1989 Mexican Grand Prix

F1 Mexican Mexico XIII Gran Premio de México Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.svg 28 May 1989 4 16 Autódromo Hermanos RodríguezMagdalena Mixhuca, Mexico City Permanent racing facility 2.747 4.421 69 189.549 305.049 Hot, dry, partly sunny 25°C/79°F, 40% Humidity, wind NW-10mph Ayrton Senna Brazil 1968 McLaren-Honda 1:17.876 Nigel Mansell UK Ferrari 1:20.420 41 Ayrton Senna Brazil 1968 McLaren-Honda Riccardo Patrese Italy Williams-Renault Michele Alboreto Italy Tyrrell-Ford MEX The 1989 Mexican Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City on 28 May 1989. The race, contested over 69 laps, was the fourth race of the 1989 Formula One season and was won from pole position by Ayrton Senna, driving a McLaren-Honda, with Riccardo Patrese second in a Williams-Renault and Michele Alboreto third in a Tyrrell-Ford. It was McLaren's last win in Mexico until 2025. Qualifying Pre-qualifying report The Friday morning pre-qualifying session produced another 1–2 for the Brabham team, their third of the four Grands Prix so far. This time Martin Brundle was fastest ahead of Stefano Modena, with the Dallara of Alex Caffi pre-qualifying in third. The fourth-placed driver was Stefan Johansson in the Onyx, who went through to the main qualifying sessions for the first time this season, at the expense of his team-mate Bertrand Gachot, who was fifth fastest. Although failing to pre-qualify, Gregor Foitek had one of his better sessions, finishing sixth fastest in the sole EuroBrun, ahead of the Osella of Nicola Larini, who suffered a fuel pump issue. Larini had been lined up to replace Gerhard Berger at Ferrari had the Austrian not been fit to return to the cockpit after his Imola accident.Walker Murray 1989 Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year First Formula Publishing 37–44 1-870066-22-7 Volker Weidler was eighth in the Rial, also one of his better performances of the season despite having gearing problems. Next were the two Zakspeeds of Bernd Schneider and Aguri Suzuki, and the other Osella, driven by Piercarlo Ghinzani. Ghinzani was excluded anyway after ignoring a weight check signal.https://www.grandprix.com/races/mexican-gp-1989.html 1989 Mexican Grand Prix 28 April 2020 grandprix.com At the bottom of the time sheets were Joachim Winkelhock in the AGS, and lastly Pierre-Henri Raphanel, who did not post a representative lap time in the Coloni FC188B after his strong performance in the last race at Monaco. Coloni had only brought three mechanics and one car for both Raphanel and Roberto Moreno, while waiting for their new C3 to be built, making a token effort to qualify in order to comply with the regulations and avoid a fine. Pre-qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 7 GBR Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd 1:21.770 — 2 8 ITA Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 1:22.211 +0.441 3 21 ITA Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 1:22.876 +1.106 4 36 SWE Stefan Johansson Onyx-Ford 1:23.288 +1.518 5 37 BEL Bertrand Gachot Onyx-Ford 1:23.752 +1.982 6 33 CHE Gregor Foitek EuroBrun-Judd 1.24.351 +2.581 7 17 ITA Nicola Larini Osella-Ford 1:24.392 +2.622 8 39 DEU Volker Weidler Rial-Ford 1:24.966 +3.196 9 34 DEU Bernd Schneider Zakspeed-Yamaha 1:25.418 +3.648 10 35 JPN 1947 Aguri Suzuki Zakspeed-Yamaha 1:25.658 +3.888 11 18 ITA Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Ford 1:26.065 +4.295 12 41 DEU Joachim Winkelhock AGS-Ford 1:26.754 +4.984 13 32 FRA Pierre-Henri Raphanel Coloni-Ford 1:34.357 +12.587 Qualifying report In qualifying proper, World Champion Ayrton Senna scored his 33rd career pole position, equalling the long-standing record held by Jim Clark. Senna's pole time in his McLaren-Honda was 0.408 slower than his pole time in 1988 in the turbocharged McLaren MP4/4. His McLaren teammate Alain Prost was second fastest with the Ferrari 640 of Nigel Mansell third. Mansell's teammate Gerhard Berger, returning to action in Mexico after his crash at San Marino, was sixth, the Ferraris split by the March-Judd of Ivan Capelli and the Williams-Renault of Riccardo Patrese. Surprisingly, Capelli's teammate Maurício Gugelmin failed to qualify. The 26 year old Brazilian had been 15th after Friday's qualifying and although improving his time by over 6/10ths of a second on Saturday, others improving by more saw him drop to 28th and not qualifying. Berger, still suffering the effects of his crash, admitted that if not for Ferrari's innovative semi-automatic transmission (which meant he did not have to change gears as with a normal stick shift), he would not have been able to race. The back row of the grid could be considered the best credentialed and most experienced in Grand Prix history, consisting of seven-time winner René Arnoux in the Ligier-Ford and triple World Champion Nelson Piquet in the Lotus-Judd. Piquet had scraped onto the grid just 0.104 seconds ahead of the Minardi-Ford of Spaniard Luis Pérez-Sala. Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 1 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:19.112 1:17.876 — 2 2 FRA Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 1:20.401 1:18.773 +0.897 3 27 GBR Nigel Mansell Ferrari 1:21.170 1:19.137 +1.261 4 16 ITA Ivan Capelli March-Judd 1:24.720 1:19.337 +1.461 5 6 ITA Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:21.763 1:19.656 +1.780 6 28 AUT Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:21.564 1:19.835 +1.959 7 4 ITA Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 1:22.150 1:20.066 +2.190 8 5 BEL Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 1:21.456 1:20.234 +2.358 9 8 ITA Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 1:22.640 1:20.505 +2.629 10 9 GBR Derek Warwick Arrows-Ford 1:23.245 1:20.601 +2.725 11 26 FRA Olivier Grouillard Ligier-Ford 1:23.053 1:20.859 +2.983 12 22 ITA Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 1:23.066 1:20.873 +2.997 13 19 ITA Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 1:21.791 1:20.888 +3.012 14 3 GBR Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 1:21.561 1:20.888 +3.012 15 12 JPN 1947 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Judd 1:22.438 1:20.943 +3.067 16 30 FRA Philippe Alliot Lola-Lamborghini 1:22.014 1:21.031 +3.155 17 40 ITA Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:23.004 1:21.031 +3.155 18 20 GBR Johnny Herbert Benetton-Ford 1:22.553 1:21.105 +3.229 19 21 ITA Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 1:22.705 1:21.139 +3.263 20 7 GBR Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd 1:23.375 1:21.217 +3.341 21 36 SWE Stefan Johansson Onyx-Ford 1:23.746 1:21.358 +3.482 22 23 ITA Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:24.181 1:21.471 +3.595 23 38 DEU Christian Danner Rial-Ford 1:22.931 1:21.696 +3.820 24 10 USA Eddie Cheever Arrows-Ford 1:23.427 1:21.716 +3.840 25 25 FRA René Arnoux Ligier-Ford 1:24.890 1:21.830 +3.954 26 11 BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet Lotus-Judd 1:23.090 1:21.831 +3.955 27 24 ESP Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford 1:26.567 1:21.935 +4.059 28 15 BRA 1968 Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 1:22.712 1:22.081 +4.205 29 29 FRA Yannick Dalmas Lola-Lamborghini 1:25.651 9:27.789 +7.775 30 31 BRA 1968 Roberto Moreno Coloni-Ford no time 3:34.095 +2:16.219 Race Race report Senna chose medium compound Goodyear "B" tyres for the race while Prost went for the softer C-compound tyres in the hopes of gaining a speed advantage. Despite the pole being on the dirty side of the track in Mexico, Senna made a better start and was able to lead into the first turn from Mansell, Prost, Berger, Patrese and the Tyrrell-Ford of Michele Alboreto. However, it all meant nothing as Modena spun his Brabham into the Peraltada on the first lap and was tapped by the Ligier of Olivier Grouillard and finished against the tyre wall. Despite the car not being in a dangerous position, the red flag was shown and the race had to be restarted. Senna won the restart and led Prost, a fast starting Berger, Mansell and the Williams pair of Patrese and Thierry Boutsen. Prost, with his softer tyres giving him better grip, soon moved onto the back of his teammate's car. However, Mexico would be where Prost started questioning the power of his Honda V10 compared to the ones used by Senna. For a number of laps Prost, clearly faster through the final Peraltada curve coming onto the main straight, could not make an impression on Senna despite being in his aerodynamic tow on the 1.2 km long main straight. Indeed, the #1 McLaren was seen to pull away from the #2 car on the straight. Running close to his teammate eventually had a detrimental effect on Prost's tyres and he was soon into the pits for a change of rubber. The McLaren team then mistakenly gave the Frenchman another set of "C" tyres rather than the "B"s he had come in for. Prost was soon back in for another tyre change and went back into the race only seconds in front of Senna who now had nearly a lap lead over his closest championship rival. Despite being on far fresher tyres than his teammate, Prost still lost ground to Senna and was eventually lapped when the Brazilian swept past on the main straight, fuelling Prost's claims that his engines were down on power compared to Senna's. McLaren team boss Ron Dennis later publicly apologised to Prost for the error in his pit stop. Both Ferraris ran well until Berger's race ended on lap 16 