1988 French Grand Prix

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1988 French Grand Prix
Race 7 of 16 in the 1988 Formula One World Championship
Paul Ricard 1986.png
Race details
Date3 July 1988
Official name Rhône-Poulenc Grand Prix de France
Location Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet, France
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 3.813 km (2.369 miles)
Distance 80 laps, 305.040 km (189.543 miles)
Weather Sunny and hot
Pole position
Driver McLaren-Honda
Time 1:07.589
Fastest lap
Driver Flag of France.svg Alain Prost McLaren-Honda
Time 1:11.737 on lap 45
Podium
First McLaren-Honda
Second McLaren-Honda
Third Ferrari
Lap leaders
  • 1988 French Grand Prix

The 1988 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 3 July 1988 at the Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet. It was the seventh race of the 1988 Formula One World Championship.

Contents

The 80-lap race was won by local driver Alain Prost, driving a McLaren-Honda, after he started from pole position. Prost's Brazilian teammate Ayrton Senna finished second, with Italian Michele Alboreto third in a Ferrari.

Qualifying

The two McLarens lined up in their usual front row places, but, for the first time this season, Alain Prost was ahead of Ayrton Senna, the Frenchman beating the Brazilian by almost half a second to take his first pole since the 1986 Monaco Grand Prix and in doing so stopping his teammate from a record-breaking 7th pole in succession. The two Ferraris filled the second row, Gerhard Berger beating Michele Alboreto by over 1.1 seconds, though neither driver believed they could race with the McLarens simply because of fuel consumption. On the third row were the two normally-aspirated Benettons of Thierry Boutsen and Alessandro Nannini, while the Lotuses of Nelson Piquet and Satoru Nakajima filled the fourth row, Piquet being the last driver to qualify under 1:10. The top ten was completed by the Williams of Nigel Mansell (over 2.7 seconds slower than Prost and almost 4 seconds slower than his 1987 pole time) and the March of Ivan Capelli, who had recovered after fracturing his left foot in a crash during practice in Detroit two weeks before.

Meanwhile, Ligier had a disastrous weekend on their home turf with both René Arnoux, a winner with Renault at the circuit in 1982, and Stefan Johansson failing to qualify, though they did have a celebration of sorts over the weekend as Arnoux turned 40 the day after the race. Julian Bailey also failed to qualify in his Tyrrell, while Piercarlo Ghinzani qualified 22nd in his Zakspeed but was excluded for missing a weight check, thus promoting Oscar Larrauri's EuroBrun to the last grid spot.

Race summary

Prost led away from Senna and the two Ferraris, with Piquet passing the two Benettons for fifth. Despite worries in the McLaren pit about overly high fuel consumption (the fuel readouts in the cars were showing less fuel used than what the Honda telemetry was telling the team), Ron Dennis was reportedly prepared to let his drivers run out of fuel at the expense of a perfect season if it taught them to be more conservative given their obvious advantage over the field, though ultimately the onboard readouts were proved correct. Prost maintained a two-second advantage over Senna until the mid-race pit stops, while an early stop by Berger on lap 22 allowed teammate Alboreto through into third. While both McLarens were racing each other out front, they were still pulling away from the field at sometimes a second per lap.

Senna made his pit stop three laps before Prost, enabling him to take the lead thanks to a slow stop for Prost with a sticking front wheel, but traffic on the Mistral Straight (including a less than helpful Piquet who most likely enjoyed seeing Senna lose the lead to Prost at close quarters) and a gearbox problem allowed Prost to close right up to him and then overtake him on lap 61 as they lapped Alex Caffi and Pierluigi Martini at the Signes corner. Meanwhile, Berger reclaimed third only for Alboreto to pass him again during the pit stops, while Mansell suffered his seventh consecutive retirement, dropping out on lap 49 with suspension problems, though he had been dropping back for a number of laps with power loss from his Judd V8 engine. After returning to the pits and getting himself cleaned up, the Englishman left the circuit profoundly fed up with the performance of the Williams, fuelling ongoing speculation in the press that he would leave the team at the end of the year to join Ferrari after the Italian team had announced they would not be keeping Alboreto for 1989. Despite the rumours turning out to be correct, Mansell continued to deny he was joining Ferrari.

In the closing laps, Prost pulled away as Senna's gearbox troubles continued, losing several gears. The Brazilian eventually finished nearly 32 seconds behind the Frenchman, though he was still nearly 35 seconds ahead of Alboreto, the last man on the lead lap. Berger was fourth ahead of Piquet, who also suffered gearbox problems in the later stages of the race; the final point went to the Benetton of Nannini. France was the first time since the 1987 Monaco Grand Prix that Alboreto had finished in front of his teammate in a race where they both finished. During the race Alboreto had the advantage of an almost perfectly balanced car, while Berger complained of severe understeer, something not needed at the high speed Signes corner at the end of the Mistral.

The fastest lap of the race, a 1:11.737 set by Prost on lap 45, was over two seconds slower than the 1:09.548 set by Piquet in a Honda-powered Williams the previous year – a consequence of the restrictions imposed on turbocharged engines this season with the major difference being the speeds attained on the now 1 km long Mistral Straight. In 1987 the fastest turbo cars (Honda powered) were timed at 325 km/h (202 mph) on the straight. In 1988 the top speed was recorded at 311 km/h (193 mph).

For Prost it was his third win in his home Grand Prix after winning in both 1981 at Dijon (his first Grand Prix victory) and 1983 at the full length Paul Ricard. On both occasions he had been driving for the factory Renault team.

