1988 Spanish Grand Prix

F1 Spanish Spain Circuito de Jerez (1985-1992).svg XXX Gran Premio Tio Pepe de España 2 October 1988 14 16 Circuito Permanente de Jerez, Jerez de la Frontera, Spain Permanent racing facility 2.620 4.218 72 188.708 303.696 Sunny and hot Ayrton Senna Brazil 1968 McLaren-Honda 1:24.067 Alain Prost France McLaren-Honda 1:27.845 60 Alain Prost France McLaren-Honda Nigel Mansell UK Williams-Judd Alessandro Nannini Italy Benetton-Ford ESP The 1988 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 2 October 1988 at the Circuito Permanente de Jerez, Jerez de la Frontera. It was the fourteenth race of the 1988 Formula One World Championship. The 72-lap race was won by Frenchman Alain Prost, driving a McLaren-Honda, after he started from second position. British driver Nigel Mansell finished second in a Williams-Judd, with Italian Alessandro Nannini third in a Benetton-Ford. Prost's teammate and Drivers' Championship rival, Brazilian Ayrton Senna, finished fourth having started from pole position. Pre-race After weeks of speculation, Benetton announced that British Formula 3000 driver Johnny Herbert would be joining the team in 1989 to replace Thierry Boutsen who would be joining Williams. At the time of the announcement Herbert was still in hospital recovering from his horrifying F3000 crash during the Brands Hatch round of the 1988 Championship held just 6 weeks earlier. With Alessandro Nannini remaining with the team, the Italian who had only been in Formula One since 1986, would become the team's #1 driver for 1989. Benetton also announced that they were picking up their option on Nannini and that he would also remain with the team into 1990. Qualifying During qualifying, Riccardo Patrese was on his hot lap when the slower Julian Bailey got on the wrong side of the track and Patrese had to slow down considerably to avoid hitting Bailey. A furious Patrese retaliated by getting in front of Bailey and brake testing his Tyrrell, the subsequent collision sending Bailey's car into the air and off the track into the gravel trap.1988 Spanish GP - Patrese / Bailey Officials at first blamed Bailey and also called his Tyrrell teammate Jonathan Palmer to the hearing for good measure on the premise that the slower Tyrrells were generally a menace and both drivers needed to be told. After a protest by Ken Tyrrell however, officials later reviewed the incident again and Patrese was fined $10,000 for his actions, although most in the Formula One paddock argued that Patrese's fine was not enough, and that he should also pay the Tyrrell team to fix the damages on Bailey's car. One unnamed driver was quoted as saying "I hope they fine him his bloody retainer. There are enough accidental shunts in this business without people actually trying to cause them....." McLaren locked out the front row for the 10th time in 14 races in 1988 with Ayrton Senna putting his Honda powered McLaren MP4/4 on pole for the 11th time in 14 races with a motivated Alain Prost snapping at his team mate's heels only 0.067 behind. On this tight and twisty track it was no surprise to see 1987 race winner Nigel Mansell in third place in his Williams-Judd only 2/10ths from the pole. In fact, the nature of the circuit saw atmo cars line up from 3rd to 7th on the grid. The next best turbo behind the McLarens being the Ferrari of Gerhard Berger in 8th place, though the Austrian was only 1.399 slower than Senna with Nelson Piquet (Lotus-Honda) and Michele Alboreto qualifying in 10th and 11th places. The Arrows cars struggled with Derek Warwick qualifying 17th and Eddie Cheever just scrambling onto the back row of the grid in 25th. The Arrows were in fact slower than Nicola Larini's Osella which qualified 14th. The two Zakspeeds of Piercarlo Ghinzani and Bernd Schneider failed to qualify, as did Bailey and Oscar Larrauri in the EuroBrun. Gabriele Tarquini failed to pre-qualify his Coloni. Race summary From the 10th all-McLaren front row of the year, Alain Prost made a good start, with the Williams of Nigel Mansell drafting past Ayrton Senna into 2nd. Ivan Capelli and Thierry Boutsen tangled, damaging the Benetton's nosecone. On lap 2, Senna passed Mansell but ran wide, allowing the Englishman to retake the lead. On lap 16, Michele Alboreto retired with engine problems on his Ferrari. For the first 28 laps there was no change amongst the top seven: Prost led Mansell by half a