1989 British Grand Prix

April 2017 April 2017 F1 British UK Silverstone_Circuit_1989_(without_Woodcote_chicane).png XLII Shell British Grand Prix 16 July 1989 8 16 Silverstone CircuitSilverstone, Northamptonshire, England Permanent racing facility 2.969 4.778 64 190.080 305.904 Warm, dry, sunny Ayrton Senna Brazil 1968 McLaren-Honda 1:09.099 Nigel Mansell UK Ferrari 1:12.017 57 Alain Prost France McLaren-Honda Nigel Mansell UK Ferrari Alessandro Nannini Italy Benetton-Ford GBR The 1989 British Grand Prix (formally the XLII Shell British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 16 July 1989. It was the eighth race of the 1989 Formula One World Championship. The 64-lap race was won by Frenchman Alain Prost, driving a McLaren-Honda, after he started from second position. Prost's Brazilian teammate, Ayrton Senna, took pole position and led until he spun off on lap 12. Local driver Nigel Mansell finished second in a Ferrari, with Italian Alessandro Nannini third in a Benetton-Ford. This marked the last win for a Honda-powered car at Silverstone until Max Verstappen won the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix in 2020, and is also the last time a McLaren driver had won at the venue, until David Coulthard won the 1999 British Grand Prix there. Qualifying Pre-qualifying report For the second Grand Prix in a row, the Onyx of Bertrand Gachot topped the time sheets in Friday morning's pre-qualifying session. It was Gachot's second pre-qualifying success. Two tenths of a second slower in second place was Nicola Larini in the Osella, pre-qualifying for the third time this season. The other two to go through to the main qualifying sessions were the Brabham pairing of Stefano Modena and Martin Brundle. This was the team's last pre-qualifying session of the season, as their five points in Monaco were enough to enable them to avoid having to pre-qualify for the rest of the season. Modena had pre-qualified at all eight events so far in 1989, and Brundle six, with both drivers qualifying for all of those races.October 2025 Brundle, who had failed to pre-qualify in both Canada and France, told in a pit lane interview during qualifying proper that he was glad to make it through as he had been "Driving like an old tart quite frankly".October 2025October 2025 Arguably this quote should be removed as it is presumably uncited, unless the it's meant to be cited to the "Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year" book cited two paragraphs later, but even then the relevance of Brundle comparing his driving to expired pastry remains unclear. Stefan Johansson narrowly missed out in fifth place in the second Onyx, his fourth failure this season. Alex Caffi was sixth in the Dallara, only his second failure, but Dallara were another team who would avoid pre-qualifying for the rest of the season, having scored eight points.October 2025 Gregor Foitek was seventh in the sole EuroBrun, still only able to pre-qualify once this season, which was once more than Piercarlo Ghinzani, eighth in the second Osella. Ninth was Yannick Dalmas, who had replaced Joachim Winkelhock at AGS, and for the rest of the season, both AGS cars would have to take part in pre-qualifying sessions. The Zakspeed pairing of Bernd Schneider and Aguri Suzuki were tenth and twelfth, with no success at this stage since the first race of the season. Pierre-Henri Raphanel was eleventh in his Coloni, and from here on, both Colonis would have to take part in pre-qualifying. At the bottom of the time sheets was the Rial of Volker Weidler, his eighth consecutive failure to pre-qualify, but Christian Danner's three points at Phoenix meant both cars would avoid pre-qualifying for the rest of the season.Walker Murray 1989 Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year First Formula Publishing 69–76 1-870066-22-7 Pre-qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 37 BEL Bertrand Gachot Onyx-Ford 1:11.506 — 2 17 ITA Nicola Larini Osella-Ford 1:11.766 +0.260 3 8 ITA Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 1:11.809 +0.303 4 7 GBR Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd 1:12.021 +0.515 5 36 SWE Stefan Johansson Onyx-Ford 1:12.248 +0.742 6 21 ITA Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 1.12.501 +0.995 7 33 CHE Gregor Foitek EuroBrun-Judd 1:13.128 +1.622 8 18 ITA Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Ford 1:13.429 +1.923 9 41 FRA Yannick Dalmas AGS-Ford 1:13.720 +2.214 10 34 DEU Bernd Schneider Zakspeed-Yamaha 1:14.124 +2.618 11 32 FRA Pierre-Henri Raphanel Coloni-Ford 1:14.206 +2.700 12 35 JPN 1947 Aguri Suzuki Zakspeed-Yamaha 1:14.266 +2.760 13 39 DEU Volker Weidler Rial-Ford 1:15.096 +3.590 Qualifying report McLaren took control of qualifying with Ayrton Senna ahead of Alain Prost. Having announced before the previous race