1989 German Grand Prix

July 2022 F1 Circuit Hockenheimring-1982.svg German West Germany LI Grosser Mobil 1 Preis von Deutschland 30 July 1989 9 16 Hockenheimringnear Heidelberg, West Germany Permanent racing facility 4.227https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/database/races/1989-german-grand-prix/ 1989 German Grand Prix | Motorsport Database 6.802 45 190.055 305.865 Warm, cloudy Ayrton Senna Brazil 1968 McLaren-Honda 1:42.300 Ayrton Senna Brazil 1968 McLaren-Honda 1:45.884 43 Ayrton Senna Brazil 1968 McLaren-Honda Alain Prost France McLaren-Honda Nigel Mansell UK Ferrari GER The 1989 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Hockenheimring on 30 July 1989. The race was won by Ayrton Senna, ahead of Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell. Background Prior to the race meeting there had been a major shakeup of management at Team Lotus. Long time Lotus man and team boss since Colin Chapman's untimely death in 1982 Peter Warr had been asked to leave the team and was replaced as team manager by Rupert Manwaring, while Lotus also had a new chairman in Tony Rudd.October 2025 Qualifying Pre-qualifying report Pre-qualifying had been reorganised going into the second half of the season, with several drivers and teams either losing or gaining the right to progress without the need to pre-qualify. Brabham, Dallara and Rial had scored enough points across the opening rounds of the season to enable them to escape the Friday morning sessions entirely. Larrousse, with their Lamborghini V12-engined Lolas had scored no points thus far, so were required to pre-qualify for Grands Prix. Philippe Alliot was now partnered by Michele Alboreto who had left Tyrrell after a sponsorship dispute, replacing Éric Bernard, who had stood in at Larrousse for two races.October 2025 Also new to pre-qualifying was Roberto Moreno, joining his Coloni team-mate Pierre-Henri Raphanel; and Gabriele Tarquini, joining his AGS team-mate Yannick Dalmas in the Friday morning sessions. This was despite Tarquini's sixth-place finish at the Mexican Grand Prix, as Minardi had scored three points at Silverstone. Onyx had also only scored two points so were forced to continue to pre-qualify. Osella, EuroBrun and Zakspeed had scored no points thus far, so also had to continue to pre-qualify.October 2025 Bertrand Gachot topped the pre-qualifying session for the third time in a row, with his Onyx team-mate Stefan Johansson second. The two Larrousse-Lola drivers were third and fourth, with Alboreto edging out Dalmas in the AGS by a thousandth of a second. Nicola Larini was sixth in his Osella, with his team-mate Piercarlo Ghinzani again failing at this stage, down in eighth. Moreno and Raphanel were ninth and tenth, with Gregor Foitek eleventh in the new, untested EuroBrun ER189. The Zakspeeds were bottom of the time sheets, with Aguri Suzuki outpacing Bernd Schneider for only the second time this season.Walker Murray 1989 Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year First Formula Publishing 77–84 1-870066-22-7 Pre-qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 37 BEL Bertrand Gachot Onyx-Ford 1:47.283 — 2 36 SWE Stefan Johansson Onyx-Ford 1:47.700 +0.417 3 30 FRA Philippe Alliot Lola-Lamborghini 1:47.746 +0.463 4 29 ITA Michele Alboreto Lola-Lamborghini 1:47.919 +0.636 5* 41 FRA Yannick Dalmas AGS-Ford 1:47.920 +0.637 6* 17 ITA Nicola Larini Osella-Ford 1.48.301 +1.018 7* 40 ITA Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:48.558 +1.275 8* 18 ITA Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Ford 1:48.564 +1.281 9* 31 BRA 1968 Roberto Moreno Coloni-Ford 1:48.567 +1.284 10* 32 FRA Pierre-Henri Raphanel Coloni-Ford 1:48.780 +1.457 11* 33 CHE Gregor Foitek EuroBrun-Judd 1:49.458 +2.175 12* 35 JPN 1947 Aguri Suzuki Zakspeed-Yamaha 1:49.527 +2.244 13* 34 FRG Bernd Schneider Zakspeed-Yamaha 1:50.455 +3.172 * Driver failed to pre-qualify. Qualifying report The McLaren-Honda's of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost dominated qualifying on the ultra fast Hockenheim