second, while Senna had to defend third place from Riccardo Patrese and Capelli, who in turn was being challenged by Alessandro Nannini and Gerhard Berger. Around lap 30, Nannini, Berger and Piquet all pitted for new tyres. After trailing the Williams for the first hour of the race, and doing so without a clutch since the early laps, Capelli managed to pass Patrese for fourth on lap 36 and then Senna for third on lap 39. However, his engine failed on lap 46. Mansell managed to keep Prost within arms length, but with a less powerful engine on the tight Jerez circuit simply could not get past, or truly close enough to the Frenchman to even attempt a passing move (in the post-race press conference, Mansell described following Prost as "Following the master" adding that Prost didn't put a foot wrong all race). On lap 47 Mansell pitted but a sticking wheel nut delayed him and enabled Prost to pull further ahead. Meanwhile, Nannini was going fast on his new tyres and had managed to pass not only the notoriously hard to pass Patrese for fourth place, but also the McLaren-Honda of Ayrton Senna for third place in one lap. Mansell's slow stop allowed Prost to pit (somewhat reluctantly as he correctly believed that his tyres were in good shape) on lap 50 without losing his lead, though he accidentally selected second gear instead of first and was slow getting away from his pit, while a lap later Senna also pitted for new tyres and actually dropped out of the points to seventh. On his new tyres, but while still keeping an eye on his fuel readout, he passed Gugelmin and Berger before finally overtaking Patrese, who drove the entire race on one set of tyres, for fourth place on lap 65. Prost sealed his 34th career victory with a fastest lap record and Mansell gaining his 2nd second-place of the year from just two finishes. Nannini collected another podium finish ahead of Senna (troubled with fuel readout problems again, crossing the line with his readout telling him he had almost no fuel left),Spanish Grand Prix Memories 1988 https://www.ayrton-senna.net/spanish-gp-memories-1988/#:~:text=While%20Senna%20struggled%2C%20his%20fuel%20read%2Dout%20already%20telling%20him%20the%20same%20depressing%20story%20it%20had%20in%20Portugal%2C%20his%20team%2Dmate%20stormed%20into%20the%20distance%20in%20the%20opening%20laps%20as%20Mansell%20conserved%20his%20tyres%20while%20running%20on%20full%20tanks. ayrton-senna.net A Tribute to Life Network 21 June 2023 Patrese and Berger (almost out of fuel) in 6th. Classification Pre-qualifying PosNoDriverConstructorTimeGap136ITA Alex CaffiDallara-Ford1:28.378221ITA Nicola LariniOsella1:29.293 +0.915332ARG Oscar LarrauriEuroBrun-Ford1:30.003 +1.625433ITA Stefano ModenaEuroBrun-Ford1:30.419 +2.041DNPQ Did not pre-qualify31ITA Gabriele TarquiniColoni-Ford1:30.459 +2.081 Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 12 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:24.775 1:24.067 2 11 FRA Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 1:26.735 1:24.134 +0.067 3 5 GBR Nigel Mansell Williams-Judd 1:25.898 1:24.269 +0.202 4 20 BEL Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford EX 1:24.904 +0.837 5 19 ITA Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 1:26.673 1:25.032 +0.965 6 16 ITA Ivan Capelli March-Judd 1:26.221 1:25.115 +1.048 7 6 ITA Riccardo Patrese Williams-Judd 1:27.504 1:25.217 +1.150 8 28 AUT Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:27.796 1:25.466 +1.399 9 1 BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet Lotus-Honda 1:28.015 1:25.648 +1.581 10 27 ITA Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:29.034 1:26.447 +2.380 11 15 BRA 1968 Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 1:27.414 1:26.578 +2.511 12 30 FRA Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 1:27.927 1:26.832 +2.765 13 14 FRA Philippe Streiff AGS-Ford 1:28.099 1:26.971 +2.904 14 21 ITA Nicola Larini Osella 1:28.417 1:27.012 +2.945 15 2 JPN 1947 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 1:28.840 1:27.171 +3.104 16 29 FRA Yannick Dalmas Lola-Ford 1:29.688 1:27.187 +3.120 17 17 GBR Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 1:28.473 1:27.240 +3.173 18 36 ITA Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 1:27.907 1:27.350 +3.283 19 25 FRA René Arnoux Ligier-Judd 1:29.157 1:27.351 +3.284 20 23 ITA Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:27.826 1:27.407 +3.340 