1987 Belgian Grand Prix

Last updated
1987 Belgian Grand Prix
Race 3 of 16 in the 1987 Formula One World Championship
Spa 1996.jpg
Race details
Date17 May 1987
Official name XLV Grand Prix de Belgique
Location Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Francorchamps, Wallonia, Belgium [1]
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 6.940 km (4.312 miles)
Distance 43 laps, 298.420 km (185.429 miles)
Weather Cloudy and cool
Pole position
Driver Williams-Honda
Time 1:52.026
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of France.svg Alain Prost McLaren-TAG
Time 1:57.153 on lap 26
Podium
First McLaren-TAG
Second McLaren-TAG
Third Brabham-BMW
Lap leaders
  • 1987 Belgian Grand Prix

The 1987 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 17 May 1987 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Francorchamps, Wallonia. Contested over 43 laps, the race was the 45th Belgian Grand Prix, the 33rd to be held at Spa and the fourth since the circuit was redeveloped in 1979, and the third race of the 1987 Formula One season.

Contents

The race was won by France's Alain Prost driving a McLaren-TAG. This was Prost's second victory of the 1987 season and his second in the Belgian Grand Prix (after 1983), as well as his 27th Grand Prix victory overall, equalling Jackie Stewart's all-time record. Prost's Swedish team-mate Stefan Johansson finished second, the only other driver on the same lap, giving McLaren their first 1-2 finish since the previous year's Monaco Grand Prix. Italy's Andrea de Cesaris, driving a Brabham-BMW, finished third despite having to push his car over the line as he had run out of fuel.

The win gave Prost a five-point lead over Johansson in the Drivers' Championship. Williams driver Nigel Mansell was three points further back; a first-lap collision with Ayrton Senna's Lotus had ultimately led to his retirement from the race, after which he angrily confronted the Brazilian driver in the Lotus garage.

Race summary

Qualifying runs saw the two Williams FW11Bs take the front row, with Nigel Mansell on the pole, nearly 1.5 seconds faster than Nelson Piquet. Certainly, Piquet was still suffering the results of his accident at Imola. Ayrton Senna took the third place in his Lotus 99T ahead of the two Ferrari F1/87s of Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto.

The race required two starts. On the first start Mansell took the lead ahead of Senna, Piquet and Alboreto. At the back of the grid René Arnoux (Ligier JS29B) and Andrea de Cesaris (Brabham BT56) tangled, whilst Thierry Boutsen (Benetton B187) hit Berger's spinning Ferrari F1/87. A more serious accident befell Philippe Streiff who crashed heavily at the Eau Rouge before the wreckage was hit by Tyrrell teammate Jonathan Palmer; both were unhurt but their Tyrrell DG016s were reduced to scrap. By virtue of qualifying 23rd to his teammate's 24th, and ironically by crashing first, Streiff was given the spare car for the restart forcing Palmer out of the race.

On the second start, Senna led Mansell away, but during lap one the Briton tried to overtake the Brazilian. The two controversially tangled, leading to the retirement of the Lotus 99T. Mansell rejoined the race at the back, until the damage sustained in the collision finally forced him to retire on lap 17. Mansell subsequently visited the Lotus garage where harsh words were exchanged and punches were thrown.

Berger retired on lap three with a broken piston whilst on lap 10 second place Michele Alboreto's wheel bearing broke and Nelson Piquet retired with a broken turbo pipe, handing the lead to Alain Prost from Teo Fabi and Stefan Johansson. The pitstops changed little in the situation, and he maintained this to win easily by 25 seconds, despite concerns with his fuel consumption due to a faulty gauge.

This was Prost's 27th win, equalling Jackie Stewart's record with team-mate Johansson making it a McLaren 1-2. Andrea de Cesaris drove superbly to finish third for Brabham despite having to push his car over the line with Eddie Cheever (Arrows A10), Satoru Nakajima (Lotus 99T) and Arnoux taking the remaining points. With the setbacks to the Tyrrell drivers, the Jim Clark points were won by the Lola LC87 of Philippe Alliot. As of 2023, this was also the last time that the Belgian Grand Prix was held at the beginning of the season; since 1988, it has always been held in July, August or September.