Classification

Pre-qualifying

PosNoDriverConstructorTimeGap
133 Flag of Italy.svg Stefano Modena EuroBrun-Ford 1:12.805
236 Flag of Italy.svg Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 1:12.891+0.086
322 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris Rial-Ford 1:12.898+0.093
432 Flag of Argentina.svg Oscar Larrauri EuroBrun-Ford 1:13.452+0.647
DNPQ31 Flag of Italy.svg Gabriele Tarquini Coloni-Ford 1:14.214+1.409

Qualifying

PosNoDriverConstructorQ1Q2Gap
111 Flag of France.svg Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 1:08.1711:07.589
212 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:08.4561:08.067+0.478
328 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:09.0321:08.282+0.693
427 Flag of Italy.svg Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:09.6241:09.422+1.833
520 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford 1:11.1701:09.587+1.998
619 Flag of Italy.svg Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 1:10.7431:09.718+2.129
71 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Nelson Piquet Lotus-Honda 1:09.7341:09.900+2.145
82 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 1:11.3941:10.250+2.661
95 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nigel Mansell Williams-Judd 1:11.1121:10.337+2.748
1016 Flag of Italy.svg Ivan Capelli March-Judd 1:11.7791:10.496+2.907
1117 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 1:11.3391:10.634+3.045
1222 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris Rial-Ford 1:11.8541:10.861+3.272
1318 Flag of the United States.svg Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 1:11.5671:10.979+3.390
1436 Flag of Italy.svg Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 1:13.1441:11.211+3.622
156 Flag of Italy.svg Riccardo Patrese Williams-Judd 1:11.6711:11.286+3.697
1615 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 1:11.3151:11.404+3.726
1714 Flag of France.svg Philippe Streiff AGS-Ford 1:12.0041:11.466+3.877
1830 Flag of France.svg Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 1:12.2861:11.511+3.922
1929 Flag of France.svg Yannick Dalmas Lola-Ford 1:12.5471:11.747+4.158
2033 Flag of Italy.svg Stefano Modena EuroBrun-Ford 1:12.9971:12.007+4.418
2110 Flag of Germany.svg Bernd Schneider Zakspeed 1:13.5271:12.026+4.437
2223 Flag of Italy.svg Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:13.0391:12.268+4.679
233 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 1:13.0631:12.316+4.727
2421 Flag of Italy.svg Nicola Larini Osella 1:13.0371:12.406+4.817
2524 Flag of Spain.svg Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford 1:12.9381:12.525+4.936
2632 Flag of Argentina.svg Oscar Larrauri EuroBrun-Ford 1:13.8881:12.538+4.949
DNQ25 Flag of France.svg René Arnoux Ligier-Judd 1:12.6541:12.736+5.065
DNQ4 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Julian Bailey Tyrrell-Ford 1:13.8391:12.697+5.108
DNQ26 Flag of Sweden.svg Stefan Johansson Ligier-Judd 1:13.6291:12.801+5.212
EX9 Flag of Italy.svg Piercarlo Ghinzani Zakspeed 1:14.7971:12.121

Race

PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
111 Flag of France.svg Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 801:37:37.32819
212 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 80+ 31.75226
327 Flag of Italy.svg Michele Alboreto Ferrari 80+ 1:06.50544
428 Flag of Austria.svg Gerhard Berger Ferrari 79+ 1 lap33
51 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Nelson Piquet Lotus-Honda 79+ 1 lap72
619 Flag of Italy.svg Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 79+ 1 lap61
72 Flag of Japan (1870-1999).svg Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 79+ 1 lap8 
815 Flag of Brazil (1968-1992).svg Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 79+ 1 lap16 
916 Flag of Italy.svg Ivan Capelli March-Judd 79+ 1 lap10 
1022 Flag of Italy.svg Andrea de Cesaris Rial-Ford 78+ 2 laps12 
1118 Flag of the United States.svg Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 78+ 2 laps13 
1236 Flag of Italy.svg Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 78+ 2 laps14 
1329 Flag of France.svg Yannick Dalmas Lola-Ford 78+ 2 laps19 
1433 Flag of Italy.svg Stefano Modena EuroBrun-Ford 77+ 3 laps20 
1523 Flag of Italy.svg Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 77+ 3 laps22 
NC24 Flag of Spain.svg Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford 70+ 10 laps25 
Ret32 Flag of Argentina.svg Oscar Larrauri EuroBrun-Ford 64Clutch26 
Ret21 Flag of Italy.svg Nicola Larini Osella 56Halfshaft24 
Ret10 Flag of Germany.svg Bernd Schneider Zakspeed 55Gearbox21 
Ret5 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Nigel Mansell Williams-Judd 48Suspension9 
Ret30 Flag of France.svg Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 46Electrical18 
Ret3 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 40Engine23 
Ret6 Flag of Italy.svg Riccardo Patrese Williams-Judd 35Brakes15 
Ret20 Flag of Belgium (civil).svg Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford 28Engine5 
Ret14 Flag of France.svg Philippe Streiff AGS-Ford 20Fuel leak17 
Ret17 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 11Spun off11 
DNQ25 Flag of France.svg René Arnoux Ligier-Judd   
DNQ4 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Julian Bailey Tyrrell-Ford   
DNQ26 Flag of Sweden.svg Stefan Johansson Ligier-Judd   
DNPQ31 Flag of Italy.svg Gabriele Tarquini Coloni-Ford    
EX9 Flag of Italy.svg Piercarlo Ghinzani Zakspeed  Excluded 
Source: [1]

Championship standings after the race

References

  1. "1988 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  2. 1 2 "France 1988 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
Previous race:
1988 Detroit Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1988 season
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1988 British Grand Prix
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1987 French Grand Prix
French Grand Prix Next race:
1989 French Grand Prix