with transmission failure while Mansell's gearbox lasted until lap 43. This left the Williams of Patrese in second place with Alboreto a surprising third. This was how the top three finished with Alessandro Nannini fourth in his Benetton B188. The Benetton team had hoped to have their new B189 available in Mexico, but ongoing problems with the new Ford HB engine meant the team had to continue using their 1988 car and engines. Prost, having unlapped himself, finished fifth to be the last car on the lead lap, while Italian Gabriele Tarquini scored the final point for sixth in his AGS-Ford, which proved to be his only point in Formula One, as well as the last for the AGS team.Roebuck Nigel Nigel Roebuck Henry Alan Alan Henry 1989 Grand Prix 5 54 Round 4:Mexico Making It Look Easy Glen Waverly, Victoria Garry Sparke & Associates Barry Naismith 0-908081-99-5 Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 69 1:35:21.431 1 9 2 6 ITA Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 69 + 15.560 5 6 3 4 ITA Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 69 + 31.254 7 4 4 19 ITA Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 69 + 45.495 13 3 5 2 FRA Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 69 + 56.113 2 2 6 40 ITA Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 68 + 1 lap 17 1 7 10 USA Eddie Cheever Arrows-Ford 68 + 1 lap 24 8 26 FRA Olivier Grouillard Ligier-Ford 68 + 1 lap 11 9 7 GBR Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd 68 + 1 lap 20 10 8 ITA Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 68 + 1 lap 9 11 11 BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet Lotus-Judd 68 + 1 lap 26 12 38 DEU Christian Danner Rial-Ford 67 + 2 laps 23 13 21 ITA Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 67 + 2 laps 19 14 25 FRA René Arnoux Ligier-Ford 66 + 3 laps 25 15 20 GBR Johnny Herbert Benetton-Ford 66 + 3 laps 18 Ret Retired 23 ITA Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 53 Engine 22 Ret Retired 27 GBR Nigel Mansell Ferrari 43 Gearbox 3 Ret Retired 9 GBR Derek Warwick Arrows-Ford 35 Electrical 10 Ret Retired 12 JPN 1947 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Judd 35 Spun off 15 NC Not classified 30 FRA Philippe Alliot Lola-Lamborghini 28 + 41 laps 16 Ret Retired 22 ITA Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 20 Suspension 12 Ret Retired 28 AUT Gerhard Berger Ferrari 16 Gearbox 6 Ret Retired 36 SWE Stefan Johansson Onyx-Ford 16 Transmission 21 Ret Retired 5 BEL Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 15 Electrical 8 Ret Retired 3 GBR Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 9 Throttle linkage 14 Ret Retired 16 ITA Ivan Capelli March-Judd 1 Transmission 4 DNQ Did not qualify 24 ESP Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford DNQ Did not qualify 15 BRA 1968 Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd DNQ Did not qualify 29 FRA Yannick Dalmas Lola-Lamborghini DNQ Did not qualify 31 BRA 1968 Roberto Moreno Coloni-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 37 BEL Bertrand Gachot Onyx-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 33 CHE Gregor Foitek EuroBrun-Judd DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 17 ITA Nicola Larini Osella-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 39 DEU Volker Weidler Rial-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 34 DEU Bernd Schneider Zakspeed-Yamaha DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 35 JPN 1947 Aguri Suzuki Zakspeed-Yamaha DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 18 ITA Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 41 DEU Joachim Winkelhock AGS-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 32 FRA Pierre-Henri Raphanel Coloni-FordSource:http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1989/234/ 1989 Mexican Grand Prix formula1.com 23 December 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150118224949/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1989/234/ 18 January 2015 Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna 27 2 FRA Alain Prost 20 3 GBR Nigel Mansell 9 4 ITA Alessandro Nannini 8 5 ITA Riccardo Patrese 6Source:https://www.statsf1.com/en/1989/mexique/championnat.aspx Mexico 1989 - Championship • STATS F1 www.statsf1.com 19 March 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 GBR McLaren-Honda47 2 GBR Benetton-Ford11 3 ITA Ferrari9 4 GBR Williams-Renault9 5 GBR Tyrrell-Ford7Source: Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. References Mexican Grand Prix 1989 1989 Monaco Grand Prix 1989 United States Grand Prix 1988 Mexican Grand Prix 1990 Mexican Grand Prix Mexican Grand Prix Category:Mexican Grand Prix Grand Prix Category:May 1989 sports events in Mexico