1989 Brazilian Grand Prix

F1 Brazilian Brazil 1968 XVIII Grande Prêmio do Brasil 26 March Autódromo_de_Jacarepaguá_1978-1995.png 1989 1 16 Autódromo Internacional Nelson PiquetJacarepaguá, Rio de Janeiro 3.126 5.031 61 190.693 306.891 Very hot, dry, sunny BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:25.302 Riccardo Patrese Italy Williams-Renault 1:32.507 47 GBR Nigel Mansell Ferrari Alain Prost McLaren-Honda France BRA 1968 Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd Autocourse 1989-90 Hazleton Publishing 1989 0-905138-62-7 Henry Alan Rosinski José Kirby Gordon Hamilton Maurice Tremayne David Roebuck Nigel Nye Doug Piola Giorgio Taylor John Dodgins Tony Spurring Quentin Jones Bruce Skewis Mark Richmond, Surrey, United Kingdom 98–107 BRA The 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Jacarepaguá, Rio de Janeiro on 26 March 1989. It was the first race of the 1989 Formula One World Championship. The 61-lap race was won by Englishman Nigel Mansell, driving for Scuderia Ferrari, with Frenchman Alain Prost second for McLaren-Honda and local driver Maurício Gugelmin third in a March-Judd. It was the first time that a car with a semi-automatic gearbox won the race. Mansell claimed that he had booked an early flight home as he did not expect the new Ferrari 640 (which had severe reliability problems in testing and practice sessions before the race) to complete the distance, and during the podium ceremony he cut his hand whilst lifting the trophy.https://f1i.com/magazine/32700-brazil-1989-il-leone-roars-to-win-on-ferrari-debut.html Brazil 1989: 'Il Leone' roars to win on Ferrari debut 8 November 2015 Background 1989 Formula One World Championship#Drivers and constructors The event, officially called the Grande Prêmio do Brasil was held at the Autodromo Nelson Piquet in Baixada de Jacarepaguá in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro and was the first round of the 1989 Formula One World Championship. Free and qualifying practice sessions were held on Friday 24 March and Saturday 25 March, with a warm-up session and the Grand Prix race itself taking place on Sunday 26 March 1989. This was the last Formula One race at Jacarepaguá and in Rio de Janeiro. From 1990, the Brazilian Grand Prix would be held at a shortened Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Interlagos, São Paulo, the home town of Ayrton Senna, where it is today.October 2025 Thirty-nine cars were entered for the event by twenty constructors, although Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives (AGS) withdrew one of their entries before the event. Thirteen constructors used Goodyear tyres whilst seven teams used Pirelli tyres. Several teams, including AGS with the JH23B, Benetton Formula with the B188, Scuderia Coloni with the FC 188, EuroBrun with the ER 188B, Larrousse with the Lola LC88B, March Engineering with the 881, Minardi with the M188B, Rial Racing with the ARC2, the Tyrrell Racing Organisation with the 017B, and Williams with the FW12C used versions of their cars from the previous season at this event, featuring varying degrees of modification, some only making minor changes whilst others, such as Eurobrun, Larrousse, and Williams had gone so far as to change engine manufacturer. Williams had one newly-constructed chassis at this race, alongside two 1988 chassis modified to 1989 specifications. Other teams introduced new cars, with Arrows debuting the A11, the returning Brabham debuting the BT58, Scuderia Italia debuting the Dallara F189, Ligier debuting the JS33, Team Lotus debuting the 101, McLaren debuting the MP4/5, debutante Onyx Grand Prix fielding their ORE-1, Osella debuting the FA1-M89, and Zakspeed debuting the 891. Scuderia Ferrari introduced the Ferrari 640 at this race, the first Formula One car with a semi-automatic gearbox. Williams driver Riccardo Patrese made a then record-breaking 177th appearance at a Grand Prix. This race saw the Grand Prix debuts of British driver Johnny Herbert (in a Benetton) and French driver Olivier Grouillard (in a Ligier). Herbert competed with a sore ankle that caused him to limp due to injuries sustained in a Formula 3000 crash in August 1988. Qualifying Pre-qualifying report Several teams were required to participate in the Friday morning pre-qualifying sessions during 1989, in order to reduce the field to thirty cars for the main qualifying sessions on Friday afternoon and Saturday. At the midway point of the season, the pre-qualifying