1988 Belgian Grand Prix

Last updated
1988 Belgian Grand Prix
Race 11 of 16 in the 1988 Formula One World Championship
Spa 1996.jpg
Race details
Date28 August 1988
Official name XLVI Champion Belgian Grand Prix
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 Warm, dry and overcast
Pole position
Driver McLaren-Honda
Time 1:53.718
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger Ferrari
Time 2:00.772 on lap 10
Podium
First McLaren-Honda
Second McLaren-Honda
Third March-Judd
Lap leaders
  • 1988 Belgian Grand Prix

The 1988 Belgian Grand Prix (formally the XLVI Champion Belgian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on 28 August 1988. It was the eleventh race of the 1988 Formula One World Championship.

Contents

The 43-lap race was won from pole position by Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna, driving a McLaren-Honda. Senna's French teammate Alain Prost was second, with Italy's Ivan Capelli third in a March-Judd after the Benetton-Fords of local driver Thierry Boutsen and Alessandro Nannini were disqualified for fuel irregularities.

The win, Senna's seventh of the season and fourth in succession, gave him a three-point lead over Prost in the Drivers' Championship.

Qualifying summary

This was the first race after the death of Enzo Ferrari. Nigel Mansell was forced to miss the race due to chicken pox and was replaced at Williams by Martin Brundle who actually managed to be fastest in the second, wet qualifying session. The McLaren-Hondas had dominated the first qualifying session and occupied the whole front row for the 7th time in 11 races, though neither Ayrton Senna nor Alain Prost could match Michele Alboreto on the uphill Kemmel Straight as he pushed his Ferrari to 312 km/h (194 mph). This was the first race in 1988 where neither of the new EuroBrun cars made the field.

Riccardo Patrese did a fine job to be 5th on the grid in his naturally aspirated Williams-Judd, but his time of 1:57.138 was still 3.420 seconds slower than pole man Senna. Local driver Thierry Boutsen gave the Belgian crowd something to cheer when he put his Benetton-Ford in 6th place on the grid.

The grid was set by Friday's qualifying session as Saturday's qualifying was held in wet conditions. Martin Brundle surprised by being fastest in the Williams, but even more of a surprise was Satoru Nakajima who was second fastest in his Lotus-Honda. Alain Prost, never a fan of driving in the wet and knowing his second place on the grid was safe, did not drive in the second session.

The Minardis of Luis Pérez-Sala and Pierluigi Martini, Stefano Modena in the EuroBrun and Julian Bailey in the Tyrrell all failed to qualify while Modena's teammate Oscar Larrauri failed to pre-qualify.

Race summary

Throughout 1988, Senna had copied Prost's car settings feeling that the Frenchman had a better handle on setting up the McLaren (after driving Prost's spare car in Brazil he found that his teammates settings actually suited his own driving style, plus they were easier on the car). At Spa Prost decided at the last minute to alter the settings on his car by taking off some wing for more straight line speed in a bid to gain an advantage. Unfortunately for the Frenchman this had a detrimental result and he was unhappy with the balance and handling of his car in the race, compared to Senna with Prost's original settings who reported no such problems. At the start, pole sitter Senna had too much wheelspin and Prost was able to take the lead. However, the first time through Eau Rouge, Senna, with better downforce and grip, was clearly quicker and easily retook the lead after he slipstreamed Prost on the Kemmel Straight and out braked him at Les Combes. Senna powered off into the distance while Prost, struggling with a car that was no longer handling to his liking, settled for second place.

Gerhard Berger managed to get his Ferrari up to 3rd, challenging Prost briefly before pitting on lap 3 with electrical problems. He managed to rejoin and set the fastest lap before retiring on lap 12. Due to Berger's retirement, Boutsen climbed to 4th behind Alboreto and ahead of a thrilling battle between Alessandro Nannini (Benetton), Nakajima, Nelson Piquet (Lotus), and the two Arrows-Megatrons of Derek Warwick and Eddie Cheever. Piquet passed teammate Nakajima on lap 17, before the Japanese driver pitted with an acute misfire from a jammed plug, which caused him to retire. In the meantime, Ivan Capelli climbed from ninth to sixth in his March-Judd.

On lap 36, Alboreto's engine blew at Les Combes, sending him out of the race from third. On lap 38, Nannini passed Piquet for fourth at the La Source hairpin, before Capelli overtook the Brazilian driver for fifth on the penultimate lap.

McLaren's 1-2 sealed the Constructors' Championship for the British team with five races remaining. Boutsen and Nannini came home third and fourth for Benetton, with Capelli and Piquet rounding out the top six. In a post-race interview, Prost virtually conceded the championship to Senna, who had won his fourth race in succession and had taken the championship lead for the first time.

Post-race

Both Benettons were later disqualified for using irregular fuel, so the third podium spot went to Ivan Capelli. It was his first podium finish in Formula One and March's first podium finish since Ronnie Peterson had won the 1976 Italian Grand Prix. The post race disqualification of the Benettons also meant that the two Arrows of Warwick and Cheever went into the points.

The disqualification of the Benettons was not made official until long after the season had finished, so many published records list them as having finished third and fourth. The three points Arrows gained from the disqualification brought the team to fifth in the Constructors' Championship.

