1987 French Grand Prix

Last updated
1987 French Grand Prix
Race 6 of 16 in the 1987 Formula One World Championship
Paul Ricard 1986.png
Race details
Date5 July 1987
Official name Grand Prix de France
Location Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet, France
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 3.813 km (2.369 mi)
Distance 80 laps, 305.040 km (189.543 mi)
Weather Sunny and hot
Pole position
Driver Williams-Honda
Time 1:06.454
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda
Time 1:09.548 on lap 68
Podium
First Williams-Honda
Second Williams-Honda
Third McLaren-TAG
Lap leaders
  • 1987 French Grand Prix

The 1987 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 5 July 1987 at the Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet. It was the sixth race of the 1987 Formula One World Championship. It was the 65th French Grand Prix and the eleventh to be held at Paul Ricard, and the second to be held on the shortened version of the circuit. The race was held over 80 laps of the 3.813-kilometre (2.369 mi) circuit for a race distance of 305.040 kilometres (189.543 mi).

Contents

The race was won by British driver Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Honda, after he started from pole position. Mansell took his second victory of the season by 7.7 seconds from Brazilian teammate Nelson Piquet, with local driver Alain Prost third in a McLaren-TAG.

Drivers' Championship leader, Brazilian Ayrton Senna, finished fourth in his Lotus-Honda, which was enough for him to retain the championship lead by one point over Prost, with Piquet and Mansell three and six points behind respectively.

Race summary

Qualifying

For the first time since the 1986 Mexican Grand Prix, a non-Honda powered car was on the front row in the shape of the McLaren-TAG of Alain Prost, who qualified second. The pole position was taken once again by Nigel Mansell in his Williams-Honda, while the second row was occupied by Ayrton Senna's Lotus-Honda and Nelson Piquet's Williams. The fast nature of the circuit clearly suited the turbo cars: the best placed non-turbo driver was Ivan Capelli in the March 871 in 22nd place, about six seconds off the pace and 50 km/h (31 mph) slower on the Mistral Straight than the Williams-Hondas.

Showing the advances in engine development, aerodynamics and tyres, on his pole lap Mansell was timed at 325 km/h (202 mph) on the Mistral. Even though the Mistral used in 1987 was some 800 metres shorter than when Formula One last used the full circuit at Paul Ricard in 1985, the sheer acceleration and top speed of the Williams-Hondas was comparable to the top speeds seen at the circuit from the 1985 season cars.

During qualifying Arrows driver Derek Warwick gave a view on the strength of the turbocharged Honda RA167-E V6 engine and the acceleration advantage Williams had over the field since the opening round in Brazil. He noted that on one lap he entered the Mistral approximately 50 metres ahead of Piquet's Williams. Despite the known power of the Megatron (formerly BMW) turbo, Warwick claimed by the time they got to Signes just over one kilometre later the acceleration of the Honda had seen Piquet around 100 metres ahead of the Arrows A10.

Race

At the lights, Michele Alboreto jumped the start, whilst his Ferrari teammate Gerhard Berger stalled. Nigel Mansell led away and was joined by teammate Nelson Piquet at the front after he passed Prost on the Mistral Straight. Eddie Cheever retired his Arrows A10 on lap one after accidentally setting off the fire extinguisher whilst attempting to adjust the turbo boost. Andrea de Cesaris (Brabham BT56) then collided with Stefan Johansson, the McLaren requiring a pit stop for a damaged nosecone; the debris of his car caused some trouble to Mansell who ran into them.

Mansell, Piquet and Prost were engaged in a gripping battle for the lead, separated by just two seconds. On lap 19, Piquet spun and Prost passed him for second. Meanwhile, Senna was holding onto a creditable fourth place. On lap 30, Piquet pitted for new tyres, followed two laps later by Senna. Meanwhile, Thierry Boutsen (Benetton B187) retired with electrical failure. Both Mansell and Prost came in for new tyres on lap 36, handing the lead to Piquet. Mansell completed his stop and closed rapidly on Piquet, breaking fastest lap records. On lap 46, at the Le Beausset corner, Piquet made an error and Mansell passed him on the inside to take a lead he would not lose. On lap 65 Piquet made a second stop which went wrong when the engine stalled, delaying him by an additional eight seconds. After exiting the pits, he caught and passed Prost (who was dealing with an electrical problem) on lap 67.

Piquet was about 20 seconds behind Mansell, but on the final laps he was gaining at two seconds a lap. With seven laps to go, the gap was reduced to just 13 seconds, but Mansell paced himself to win by 7.7 seconds. Johansson had fought courageously up to sixth place after two pit stops to repair damages on his McLaren, but retired just five laps from the chequered flag.