in France that he would be leaving McLaren at the end of the season, Prost now announced that he would be joining Ferrari in 1990.October 2025 Derek Warwick returned after missing the French Grand Prix, qualifying 19th. Still in pain from his karting accident, he had a special seat fitted in his Arrows. Maurício Gugelmin qualified sixth, but his March developed a water-related problem moments before the race, forcing him to start from the pit lane.October 2025 Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 1 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:09.124 1:09.099 — 2 2 FRA Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 1:10.156 1:09.266 +0.167 3 27 GBR Nigel Mansell Ferrari 1:09.488 1:10.279 +0.389 4 28 AUT Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:09.855 1:10.130 +0.756 5 6 ITA Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:09.865 1:09.963 +0.766 6 15 BRA 1968 Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 1:10.336 1:12.665 +1.237 7 5 BEL Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 1:10.376 1:10.771 +1.277 8 16 ITA Ivan Capelli March-Judd 1:10.650 1:11.544 +1.551 9 19 ITA Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 1:11.034 1:10.798 +1.699 10 11 BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet Lotus-Judd 1:11.589 1:10.925 +1.826 11 23 ITA Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:11.368 1:11.582 +2.269 12 30 FRA Philippe Alliot Lola-Lamborghini 1:11.541 1:12.408 +2.442 13 29 FRA Éric Bernard Lola-Lamborghini 1:12.193 1:11.687 +2.588 14 8 ITA Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 1:12.262 1:11.755 +2.656 15 24 ESP Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford 1:11.955 1:11.826 +2.727 16 12 JPN 1947 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Judd 1:12.326 1:11.960 +2.861 17 17 ITA Nicola Larini Osella-Ford 1:12.061 1:12.395 +2.962 18 3 GBR Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 1:12.070 1:12.157 +2.971 19 9 GBR Derek Warwick Arrows-Ford 1:12.295 1:12.208 +3.109 20 7 GBR Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd 1:12.616 1:12.327 +3.228 21 37 BEL Bertrand Gachot Onyx-Ford 1:12.329 1:12.928 +3.230 22 4 FRA Jean Alesi Tyrrell-Ford 1:12.994 1:12.341 +3.242 23 31 BRA 1968 Roberto Moreno Coloni-Ford 1:12.680 1:12.412 +3.313 24 26 FRA Olivier Grouillard Ligier-Ford 1:12.853 1:12.605 +3.506 25 22 ITA Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 1:13.335 1:12.904 +3.805 26 20 ITA Emanuele Pirro Benetton-Ford 1:13.233 1:13.148 +4.049 27 25 FRA René Arnoux Ligier-Ford 1:13.240 1:13.550 +4.141 28 10 USA Eddie Cheever Arrows-Ford 1:13.655 1:13.386 +4.287 29 40 ITA Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:13.496 1:13.997 +4.397 30 38 DEU Christian Danner Rial-Ford 1:15.387 1:15.394 +6.288 Race Race report Prost beat Senna off the line, but the Brazilian was later on the brakes. He re-took the lead going into Copse Corner by chopping across his team mate's nose, with both Prost and the following Nigel Mansell confirming it was "close". The Ferraris of Mansell and Gerhard Berger were 3rd and 4th. At the end of lap 4, Berger pulled into the pits with electrical problems, rejoining the race some laps later. On lap 5 the race order was Senna, Prost, Mansell, the Williams-Renault pair of Thierry Boutsen and Riccardo Patrese, and Alessandro Nannini in the new Benetton B189 and its equally new, and more powerful, Ford HB V8.October 2025 Senna spun out on lap 12 going into Becketts due to gear selection problems (Becketts was a 3rd gear corner at the time and coming down through the gears Senna could not get 3rd to engage) and spun, handing Prost the lead from Mansell. Patrese overtook teammate Boutsen for third, before suffering a huge accident on lap 20 when a burst radiator sprayed water onto his rear wheels, causing him to spin off into the tyre barrier at Club Corner. With Prost and Mansell pulling away, Nelson Piquet moved into third in his Lotus-Judd on lap 23, ahead of Boutsen, Philippe Alliot in the Larrousse-Lola and Jean Alesi in the Tyrrell. Boutsen dropped back with a rear puncture while Alesi spun off at Club Corner on lap 29, at which point Prost led Mansell by 3.2 seconds, followed by Piquet, Nannini, Gugelmin and Alliot.October 2025 Alliot retired with an engine failure on lap 40. On lap 42, Mansell developed a puncture on his right front tyre, forcing him to pit. Prost was then delayed during his own pit stop for fresh tyres, but retained a healthy lead over Mansell. Gugelmin retired from fifth with a gearbox failure on lap 55, before Nannini passed Piquet for third on lap 56, pulling away in the closing laps.October 2025 At the chequered flag, Prost was 19 seconds ahead of Mansell, with Nannini a further 29 seconds back and Piquet the last driver on the lead lap. From early on the overheating