1987 Spanish Grand Prix

The 1987 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Jerez on 27 September 1987. It was the thirteenth race of the 1987 Formula One World Championship. It was the 29th Spanish Grand Prix and the second to be held at Jerez. The race was held over 72 laps of the 4.22-kilometre (2.62 mi) circuit for a race distance of 304 kilometres (189 mi).

1987 Spanish Grand Prix
Race 13 of 16 in the 1987 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 27 September 1987
Location Circuito Permanente de Jerez, Jerez de la Frontera, Spain
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.218 km (2.620 miles)
Distance 72 laps, 303.696 km (188.708 miles)
Weather Sunny and hot
Pole position
Driver Williams-Honda
Time 1:22.461
Fastest lap
Driver Austria Gerhard Berger Ferrari
Time 1:26.986 on lap 49
Podium
First Williams-Honda
Second McLaren-TAG
Third McLaren-TAG
Lap leaders

The race was won from pole position by British driver Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Honda. It was Mansell's fifth victory of 1987 and the eighth for the Williams team, securing them their second consecutive Constructors' Championship and fourth in all. Frenchman Alain Prost finished second in a McLaren-TAG, some 22 seconds behind Mansell, with Swedish teammate Stefan Johansson third. Mansell's teammate and Drivers' Championship rival, Brazilian Nelson Piquet, finished fourth. Prost achieved his 55th podium finish at this race, surpassing the record of Niki Lauda.

The win moved Mansell ahead of Ayrton Senna, who finished fifth in his Lotus-Honda, into second place in the Drivers' Championship, albeit 18 points behind Piquet with three races remaining.

Summary

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Nelson Piquet secured his 24th and final F1 pole position in his Williams-Honda with Nigel Mansell completing an all-Williams front row. The race was comfortably won by Mansell who passed Piquet at the end of the first lap and was never headed. The battle for third (then second) was led for much of the time by Ayrton Senna, who like the previous year tried to complete the race without changing tyres. Both Senna and Lotus were of the opinion that the 99T's computerised active suspension system would help preserve his tyres throughout the race.

Senna had a queue of both Ferraris, Prost's McLaren and Thierry Boutsen's Benetton behind him, which was joined by Piquet after a long pit-stop. For lap after lap, Senna held off all-comers, similar to Gilles Villeneuve's performance in his Ferrari at Jarama for the 1981 Spanish Grand Prix. The Lotus-Honda was very fast in a straight line with a low downforce setup, but was slow through Jerez's many twists and turns as a result. Senna's pursuers could not pass him on the long pit straight, and with Jerez generally having a lot of dust and sand off the racing line, they were not able pass him through the corners without losing grip.

However, Piquet's similarly powered Williams was able to get by (not before having a spin) followed eventually by Boutsen and Prost as the Brazilian's tyres finally went off. Senna faded to finish fifth, but the battle for second continued between Boutsen and Piquet - Boutsen went out avoiding Piquet who was rejoining the track after having gone off - and then between Piquet and Prost, with Prost getting the better of the Williams driver who also lost third place to McLaren's Stefan Johansson who put in another strong drive. Both Ferraris blew their engines.

Martin Brundle, who finished 11th in his Zakspeed, described his drive as "the time I got out the car thinking no human could have done [any] better".[1]