In his home race, Prost took the final podium place some 48 seconds behind Piquet. Senna finished fourth ahead of Teo Fabi's Benetton B187 in fifth. Philippe Streiff drove a superb race to take his first World Championship point and the victory for the Jim Clark Trophy in his Tyrrell-Ford.

Classification

Qualifying

PosNoDriverConstructorQ1Q2Gap
15 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 1:06.4541:06.705
21 Flag of France.svg Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:06.8771:07.843+0.423
312 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Ayrton Senna Lotus-Honda 1:07.3031:07.024+0.570
46 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 1:07.2701:07.140+0.686
520 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford 1:08.0771:08.176+1.623
628 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:08.1981:08.335+1.744
719 Flag of Italy.svg Teo Fabi Benetton-Ford 1:08.2931:11.815+1.839
827 Flag of Italy.svg Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:08.3901:08.916+1.936
92 Flag of Sweden.svg Stefan Johansson McLaren-TAG 1:08.5771:09.095+2.123
1017 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 1:09.2561:08.800+2.346
118 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris Brabham-BMW 1:09.4991:08.949+2.495
127 Flag of Italy.svg Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 1:09.4581:08.993+2.539
1325 Flag of France.svg René Arnoux Ligier-Megatron 1:09.4301:09.970+2.976
1418 Flag of the United States.svg Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 1:09.8281:09.869+3.374
1524 Flag of Italy.svg Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:10.3881:09.868+3.414
1611 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 1:12.2681:10.652+4.198
1726 Flag of Italy.svg Piercarlo Ghinzani Ligier-Megatron 1:10.7981:10.900+4.344
189 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Martin Brundle Zakspeed 1:11.4511:11.170+4.716
1910 Flag of Germany.svg Christian Danner Zakspeed 1:11.4561:11.389+4.935
2021 Flag of Italy.svg Alex Caffi Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:12.1671:12.555+5.713
2123 Flag of Spain.svg Adrián Campos Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:13.1451:12.551+6.097
2216 Flag of Italy.svg Ivan Capelli March-Ford 1:13.2041:12.654+6.200
2330 Flag of France.svg Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 1:13.0261:14.422+6.572
243 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 1:13.4431:13.474+6.989
254 Flag of France.svg Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Ford 1:13.5531:13.525+7.071
2614 Flag of France.svg Pascal Fabre AGS-Ford 1:14.6991:14.787+8.245
Source: [1] [2] [3]

Race

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

PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
15 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 801:37:03.83919
26 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 80+ 7.71146
31 Flag of France.svg Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 80+ 55.25524
412 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Ayrton Senna Lotus-Honda 79+ 1 lap33
519 Flag of Italy.svg Teo Fabi Benetton-Ford 77+ 3 laps72
6 (1)4 Flag of France.svg Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Ford 76+ 4 laps251
7 (2)3 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 76+ 4 laps24 
82 Flag of Sweden.svg Stefan Johansson McLaren-TAG 74+ 6 laps9 
9 (3)14 Flag of France.svg Pascal Fabre AGS-Ford 74+ 6 laps26 
Ret28 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger Ferrari 71Suspension6 
NC11 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 71+ 9 laps16 
Ret27 Flag of Italy.svg Michele Alboreto Ferrari 64Engine8 
Ret17 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 62Turbo10 
Ret30 Flag of France.svg Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 57Gearbox23 
Ret16 Flag of Italy.svg Ivan Capelli March-Ford 52Engine22 
Ret23 Flag of Spain.svg Adrián Campos Minardi-Motori Moderni 52Turbo21 
Ret25 Flag of France.svg René Arnoux Ligier-Megatron 33Exhaust13 
Ret20 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford 31Engine5 
Ret10 Flag of Germany.svg Christian Danner Zakspeed 26Overheating19 
Ret26 Flag of Italy.svg Piercarlo Ghinzani Ligier-Megatron 24Engine17 
Ret24 Flag of Italy.svg Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 23Turbo15 
Ret7 Flag of Italy.svg Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 19Differential12 
Ret9 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Martin Brundle Zakspeed 18Wheel18 
Ret21 Flag of Italy.svg Alex Caffi Osella-Alfa Romeo 11Engine20 
Ret8 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris Brabham-BMW 2Turbo11 
Ret18 Flag of the United States.svg Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 0Electrical14 
Source: [4]

Championship standings after the race

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References

  1. "French Grand Prix – Qualifying 1". formula1.com. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  2. "French Grand Prix – Qualifying 2". formula1.com. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  3. "French Grand Prix – Overall Qualifying". formula1.com. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  4. "1987 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  5. 1 2 "France 1987 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
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