Classification

Qualifying

PosNoDriverConstructorQ1Q2GapGrid
15 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 2:06.9651:52.0261
26 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 2:08.1431:53.416+1.3902
312 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Ayrton Senna Lotus-Honda 2:08.4501:53.426+1.4003
428 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger Ferrari 2:06.2161:53.451+1.4254
527 Flag of Italy.svg Michele Alboreto Ferrari 2:07.4591:53.511+1.4855
61 Flag of France.svg Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 2:11.2031:54.186+2.1606
720 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford 2:08.7521:54.300+2.2747
87 Flag of Italy.svg Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 2:12.9141:55.064+3.0388
919 Flag of Italy.svg Teo Fabi Benetton-Ford 2:12.3581:55.339+3.3139
102 Flag of Sweden.svg Stefan Johansson McLaren-TAG 2:12.0631:55.781+3.75510
1118 Flag of the United States.svg Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 2:15.3211:55.899+3.87311
1217 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 2:10.9461:56.359+4.33312
138 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris Brabham-BMW 2:13.8711:57.101+5.07513
1424 Flag of Italy.svg Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 2:09.6501:58.132+6.10614
1511 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 2:11.4411:58.649+6.62315
1625 Flag of France.svg René Arnoux Ligier-Megatron 2:15.0121:59.117+7.09116
1726 Flag of Italy.svg Piercarlo Ghinzani Ligier-Megatron 2:15.3391:59.291+7.26517
189 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Martin Brundle Zakspeed 2:14.4322:00.433+8.40718
1923 Flag of Spain.svg Adrián Campos Minardi-Motori Moderni 2:14.9452:00.763+8.73719
2010 Flag of Germany.svg Christian Danner Zakspeed 2:20.6102:01.072+9.04620
2116 Flag of Italy.svg Ivan Capelli March-Ford 2:13.3552:02.036+10.01021
2230 Flag of France.svg Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 2:13.0822:02.347+10.32122
234 Flag of France.svg Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Ford 2:18.9002:03.098+11.07223
243 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 2:14.9312:04.677+12.65124
2514 Flag of France.svg Pascal Fabre AGS-Ford 2:26.4982:07.361+15.33525
2621 Flag of Italy.svg Alex Caffi Osella-Alfa Romeo 2:16.2682:12.086+20.06026
Source: [2] [3] [4] [5]

Race

Numbers in brackets refer to positions of normally aspirated entrants competing for the Jim Clark Trophy.

PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
11 Flag of France.svg Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 431:27:03.21769
22 Flag of Sweden.svg Stefan Johansson McLaren-TAG 43+ 24.764106
38 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris Brabham-BMW 42Out of Fuel134
418 Flag of the United States.svg Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 42+ 1 Lap113
511 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 42+ 1 Lap152
625 Flag of France.svg René Arnoux Ligier-Megatron 41+ 2 Laps161
726 Flag of Italy.svg Piercarlo Ghinzani Ligier-Megatron 40Out of Fuel17 
8 (1)30 Flag of France.svg Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 40+ 3 Laps22 
9 (2)4 Flag of France.svg Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Ford 39+ 4 Laps23 
10 (3)14 Flag of France.svg Pascal Fabre AGS-Ford 38Ignition25 
Ret19 Flag of Italy.svg Teo Fabi Benetton-Ford 34Engine9 
Ret9 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Martin Brundle Zakspeed 19Overheating18 
Ret20 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford 18Wheel Bearing7 
Ret5 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 17Accident1 
Ret16 Flag of Italy.svg Ivan Capelli March-Ford 14Engine21 
Ret6 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 11Exhaust2 
Ret21 Flag of Italy.svg Alex Caffi Osella-Alfa Romeo 11Fuel Leak26 
Ret27 Flag of Italy.svg Michele Alboreto Ferrari 9Transmission5 
Ret10 Flag of Germany.svg Christian Danner Zakspeed 9Brakes20 
Ret17 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 8Radiator12 
Ret7 Flag of Italy.svg Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 5Clutch8 
Ret28 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger Ferrari 2Engine4 
Ret24 Flag of Italy.svg Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 1Turbo14 
Ret12 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Ayrton Senna Lotus-Honda 0Collision3 
Ret23 Flag of Spain.svg Adrián Campos Minardi-Motori Moderni 0Gearbox19 
Ret3 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 0Collision24 
Source: [6]

Championship standings after the race

References

  1. "1987 Belgian GP". Motor Sport . Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  2. "1987 Belgian Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 1". formula1.com. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  3. "1987 Belgian Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 2". formula1.com. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  4. "1987 Belgian Grand Prix - OVERALL QUALIFYING". formula1.com. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  5. "1987 Belgian Grand Prix - STARTING GRID". formula1.com. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  6. "1987 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  7. 1 2 "Belgium 1987 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
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