Classification

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Qualifying

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Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 6   Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 1:23.621 1:22.461
2 5   Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 1:23.081 no time +0.620
3 28   Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:23.164 1:25.250 +0.703
4 27   Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:24.192 1:24.832 +1.731
5 12   Ayrton Senna Lotus-Honda 1:25.162 1:24.320 +1.859
6 19   Teo Fabi Benetton-Ford 1:25.263 1:24.523 +2.062
7 1   Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:24.596 1:24.905 +2.135
8 20   Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford 1:26.372 1:25.295 +2.834
9 7   Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 1:26.639 1:25.335 +2.874
10 8   Andrea de Cesaris Brabham-BMW 1:31.981 1:25.811 +3.350
11 2   Stefan Johansson McLaren-TAG 1:26.147 1:26.147 +3.686
12 17   Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 1:26.728 1:26.882 +4.267
13 18   Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 1:27.062 1:27.970 +4.601
14 25   René Arnoux Ligier-Megatron 1:28.241 1:28.362 +5.780
15 4   Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Ford 1:28.970 1:28.330 +5.869
16 3   Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 1:28.353 1:28.426 +5.892
17 30   Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 1:29.147 1:28.361 +5.900
18 11   Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 1:28.776 1:28.367 +5.906
19 16   Ivan Capelli March-Ford 1:28.477 1:28.694 +6.016
20 9   Martin Brundle Zakspeed 1:28.876 1:28.597 +6.136
21 24   Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:28.823 1:28.602 +6.141
22 10   Christian Danner Zakspeed 1:30.325 1:28.667 +6.206
23 26   Piercarlo Ghinzani Ligier-Megatron 1:29.663 1:29.066 +6.605
24 23   Adrián Campos Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:29.538 1:30.204 +7.077
25 14   Pascal Fabre AGS-Ford 1:32.490 1:30.694 +8.233
26 32   Nicola Larini Coloni-Ford 1:31.319 1:30.982 +8.521
DNQ 21   Alex Caffi Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:31.284 1:31.069 +8.608
DNQ 22   Franco Forini Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:34.723 1:35.572 +12.262
Source:[2][3][4]

Race

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5   Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 72 1:49:12.692 2 9
2 1   Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 72 + 22.225 7 6
3 2   Stefan Johansson McLaren-TAG 72 + 30.818 11 4
4 6   Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 72 + 31.450 1 3
5 12   Ayrton Senna Lotus-Honda 72 + 1:13.507 5 2
6 (1) 30   Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 71 + 1 lap 17 1
7 (2) 4   Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Ford 71 + 1 lap 15  
8 18   Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 70 Out of fuel 13  
9 11   Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 70 + 2 laps 18  
10 17   Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 70 + 2 laps 12  
11 9   Martin Brundle Zakspeed 70 + 2 laps 20  
12 (3) 16   Ivan Capelli March-Ford 70 + 2 laps 19  
13 7   Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 68 + 4 laps 9  
14 23   Adrián Campos Minardi-Motori Moderni 68 + 4 laps 24  
15 27   Michele Alboreto Ferrari 67 Engine 4  
16 20   Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford 66 Accident 8  
Ret 28   Gerhard Berger Ferrari 62 Engine 3  
Ret 3   Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 55 Collision 16  
Ret 25   René Arnoux Ligier-Megatron 55 Collision 14  
Ret 10   Christian Danner Zakspeed 50 Transmission 22  
Ret 24   Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 45 Turbo 21  
Ret 19   Teo Fabi Benetton-Ford 40 Brakes 6  
Ret 8   Andrea de Cesaris Brabham-BMW 26 Gearbox 10  
Ret 26   Piercarlo Ghinzani Ligier-Megatron 24 Ignition 23  
Ret 14   Pascal Fabre AGS-Ford 10 Clutch 25  
Ret 32   Nicola Larini Coloni-Ford 8 Suspension 26  
Source:[5]

Championship standings after the race

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all four sets of standings.

References

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  1. ^ F1 Racing, October 2009, You Ask The Questions
  2. ^ "1987 Tio Pepe Spanish Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 1". formula1.com. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  3. ^ "1987 Tio Pepe Spanish Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 2". formula1.com. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  4. ^ "1987 Tio Pepe Spanish Grand Prix - OVERALL QUALIFYING". formula1.com. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  5. ^ "1987 Spanish Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  6. ^ a b "Spain 1987 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.


Previous race:
1987 Portuguese Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1987 season
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1987 Mexican Grand Prix
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1986 Spanish Grand Prix
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1988 Spanish Grand Prix