circuit, with Senna just under a second faster than Prost, who was himself almost eight-tenths faster than the Ferrari 640 of Nigel Mansell.October 2025 During the Friday session Senna ran over a stone which put a sizeable hole in his car's undertray and the resulting damage would require a complete change of car, the problem being that the team only had three of the new transverse gearbox cars in Germany. As a precaution, team manager Jo Ramírez instructed the team's secondary (test) crew, who were on their way to Imola for a week of testing with the new car, to stop in Dijon (eastern France) in case the race team needed a replacement chassis. When Senna's car was deemed too badly damaged, the test crew made their way to Hockenheim and McLaren were back to having three full cars ready for use by Saturday's morning practice.October 2025 Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 1 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:42.300 1:42.790 — 2 2 FRA Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 1:43.306 1:43.295 +0.995 3 27 GBR Nigel Mansell Ferrari 1:44.020 1:44.076 +1.720 4 28 AUT Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:44.467 1:44.509 +2.167 5 6 ITA Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:45.062 1:44.511 +2.211 6 5 BEL Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 1:45.520 1:44.702 +2.402 7 19 ITA Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 1:45.033 1:45.040 +2.733 8 11 BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet Lotus-Judd 1:47.316 1:45.475 +3.175 9 20 ITA Emanuele Pirro Benetton-Ford 1:46.521 1:45.845 +3.545 10 4 FRA Jean Alesi Tyrrell-Ford 1:47.551 1:46.888 +4.588 11 26 FRA Olivier Grouillard Ligier-Ford 1:47.408 1:46.893 +4.593 12 7 GBR Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd 1:47.216 1:47.796 +4.916 13 23 ITA Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:48.222 1:47.380 +5.080 14 15 BRA 1968 Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 1:47.387 1:47.578 +5.087 15 30 FRA Philippe Alliot Lola-Lamborghini 1:47.486 1:47.566 +5.186 16 8 ITA Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 1:47.511 1:47.552 +5.211 17 9 GBR Derek Warwick Arrows-Ford 1:47.756 1:47.533 +5.233 18 12 JPN 1947 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Judd 1:48.782 1:47.663 +5.363 19 3 GBR Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 1:47.836 1:47.676 +5.376 20 21 ITA Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 1:48.671 1:47.679 +5.379 21 22 ITA Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 1:47.879 1:48.005 +5.579 22 16 ITA Ivan Capelli March-Judd 1:48.239 1:48.078 +5.778 23 25 FRA René Arnoux Ligier-Ford 1:48.266 1:48.598 +5.966 24 36 SWE Stefan Johansson Onyx-Ford 1:49.935 1:48.348 +6.048 25 10 USA Eddie Cheever Arrows-Ford 1:48.396 1:48.553 +6.096 26 29 ITA Michele Alboreto Lola-Lamborghini 1:48.670 1:48.726 +6.370 27* 24 ESP Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford 1:49.587 1:48.686 +6.386 28* 37 BEL Bertrand Gachot Onyx-Ford 1:49.252 1:49.004 +6.704 29* 38 FRG Christian Danner Rial-Ford 1:50.679 1:49.767 +7.467 EX Excluded* 39 FRG Volker Weidler Rial-Ford — — — * Driver failed to qualify. Race Race report The race started with Senna on pole position and Prost alongside him. At the start, Gerhard Berger in the semi-automatic Ferrari made a strong start from fourth, passing both Senna, Prost and his teammate Mansell to lead tinto the first corner with Senna, Prost and Mansell following in succession. At the start, Philippe Alliot went off the track after he was touched from behind by the Minardi of Pierluigi Martini and lost control of his Lola, spinning off into the grass. He was able to rejoin but his race only lasted 20 laps before his Lamborghini developed an oil leak. His new teammate Michele Alboreto was forced out of his first race with Larrousse just past turn 1 on the second lap after his car's electrics failed. Alboreto had qualified 26th and last, only 0.016 ahead of the Minardi of Luis Pérez-Sala.October 2025 Berger's lead was to last