light had been on in the Lotus cockpit, so Piquet pushed as hard as he could in a make or break attitude and was rewarded with easily his best drive of the year. The Minardis of Pierluigi Martini and Luis Pérez-Sala finished fifth and sixth, scoring three points which prevented the team from being relegated to the pre-qualifying sessions for the second half of 1989 (and kept the Onyx team in these sessions, despite their two points for Stefan Johansson's fifth place at the previous race in France). This was Sala's only point in Formula One.October 2025 Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 2 FRA Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 64 1:19:22.131 2 9 2 27 GBR Nigel Mansell Ferrari 64 + 19.369 3 6 3 19 ITA Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 64 + 48.019 9 4 4 11 BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet Lotus-Judd 64 + 1:06.735 10 3 5 23 ITA Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 63 + 1 lap 11 2 6 24 ESP Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford 63 + 1 lap 15 1 7 26 FRA Olivier Grouillard Ligier-Ford 63 + 1 lap 24   8 12 JPN 1947 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Judd 63 + 1 lap 16   9 9 GBR Derek Warwick Arrows-Ford 62 + 2 laps 19   10 5 BEL Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 62 + 2 laps 7   11 20 ITA Emanuele Pirro Benetton-Ford 62 + 2 laps 26   12 37 BEL Bertrand Gachot Onyx-Ford 62 + 2 laps 21   Ret Retired 15 BRA 1968 Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 54 Gearbox 6   Ret Retired 7 GBR Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd 49 Engine 20   Ret Retired 28 AUT Gerhard Berger Ferrari 49 Gear fire 4   Ret Retired 29 FRA Éric Bernard Lola-Lamborghini 46 Engine 13   Ret Retired 30 FRA Philippe Alliot Lola-Lamborghini 39 Engine 12   Ret Retired 3 GBR Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 32 Accident 18   Ret Retired 8 ITA Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 31 Engine 14   Ret Retired 4 FRA Jean Alesi Tyrrell-Ford 28 Spun off 22   Ret Retired 17 ITA Nicola Larini Osella-Ford 23 Handling 17   Ret Retired 6 ITA Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 19 Radiator/accident 5   Ret Retired 16 ITA Ivan Capelli March-Judd 15 Transmission 8   Ret Retired 22 ITA Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 14 Engine 25   Ret Retired 1 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 11 Spun off/gearbox 1   Ret Retired 31 BRA 1968 Roberto Moreno Coloni-Ford 2 Gearbox 23   DNQ Did not qualify 25 FRA René Arnoux Ligier-Ford         DNQ Did not qualify 10 USA Eddie Cheever Arrows-Ford         DNQ Did not qualify 40 ITA Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford         DNQ Did not qualify 38 DEU Christian Danner Rial-Ford         DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 36 SWE Stefan Johansson Onyx-Ford         DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 21 ITA Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford         DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 33 CHE Gregor Foitek EuroBrun-Judd         DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 18 ITA Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Ford         DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 41 FRA Yannick Dalmas AGS-Ford         DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 34 DEU Bernd Schneider Zakspeed-Yamaha         DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 32 FRA Pierre-Henri Raphanel Coloni-Ford         DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 35 JPN 1947 Aguri Suzuki Zakspeed-Yamaha         DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 39 DEU Volker Weidler Rial-Ford        Source:http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1989/238/ 1989 British Grand Prix Formula1.com 23 December 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150118225748/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1989/238/ 18 January 2015 Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 FRA Alain Prost 47 2 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna 27 3 ITA Riccardo Patrese 22 4 GBR Nigel Mansell 21 5 BEL Thierry Boutsen 13Source:https://www.statsf1.com/en/1989/grande-bretagne/championnat.aspx Britain 1989 - Championship • STATS F1 www.statsf1.com 13 March 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 GBR McLaren-Honda74 2 GBR Williams-Renault35 3 ITA Ferrari21 4 GBR Benetton-Ford17 5 GBR Tyrrell-Ford10Source: Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. References External links 1989 British Grand Prix race report - The price of progress British Grand Prix 1989 1989 French Grand Prix 1989 German Grand Prix 1988 British Grand Prix 1990 British Grand Prix British Grand Prix Category:British Grand Prix Grand Prix British Grand Prix