Classification

Pre-qualifying

PosNoDriverConstructorTimeGap
136 Flag of Italy.svg Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 2:01.068
231 Flag of Italy.svg Gabriele Tarquini Coloni-Ford 2:02.101+1.033
321 Flag of Italy.svg Nicola Larini Osella 2:02.347+1.279
433 Flag of Italy.svg Stefano Modena EuroBrun-Ford 2:02.933+1.865
DNPQ32 Flag of Argentina.svg Oscar Larrauri EuroBrun-Ford 2:04.208+3.140

Qualifying

PosNoDriverConstructorQ1Q2Gap
112 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:53.7182:15.196
211 Flag of France.svg Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 1:54.128no time+0.410
328 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:54.5812:17.115+0.863
427 Flag of Italy.svg Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:55.6652:15.667+1.947
56 Flag of Italy.svg Riccardo Patrese Williams-Judd 1:57.1382:15.358+3.420
620 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford 1:57.4552:15.236+3.737
719 Flag of Italy.svg Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 1:57.5352:17.077+3.817
82 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 1:57.6162:14.739+3.898
91 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Nelson Piquet Lotus-Honda 1:57.8212:15.027+4.103
1017 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 1:57.9252:16.770+4.207
1118 Flag of the United States.svg Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 1:57.9802:19.908+4.262
125 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Martin Brundle Williams-Judd 1:58.2062:14.517+4.488
1315 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 1:58.361no time+4.643
1416 Flag of Italy.svg Ivan Capelli March-Judd 1:58.4392:22.821+4.721
1536 Flag of Italy.svg Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 1:59.7362:18.052+6.018
1630 Flag of France.svg Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 1:59.9062:21.219+6.188
1725 Flag of France.svg René Arnoux Ligier-Judd 2:00.0372:19.260+6.319
1814 Flag of France.svg Philippe Streiff AGS-Ford 2:00.4102:23.953+6.692
1922 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris Rial-Ford 2:00.5212:17.028+6.803
2026 Flag of Sweden.svg Stefan Johansson Ligier-Judd 2:00.857no time+7.139
213 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 2:01.0782:20.594+7.360
2231 Flag of Italy.svg Gabriele Tarquini Coloni-Ford 2:01.3592:19.939+7.641
2329 Flag of France.svg Yannick Dalmas Lola-Ford 2:01.4672:19.909+7.749
249 Flag of Italy.svg Piercarlo Ghinzani Zakspeed 2:01.8992:22.064+8.181
2510 Flag of Germany.svg Bernd Schneider Zakspeed 2:01.9382:19.825+8.220
2621 Flag of Italy.svg Nicola Larini Osella 2:02.0292:17.127+8.311
DNQ24 Flag of Spain.svg Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford 2:02.129no time+8.411
DNQ23 Flag of Italy.svg Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 2:02.314no time+8.596
DNQ33 Flag of Italy.svg Stefano Modena EuroBrun-Ford 2:02.3222:19.880+8.604
DNQ4 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Julian Bailey Tyrrell-Ford 2:02.519no time+8.801

Race

PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
112 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 431:28:00.54919
211 Flag of France.svg Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 43+ 30.47026
316 Flag of Italy.svg Ivan Capelli March-Judd 43+ 1:15.768144
41 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Nelson Piquet Lotus-Honda 43+ 1:23.62893
517 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 43+ 1:25.355102
618 Flag of the United States.svg Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 42+ 1 lap111
75 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Martin Brundle Williams-Judd 42+ 1 lap12 
836 Flag of Italy.svg Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 42+ 1 lap15 
930 Flag of France.svg Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 42+ 1 lap16 
1014 Flag of France.svg Philippe Streiff AGS-Ford 42+ 1 lap18 
1126 Flag of Sweden.svg Stefan Johansson Ligier-Judd 39Engine20 
123 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 39Throttle21 
1310 Flag of Germany.svg Bernd Schneider Zakspeed 38Gearbox25 
DSQ20 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford 43Irregular fuel6 
DSQ19 Flag of Italy.svg Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 43Irregular fuel7 
NC31 Flag of Italy.svg Gabriele Tarquini Coloni-Ford 36+7 Laps22 
Ret27 Flag of Italy.svg Michele Alboreto Ferrari 35Engine4 
Ret6 Flag of Italy.svg Riccardo Patrese Williams-Judd 30Engine5 
Ret15 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 29Spun off13 
Ret9 Flag of Italy.svg Piercarlo Ghinzani Zakspeed 25Oil leak24 
Ret2 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 22Engine8 
Ret21 Flag of Italy.svg Nicola Larini Osella 14Fuel system26 
Ret28 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger Ferrari 11Injection3 
Ret29 Flag of France.svg Yannick Dalmas Lola-Ford 9Engine23 
Ret22 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris Rial-Ford 2Collision19 
Ret25 Flag of France.svg René Arnoux Ligier-Judd 2Collision17 
DNQ24 Flag of Spain.svg Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford   
DNQ23 Flag of Italy.svg Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford   
DNQ33 Flag of Italy.svg Stefano Modena EuroBrun-Ford   
DNQ4 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Julian Bailey Tyrrell-Ford   
DNPQ32 Flag of Argentina.svg Oscar Larrauri EuroBrun-Ford   
Source: [2]

Championship standings after the race

References

  1. "1988 Belgian GP". Motor Sport . Retrieved 30 May 2022.
  2. "1988 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  3. 1 2 "Belgium 1988 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
Previous race:
1988 Hungarian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1988 season
Next race:
1988 Italian Grand Prix
Previous race:
1987 Belgian Grand Prix
Belgian Grand Prix Next race:
1989 Belgian Grand Prix