about a quarter of a lap as a result of the greater power of the Honda V10 engines. Senna had Berger before the first chicane, and Prost outbraked him at the Ostkurve. At the start of the second lap, it was Senna leading from Prost, Berger, Mansell, Thierry Boutsen (Williams-Renault), Alessandro Nannini (Benetton Ford), Emanuele Pirro (Benetton-Ford), Riccardo Patrese (Williams-Renault), and Nelson Piquet (Lotus-Judd).October 2025 The McLarens of Senna and Prost and the Ferraris of Mansell and Berger started to pull away from the field, with the Benettons of Pirro and Nannini, and the Williams of Patrese just barely clinging on (Boutsen retired on lap 5 after being punted off by Pirro at the Bremsschikane 2). On lap 14, Mansell had been hounding Berger for 2 laps, Berger had a puncture right when approaching the first chicane, and he went up on the marker, launching his Ferrari in midair, landing on a grassy patch and went across the track, just barely avoiding Mansell and came to rest on the trackside grass.October 2025 Prost and Senna were on the limit the entire race and Prost hounded Senna for 16 laps, until he went in for his pit stop for tyres, which was a slow one of 18 seconds (a good pit time during that era was around 6 to 8 seconds) which put Mansell in second place and gave Senna a stronger lead. The next lap, Mansell came into the pits for his tyre change and his pit stop was faster than Prost's but still a poor stop of 11 seconds, which dropped him down back to fourth behind, Senna, Pirro and Prost. Senna decided to take advantage of his lead and came into the pits for his tyre change, his stop was even worse than Prost's, lasting 23 seconds. All 4 wheels were replaced in good time, but team boss Ron Dennis was forced to hold his driver when the left rear wheel changer didn't think he had located the wheel properly and they had to take it back off to get it set right. This dropped the World Champion down to second behind Prost while Pirro, now also in the new Benetton and the only team car left in the race after Nannini's new Ford V8 had succumbed to an electrical misfire on lap 7, had come into the pits for a tyre change and dropped back to fourth behind Mansell.October 2025 Pirro crashed into the styrofoam barriers at the stadium entrance on lap 26 and had to be taken to the hospital after one of the barriers had hit his helmet. With Mansell having problems with his Ferrari, Senna and Prost battled for the entire race, as both drivers were driving on the limit. They started trading off fastest laps (the V10 McLaren-Honda's fastest race laps were 1:45.884 (Senna) and 1:45.977 (Prost). The next best race laps were the V12 Ferrari's with Mansell recording a 1:48.722 and Berger a 1:48.931. No other driver in the race lapped under 1:49)Nigel Roebuck John Townsend Grand Prix - 1989 Formula One World Championship 1990 Garry Sparke & Associates Glen Waverly, Victoria, Australia 0 908081 99 5 94–101 1st and Prost held off Senna for almost the entire race. On lap 43 on the straight heading into the Stadium section, the new transverse gearbox on Prost's McLaren malfunctioned and lost sixth (top) gear allowing Senna, in the process of setting his fastest race lap, to pass him at turn 11. Prost limped around the track for the next 2 laps well over a minute ahead of Mansell and thus in little danger of dropping back any further while Senna cruised around the track to grab his fourth victory of the season, followed by Prost, Mansell, Patrese, Piquet and Derek Warwick (Arrows-Ford) in sixth.October 2025 In the post race press conference, Senna refused to speculate on whether he would have been able to pass Prost if he hadn't lost top gear, instead stating that after suffering four straight DNFs (that had handed his teammate a healthy 20 point championship lead as Prost had won 3 of those races), winning was all he was concerned about. For his part, Prost was of the firm belief that he would have had no trouble holding on for the win had he not had a gearbox problem.October 2025 Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 45 1:21:43.302 1 9 2 2 FRA Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 45 + 18.151 2 6 3 27 GBR Nigel Mansell Ferrari 45 + 1:23.254 3 4 4 6 ITA Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 44 + 1 Lap 5 3 5 11 BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet Lotus-Judd 44 + 1 Lap 8 2 6 9 GBR Derek Warwick Arrows-Ford 44 + 1 Lap 17 1 7 22 ITA Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 44 + 1 Lap 21   8 7 GBR Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd 44 + 1 Lap 12   9 23 ITA Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 44 + 1 Lap 13   10 4 FRA Jean Alesi Tyrrell-Ford 43 + 2 Laps 10   11 25 FRA René Arnoux Ligier-Ford 42 + 3 Laps 23   12 10 USA Eddie Cheever Arrows-Ford 40 Fuel System 25   Ret Retired 8 ITA Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 37 Engine 16   Ret Retired 12 JPN 1947 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Judd 36 Spun Off 18   Ret Retired 16 ITA Ivan Capelli March-Judd 32 Electrical 22   Ret Retired 15 BRA 1968 Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 28 Gearbox 14   Ret Retired 20 ITA Emanuele Pirro Benetton-Ford 26 Spun Off 9   Ret Retired 30 FRA Philippe Alliot Lola-Lamborghini 20 Oil Leak 15   Ret Retired 3 GBR Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 16 Engine 19   Ret Retired 28 AUT Gerhard Berger Ferrari 13 Puncture 4   Ret Retired 36 SWE Stefan Johansson Onyx-Ford 8 Overheating 24   Ret Retired 19 ITA Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 6 Electrical 7   Ret Retired 5 BEL Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 4 Collision 6   Ret Retired 21 ITA Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 2 Engine 20   Ret Retired 29 ITA Michele Alboreto Lola-Lamborghini 1 Electrical 26   Ret Retired 26 FRA Olivier Grouillard Ligier-Ford 0 Gearbox 11   DNQ Did not qualify 24 ESP Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford     DNQ Did not qualify 37 BEL Bertrand Gachot Onyx-Ford     DNQ Did not qualify 38 FRG Christian Danner Rial-Ford     EX Excluded 39 FRG Volker Weidler Rial-Ford   Push-start   DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 41 FRA Yannick Dalmas AGS-Ford     DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 17 ITA Nicola Larini Osella-Ford     DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 40 ITA Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford     DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 18 ITA Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Ford     DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 31 BRA 1968 Roberto Moreno Coloni-Ford     DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 32 FRA Pierre-Henri Raphanel Coloni-Ford     DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 33 CHE Gregor Foitek Euro Brun-Judd     DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 35 JPN 1947 Aguri Suzuki Zakspeed-Yamaha     DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 34 FRG Bernd Schneider Zakspeed-Yamaha    Source:http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1989/239/ 1989 German Grand Prix formula1.com 23 December 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150118230248/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1989/239/ 18 January 2015 Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 FRA Alain Prost 53 2 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna 36 3 GBR Nigel Mansell 25 4 ITA Riccardo Patrese 25 5 BEL Thierry Boutsen 13Source:https://www.statsf1.com/en/1989/allemagne/championnat.aspx Germany 1989 - Championship • STATS F1 www.statsf1.com 18 March 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 GBR McLaren-Honda89 2 GBR Williams-Renault38 3 ITA Ferrari25 4 GBR Benetton-Ford17 5 GBR Tyrrell-Ford10Source: Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. References German Grand Prix 1989 1989 British Grand Prix 1989 Hungarian Grand Prix 1988 German Grand Prix 1990 German Grand Prix German Grand Prix Category:German Grand Prix German Grand Prix German Grand Prix