group was to be reassessed, with the more successful, points-scoring teams being allowed to avoid pre-qualifying, and unsuccessful teams being required to pre-qualify from mid-season onwards. At this first Grand Prix of 1989 in Brazil, five cars were allowed to progress. The AGS team had expanded from one car to two, and their first car, to be driven by Philippe Streiff, was not required to pre-qualify. However, the Frenchman had been paralysed in a midweek testing crash at the circuit, which ended his career. He was not replaced for the Grand Prix weekend, allowing an extra car to progress from the pre-qualifying session, the only time during the pre-qualifying sessions from 1988 to 1992 that five cars would be allowed to partake in the main qualifying session instead of the standard four.October 2025 The FIRST team withdrew before the event, as the car had failed a mandatory FIA pre-season crash test. This left thirteen cars participating in the session. They included the two Brabhams, as the team had not participated in 1988, and the new Onyx team with their two-car entry. Also included were the two Zakspeeds and the two Osellas. This left five other cars: the sole single-car entry from EuroBrun, and the second cars of the four teams expanding from one car to two for 1989, namely AGS, Coloni, Dallara and Rial. During the session, the two Brabhams of Martin Brundle and Stefano Modena were considerably faster than the other entrants, securing a comfortable 1–2. Third was the EuroBrun driven by debutant Swiss driver Gregor Foitek, and fourth was the Osella of Nicola Larini. The fortunate fifth fastest runner, who also went through to qualifying on this occasion, was Zakspeed's Bernd Schneider.Walker Murray 1989 Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year First Formula Publishing 13–20 1-870066-22-7 Missing out in sixth was Alex Caffi in the Dallara, ahead of veteran Piercarlo Ghinzani in the other Osella. Another newcomer, German driver Volker Weidler was eighth in the Rial, with Pierre-Henri Raphanel's Coloni ninth, ahead of Joachim Winkelhock, also competing in Formula One for the first time, in the AGS. Eleventh was the second Zakspeed of Aguri Suzuki, with the Onyx drivers a little way adrift at the bottom of the time sheets, having had little time to test their new car. Stefan Johansson was faster than his Belgian team-mate Bertrand Gachot, the other driver in the session to make his Formula One debut, but was still over seven seconds slower than Brundle's time. Pre-qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 7 GBR Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd 1:27.764 2 8 ITA Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 1:28.147 +0.383 3 33 CHE Gregor Foitek EuroBrun-Judd 1:29.604 +1.840 4 17 ITA Nicola Larini Osella-Ford 1:29.679 +1.915 5 34 FRG Bernd Schneider Zakspeed-Yamaha 1:30.417 +2.653 6 21 ITA Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 1:30.747 +2.983 7 18 ITA Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Ford 1:31.150 +3.386 8 39 FRG Volker Weidler Rial-Ford 1:31.964 +4.200 9 32 FRA Pierre-Henri Raphanel Coloni-Ford 1:32.019 +4.255 10 41 FRG Joachim Winkelhock AGS-Ford 1:32.982 +5.218 11 35 JPN 1947 Aguri Suzuki Zakspeed-Yamaha 1:33.079 +5.315 12 36 SWE Stefan Johansson Onyx-Ford 1:35.232 +7.468 13 37 BEL Bertrand Gachot Onyx-Ford 1:37.932 +10.168 Qualifying report Ayrton Senna took pole position in qualifying ahead of Patrese and Ferrari's Gerhard Berger. For Patrese it was actually his first front row start since he started second at the 1983 European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch, a gap of 81 races. On his debut for Ferrari, Berger's teammate Nigel Mansell qualified sixth.https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2009/10/pick_your_classic_brazilian_gr.html Pick your classic Brazilian Grand Prix Andrew Benson bbc.co.uk 7 October 2009 12 July 2012 Temperatures during Saturday's qualifying practice session were around 105 F flip. Benetton driver Herbert and Ligier driver Grouillard both qualified for their first Formula One races. Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Team Q1 Q2 Gap 1 1 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:26.205 1:25.302 2 6 ITA Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:26.172 7:12.732 +0.870 3 28 AUT Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:26.271 1:26.394 +0.969 4 5 BEL Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 1:27.367 1:26.459 +1.157 5 2 FRA Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 1:27.095 1:26.620 +1.318 6 27 GBR Nigel Mansell Ferrari 1:27.249 1:26.772 +1.470 7 16 ITA Ivan Capelli March-Judd 1:27.525 1:27.035 +1.733 8 9 GBR Derek Warwick Arrows-Ford 1:27.937 1:27.408 +2.106 9 11 BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet Lotus-Judd 1:28.423 1:27.437 +2.135 10 20 GBR Johnny Herbert Benetton-Ford 1:27.626 1:27.754 +2.324 11 19 ITA Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 1:28.394 1:27.865 +2.563 12 15 BRA 1968 Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 1:27.956 1:28.581 +2.654 13 7 GBR Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd 1:29.138 1:28.274 +2.972 14 8 ITA Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 1:28.621 1:28.942 +3.319 15 22 ITA Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 1:29.005 1:29.206 +3.703 16 23 ITA Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:30.077 1:29.435 +4.133 17 38 DEU Christian Danner Rial-Ford 1:30.460 1:29.455 +4.153 18 3 GBR Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 1:30.443 1:29.573 +4.271 19 17 ITA Nicola Larini Osella-Ford 1:31.341 1:30.146 +4.844 20 4 ITA Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 1:32.260 1:30.255 +4.953 21 12 JPN 1947 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Judd 1:30.942 1:30.375 +5.073 22 26 FRA Olivier Grouillard Ligier-Ford 1:30.410 1:30.666 +5.108 23 24 ESP Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford 1:30.702 1:30.643 +5.341 24 10 USA Eddie Cheever Arrows-Ford 1:30.657 1:31.068 +5.355 25 34 DEU Bernd Schneider Zakspeed-Yamaha 1:32.346 1:30.861 +5.559 26 30 FRA Philippe Alliot Lola-Lamborghini 1:31.872 1:31.009 +5.707 27 29 FRA Yannick Dalmas Lola-Lamborghini 1:32.411 1:31.260 +5.958 28 25 FRA René Arnoux Ligier-Ford 1:34.232 1:31.376 +6.074 29 33 CHE Gregor Foitek EuroBrun-Judd 1:31.791 1:53.570 +6.489 30 31 BRA 1968 Roberto Moreno Coloni-Ford 1:32.561 1:34.894 +7.259 Race Race report The race was due to begin at 13:00 local time. Before the race the temperature was measured at 106 F flip. At the start, Nicola Larini was disqualified for an illegal start. Mansell became the first man since Mario Andretti in 1971 to win on his Formula One debut for Ferrari, a feat that was not matched until Kimi Räikkönen won for Ferrari at the 2007 Australian Grand Prix. It was also the first race ever to be won by a car with a semi-automatic gearbox. Mansell cut his hands on the trophy following the race. December 2008 Do you remember when Mansell cut his hands on the podium? F1 Racing Derwent Howard 141 39 Mansell had lacked confidence in the new V12-powered Ferrari's reliability, and as such had booked a flight home which was due to depart at 16:30. He was joined on the podium by McLaren's Alain Prost and March's Maurício Gugelmin, making his first and only appearance on the podium. Johnny Herbert, still recovering from his horrifying Formula 3000 crash at Brands Hatch six months earlier, finished 4th on his Formula 1 debut for Benetton, 1.123 seconds behind Gugelmin and 7.748 seconds in front of teammate Alessandro Nannini who finished 6th. The hard luck of the story of the race was undoubtedly Arrows driver Derek Warwick. After his first tyre stop which lasted 18 seconds (a normal stop for the time was around 6–8 seconds) and dropped him from 3rd to 8th, there was another problem fitting a rear wheel during his second stop for tyres, a problem which Warwick himself compounded by actually stalling the Arrows-Ford as he tried to leave his pit, all of which resulted in a stop of around 25 seconds. He eventually finished in fifth place, less than 18 seconds behind Mansell suggesting that the two long pit stops where he was stationary for almost 30 seconds longer than had the stops been trouble free, may have cost Warwick and Arrows their maiden Grand Prix victory. Warwick's Arrows teammate Eddie Cheever collapsed after exiting his car following the collision involving the Zakspeed of Bernd Schneider that ended his race. Arrows actually had to modify Cheever's car after he failed the FIA safety check where a driver had five seconds to be able to exit their car. The new Ross Brawn designed Arrows A11 was a tight fit for the tall American and he had trouble fitting into the car before practice. It was also a tight fit for Warwick who pointed out during practice that it was really his and Cheever's own fault as Brawn had continually asked the pair if they were comfortable in the car, to which they both said yes, but as Warwick pointed out sitting in a stationary car in the workshop or pit lane is vastly different to being out on the track with all the bumps and g-forces. Schneider, whose car carried the new Yamaha V8 engine, only got into the race after Philippe Streiff's crash and the FIA had allowed five pre-qualifiers to enter the main field instead of four. Schneider did not qualify for another race until the season's penultimate round in Japan some seven months later. His new teammate Aguri Suzuki ultimately failed to qualify for all 16 rounds of the 1989 season. Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 27 GBR Nigel Mansell Ferrari 61 1:38:58.744 6 9 2 2 FRA Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 61 + 7.809 5 6 3 15 BRA 1968 Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 61 + 9.370 12 4 4 20 GBR Johnny Herbert Benetton-Ford 61 + 10.493 10 3 5 9 GBR Derek Warwick Arrows-Ford 61 + 17.866 8 2 6 19 ITA Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 61 + 18.241 11 1 7 3 GBR Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 60 + 1 lap 18 8 12 JPN 1947 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Judd 60 + 1 lap 21 9 26 FRA Olivier Grouillard Ligier-Ford 60 + 1 lap 22 10 4 ITA Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 59 + 2 laps 20 11 1 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 59 + 2 laps 1 12 30 FRA Philippe Alliot Lola-Lamborghini 58 + 3 laps 26 13 22 ITA Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 57 + 4 laps 15 14 38 DEU Christian Danner Rial-Ford 56 Gearbox 17 Ret Retired 6 ITA Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 51 Alternator 2 Ret Retired 10 USA Eddie Cheever Arrows-Ford 37 Collision 24 Ret Retired 34 DEU Bernd Schneider Zakspeed-Yamaha 36 Collision 25 Ret Retired 7 GBR Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd 27 Halfshaft 13 Ret Retired 16 ITA Ivan Capelli March-Judd 22 Suspension 7 Ret Retired 11 BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet Lotus-Judd 10 Fuel system 9 DSQ Disqualified 17 ITA Nicola Larini Osella-Ford 10 Illegal start 19 Ret Retired 8 ITA Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 9 Halfshaft 14 Ret Retired 5 BEL Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 3 Engine 4 Ret Retired 23 ITA Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 2 Chassis 16 Ret Retired 28 AUT Gerhard Berger Ferrari 0 Collision 3 Ret Retired 24 ESP Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford 0 Collision 23 DNQ Did not qualify 29 FRA Yannick Dalmas Lola-Lamborghini DNQ Did not qualify 25 FRA René Arnoux Ligier-Ford DNQ Did not qualify 33 CHE Gregor Foitek EuroBrun-Judd DNQ Did not qualify 31 BRA 1968 Roberto Moreno Coloni-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 21 ITA Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 18 ITA Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 39 DEU Volker Weidler Rial-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 32 FRA Pierre-Henri Raphanel Coloni-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 41 DEU Joachim Winkelhock AGS-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 35 JPN 1947 Aguri Suzuki Zakspeed-Yamaha DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 36 SWE Stefan Johansson Onyx-Ford DNPQ Did not pre-qualify 37 BEL Bertrand Gachot Onyx-Ford Source:http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1989/231/ 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix formula1.com 23 December 2015 https://web.archive.org/web/20150118230201/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1989/231/ 18 January 2015 Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 GBR Nigel Mansell 9 2 FRA Alain Prost 6 3 BRA 1968 Maurício Gugelmin 4 4 GBR Johnny Herbert 3 5 GBR Derek Warwick 2Source:https://www.statsf1.com/en/1989/bresil/championnat.aspx Brazil 1989 - Championship • STATS F1 www.statsf1.com 13 March 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 ITA Ferrari 9 2 GBR McLaren-Honda 6 3 GBR March-Judd 4 4 GBR Benetton-Ford 4 5 GBR Arrows-Ford 2Source: Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. References Pre-qualifying results from FIA Yearbook 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix 1989 1988 Australian Grand Prix 1989 San Marino Grand Prix 1988 Brazilian Grand Prix 1990 Brazilian Grand Prix Brazilian Grand Prix Category:Brazilian Grand Prix Grand Prix Category:1989 in Rio de Janeiro (city) Brazilian Grand Prix