.680 1:25.257 +6.855 26 22CAN Allen Berg Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:28.912 1:27.208 +8.806 Race report The prospect of a three-way battle for the Drivers' Championship crown attracted a capacity crowd of 150,000 to the Adelaide circuit.Australian classic – Adelaide, 1986 http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2006/3/4171.html Official Formula One website dead https://web.archive.org/web/20141113022943/http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2006/3/4171.html 13 November 2014 31 March 2006 24 January 2016 Mansell yielded the lead to Senna's Lotus at the second corner on lap 1 and fell behind both Piquet and Rosberg on the same lap. Piquet also overtook Senna on lap 1 to take the lead but it would last only six laps as on lap 7, Rosberg took the lead from Piquet and began to build a sizeable gap between himself and the rest of the field. On lap 23 Piquet spun, although no damage was sustained to the car, and he continued the race despite dropping back several places. Prost suffered a puncture a few laps later and he dropped to fourth position after having to pit. Piquet charged back through the field, passing Mansell for second place on lap 44, but Prost closed on the two Williams cars and, with 25 laps to go, all three championship contenders were running together in positions 2, 3 and 4. The battle became one for the lead on lap 63 when Rosberg suffered a right rear tyre failure and retired from the race. Rosberg later revealed that he would never have won the race anyway unless Prost failed to finish or had sufficient problem not to be able to challenge, as he had promised Prost and the team that he would give best to his teammate to help his bid to win back-to-back championships.http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/14497 Ask Nigel: May 23 AutoSport 23 May 2001 13 November 2014http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2007/10/18/grand-prix-flashback-australia-1986/ Heartbreak for Mansell in dramatic Adelaide finale F1Fanatic 18 October 2007 13 November 2014 Prost had just passed Mansell for third which became second when Rosberg retired, with Piquet now leading. Mansell only needed a third-place finish to win the championship. Mansell was still in third position when, on lap 64, his left rear tyre exploded at 180 mph km/h 0 on flip on the high-speed Brabham Straight as he was lapping Alliot's Ligier, sending a shower of sparks flying behind him and severely damaging his left rear suspension. The Williams coasted to a stop in the run-off area at the end of the straight, Mansell managing to avoid hitting anything. Fearing the same happening to the second car, Williams called Piquet to the pits and Prost took the lead. Piquet would make a late charge, closing the gap from 15.484 seconds with 2 laps remaining to just 4.205 at the finish and Prost claimed both the race and the World Championship. Prost had so little fuel left that he pulled up only metres past the finish line. In his last race for Ferrari, Johansson completed the podium in third place, albeit a lap down on Prost and Piquet. Martin Brundle ran out of fuel as he crossed the line in fourth place in his Tyrrell. His teammate Streiff was classified fifth, two laps down, with Dumfries taking the final point in his Lotus. By winning, Prost became the first and so far only driver to ever win the Australian Grand Prix in both non-championship and World Championship form, having won the non-championship 1982 Australian Grand Prix run for Formula Pacific cars at the Calder Park Raceway in Melbourne. This was the last race for the Renault turbo engine, the French company being the pioneers in Formula One turbocharging back in 1977, as well as Renault's last F1 race as an engine supplier until their return with Williams in 1989. It was also the last F1 race for two former World Champions, 1980 champion Alan Jones and 1982 champion Rosberg, as well as the last race for Patrick Tambay, Dumfries, Allen Berg and Huub Rothengatter, and for Team Haas, whom both Jones and Tambay drove for. Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 FRA Alain Prost McLaren-TAG Goodyear 82 1:54:20.388 4 9 2 6 BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda Goodyear 82 +4.205 2 6 3 28 SWE Stefan Johansson Ferrari Goodyear 81 +1 lap 12 4 4 3 GBR Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Renault Goodyear 81 +1 lap 16 3 5 4 FRA Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Renault Goodyear 80 Out of fuel 10 2 6 11 GBR Johnny Dumfries Lotus-Renault Goodyear 80 +2 laps 14 1 7 25 FRA René Arnoux Ligier-Renault Pirelli 79 +3 laps 5   8 26 FRA Philippe Alliot Ligier-Renault Pirelli 79 +3 laps 8   9 14 GBR Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed Goodyear 77 +5 laps 21   10 19 ITA Teo Fabi Benetton-BMW Pirelli 77 +5 laps 13   NC Not classified 16 FRA Patrick Tambay Lola-Ford Goodyear 70 +12 laps 17   Ret Retired 5 GBR Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda Goodyear 63 Tyre 1   Ret Retired 7 ITA Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW Pirelli 63 Electrical 19   Ret Retired 2 FIN Keke Rosberg McLaren-TAG Goodyear 62 Tyre 7   NC Not classified 22 CAN Allen Berg Osella-Alfa Romeo Pirelli 61 +21 laps 26   Ret Retired 8 GBR Derek Warwick Brabham-BMW Pirelli 57 Brakes 20   Ret Retired 17 FRG Christian Danner Arrows-BMW Goodyear 52 Engine 24   Ret Retired 18 BEL Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW Goodyear 50 Engine 22   Ret Retired 12 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault Goodyear 43 Engine 3   Ret Retired 23 ITA Andrea de Cesaris Minardi-Motori Moderni Pirelli 40 Mechanical 11   Ret Retired 20 AUT Gerhard Berger Benetton-BMW Pirelli 40 Engine 6   Ret Retired 29 NED Huub Rothengatter Zakspeed Goodyear 29 Suspension 23   Ret Retired 15 AUS Alan Jones Lola-Ford Goodyear 16 Engine 15   Ret Retired 24 ITA Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni Pirelli 10 Accident 18   Ret Retired 21 ITA Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo Pirelli 2 Transmission 25   Ret Retired 27 ITA Michele Alboreto Ferrari Goodyear 0 Collision 9  Source:https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/december-1986/15/formula-one-mexican-grand-prix-australian-grand-prix Prost's end of term surprise! Motor Sport magazine archive December 1986 1295–1299 A. H. Jenkinson Denis Denis Jenkinson 2022-12-15 Note: The lap length was misspelled as 3799 m, but race length divided by 82 laps, as well as the best lap time/speed combination, confirm the correct lap length of 3779 m.1986 Australian Grand Prix http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1986/262/ Formula1.com https://web.archive.org/web/20141113023220/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1986/262/ 13 November 2014 23 December 20151986 Australian Grand Prix – Race Results & History – GP Archive https://gparchive.com/formula-1/1986-australian-grand-prix/ GPArchive.com 26 October 1986 26 November 2021 Championship standings after the race Bold text indicates the World Champions. Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 FRA Alain Prost 72 (74) 2 GBR Nigel Mansell 70 (72) 3 BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet 69 4 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna 55 5 SWE Stefan Johansson 23Source:https://www.statsf1.com/en/1986/australie/championnat.aspx Australia 1986 – Championship StatsF1.com 6 March 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 GBR Williams-Honda 141 2 GBR McLaren-TAG 96 3 GBR Lotus-Renault 58 4 ITA Ferrari 37 5 FRA Ligier-Renault 29Source: Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. References Australian Grand Prix 1986 1986 Mexican Grand Prix 1987 Brazilian Grand Prix 1985 Australian Grand Prix 1987 Australian Grand Prix Grand Prix Australian Grand Prix Category:Australian Grand Prix Category:Motorsport in Adelaide Category:Sports competitions in Adelaide Australian Grand Prix