21 26 SWE Stefan Johansson Ligier-Judd 1:28.009 1:27.474 +3.407 22 3 GBR Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 1:27.582 1:27.548 +3.481 23 22 ITA Andrea de Cesaris Rial-Ford 1:28.315 1:27.798 +3.731 24 24 ESP Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford 1:28.694 1:27.833 +3.816 25 18 USA Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 1:29.305 1:27.859 +3.792 26 33 ITA Stefano Modena EuroBrun-Ford 1:30.759 1:27.977 +3.910DNQ Did not qualify 10 FRG Bernd Schneider Zakspeed 1:31.144 1:28.194 +4.127DNQ Did not qualify 32 ARG Oscar Larrauri EuroBrun-Ford 1:31.366 1:28.664 +4.597DNQ Did not qualify 4 GBR Julian Bailey Tyrrell-Ford 1:30.125 1:29.066 +4.999DNQ Did not qualify 9 ITA Piercarlo Ghinzani Zakspeed 1:29.824 1:29.503 +5.436 Note: Boutsen's time from Q1 excluded as front wing end plates were 5mm longer than allowed. Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 11 FRA Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 72 1:48:43.851 2 9 2 5 GBR Nigel Mansell Williams-Judd 72 + 26.232 3 6 3 19 ITA Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 72 + 35.446 5 4 4 12 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 72 + 46.710 1 3 5 6 ITA Riccardo Patrese Williams-Judd 72 + 47.430 7 2 6 28 AUT Gerhard Berger Ferrari 72 + 51.813 8 1 7 15 BRA 1968 Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 72 + 1:15.964 11   8 1 BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet Lotus-Honda 72 + 1:17.309 9   9 20 BEL Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford 72 + 1:17.655 4   10 36 ITA Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 71 + 1 lap 18   11 29 FRA Yannick Dalmas Lola-Ford 71 + 1 lap 16   12 24 ESP Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford 70 + 2 laps 24   13 33 ITA Stefano Modena EuroBrun-Ford 70 + 2 laps 26   14 30 FRA Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 69 + 3 laps 12   Ret Retired 26 SWE Stefan Johansson Ligier-Judd 62 Wheel 21   Ret Retired 18 USA Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 60 Chassis 25   Ret Retired 16 ITA Ivan Capelli March-Judd 45 Engine 6   Ret Retired 17 GBR Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 41 Chassis 17   Ret Retired 22 ITA Andrea de Cesaris Rial-Ford 37 Engine 23   Ret Retired 14 FRA Philippe Streiff AGS-Ford 16 Engine 13   Ret Retired 27 ITA Michele Alboreto Ferrari 15 Engine 10   Ret Retired 23 ITA Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 15 Gearbox 20   Ret Retired 2 JPN 1947 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 14 Spun off 15   Ret Retired 21 ITA Nicola Larini Osella 9 Suspension 14   Ret Retired 3 GBR Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 4 Chassis 22   Ret Retired 25 FRA René Arnoux Ligier-Judd 0 Throttle 19   DNQ Did not qualify 10 FRG Bernd Schneider Zakspeed     DNQ Did not qualify 32 ARG Oscar Larrauri EuroBrun-Ford     DNQ Did not qualify 4 GBR Julian Bailey Tyrrell-Ford     DNQ Did not qualify 9 ITA Piercarlo Ghinzani Zakspeed     DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 31 ITA Gabriele Tarquini Coloni-FordSource:1988 Spanish Grand Prix http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1988/276/ formula1.com https://web.archive.org/web/20150118223034/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1988/276/ 18 January 2015 23 December 2015 Championship standings after the race Bold text indicates World Champions. Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 FRA Alain Prost 84 (90) 2 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna 79 3 AUT Gerhard Berger 38 4 BEL Thierry Boutsen 25 5 ITA Michele Alboreto 24Source:Spain 1988 - Championship • STATS F1 https://www.statsf1.com/en/1988/espagne/championnat.aspx www.statsf1.com 20 March 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 GBR McLaren-Honda169 2 ITA Ferrari62 3 GBR Benetton-Ford38 4 GBR Arrows-Megatron20 5 GBR March-Judd19Source: Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Drivers could only count their best 11 results; numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored. Points accurate at final declaration of results. The Benettons were subsequently disqualified from the Belgian Grand Prix and their points reallocated. References Spanish Grand Prix 1988 1988 Portuguese Grand Prix 1988 Japanese Grand Prix 1987 Spanish Grand Prix 1989 Spanish Grand Prix Spanish Grand Prix Category:Spanish Grand Prix Grand Prix