1988 Monaco Grand Prix

43°44′4.74″N7°25′16.8″E / 43.7346500°N 7.421333°E / 43.7346500; 7.421333

1988 Monaco Grand Prix
Race 3 of 16 in the 1988 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	15 May 1988
Official name	46e Grand Prix de Monaco
Location	Circuit de Monaco Monte Carlo, Monaco
Course	Street circuit
Course length	3.328 km (2.068 miles)
Distance	78 laps, 259.584 km (161.298 miles)
Weather	Warm and dry
Pole position
Driver	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Time	1:23.998
Fastest lap
Driver	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Time	1:26.321 on lap 59
Podium
First	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda
Second	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari
Third	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 1988 Monaco Grand Prix (formally the 46e Grand Prix de Monaco ^[1] ) was a Formula One motor race held on 15 May 1988 at the Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo. It was the third race of the 1988 Formula One World Championship.

The 78-lap race was won by Frenchman Alain Prost, driving a McLaren-Honda. Prost took his 30th win – including 4th and final in Monaco – after Brazilian teammate Ayrton Senna crashed out late on while leading comfortably. Austrian driver Gerhard Berger finished second in a Ferrari, with Italian teammate Michele Alboreto third, scoring his 20th podium. It was McLaren's 58th win, 150th podium and 40th fastest lap. Honda engine scored its 30th win.

Qualifying

Qualifying report

The McLaren-Hondas continued their dominant form from the previous race at Imola, as Ayrton Senna took pole position by an almost unbelievable 1.5 seconds ahead of teammate Alain Prost, with a further 1.2 seconds back to the Ferrari of Gerhard Berger in third. Berger's teammate Michele Alboreto was fourth, while Nigel Mansell was fifth in the Williams, the quickest of the naturally-aspirated cars, albeit some 3.6 seconds behind Senna. Completing the top ten were Alessandro Nannini in the Benetton, Derek Warwick in the Arrows, Riccardo Patrese in the second Williams, Eddie Cheever in the second Arrows and Jonathan Palmer in the Tyrrell, while among the non-qualifiers was Satoru Nakajima, whose Lotus was powered by the same Honda turbo engine as the McLaren.

Qualifying classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	12	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	1:26.464	1:23.998
2	11	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	1:28.375	1:25.425	+1.427
3	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	1:29.001	1:26.685	+2.687
4	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	1:29.931	1:27.297	+3.299
5	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Judd	1:28.475	1:27.665	+3.667
6	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	1:29.093	1:27.869	+3.871
7	17	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Megatron	1:29.928	1:27.872	+3.874
8	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Judd	1:29.130	1:28.016	+4.018
9	18	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Megatron	1:32.889	1:28.227	+4.229
10	3	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	1:30.679	1:28.358	+4.360
11	1	Nelson Piquet	Lotus-Honda	1:30.924	1:28.403	+4.405
12	14	Philippe Streiff	AGS-Ford	1:29.597	1:28.527	+4.529
13	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Ford	1:31.375	1:28.536	+4.538
14	15	Maurício Gugelmin	March-Judd	1:32.148	1:28.610	+4.612
15	24	Luis Pérez-Sala	Minardi-Ford	1:31.662	1:28.625	+4.627
16	20	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton-Ford	1:29.539	1:28.640	+4.642
17	36	Alex Caffi	Dallara-Ford	1:33.691	1:29.075	+5.077
18	32	Oscar Larrauri	EuroBrun-Ford	1:31.861	1:29.093	+5.095
19	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Rial-Ford	1:33.183	1:29.298	+5.300
20	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Judd	1:31.964	1:29.480	+5.482
21	29	Yannick Dalmas	Lola-Ford	1:33.158	1:29.601	+5.603
22	16	Ivan Capelli	March-Judd	1:35.216	1:29.603	+5.605
23	9	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Zakspeed	1:33.005	1:30.121	+6.213
24	31	Gabriele Tarquini	Coloni-Ford	1:32.792	1:30.252	+6.254
25	21	Nicola Larini	Osella	1:36.705	1:30.335	+6.337
26	26	Stefan Johansson	Ligier-Judd	1:36.036	1:30.505	+6.507
DNQ	2	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Honda	1:30.611	1:31.573	+6.613
DNQ	10	Bernd Schneider	Zakspeed	1:33.585	1:30.613	+6.615
DNQ	23	Adrián Campos	Minardi-Ford	1:32.627	1:30.793	+6.795
DNQ	4	Julian Bailey	Tyrrell-Ford	1:34.192	1:30.816	+6.818

Race

Race report

At the start, Senna led away, while Berger overtook Prost when the Frenchman momentarily could not engage second gear. Behind them, a variety of accidents occurred at Sainte-Dévote: Alex Caffi hit the wall in his Dallara; Philippe Streiff, who had started 12th in his AGS, retired when an accelerator cable broke; and World Champion Nelson Piquet collided with Cheever, which forced the Brazilian to retire at the end of the first lap and thus end a disastrous weekend for the Lotus team.

The running order of Senna, Berger, Prost, Mansell, Alboreto and Nannini was maintained until lap 33 when Alboreto took Mansell off at the Swimming Pool, ending the Englishman's race. Nannini then suffered a gearbox failure on lap 39. On lap 51, Patrese collided with Philippe Alliot's Lola while trying to lap him; Alliot retired immediately.

On lap 54, Prost passed Berger for second on the run to Sainte-Dévote, though he was some 50 seconds behind Senna. In an effort to put some pressure on his team-mate, he started trading fastest laps with him. With 11 laps remaining, McLaren team boss Ron Dennis radioed Senna to slow down to ensure a safe 1-2 finish, allowing Prost to gain six seconds. ^[2]

On lap 67, Senna lost concentration at Portier, causing him to crash his McLaren into the barrier and damage the car's front suspension. Immediately afterwards, he went to his home in Monaco to contemplate losing a race that he had dominated from the first time he took to the track for free practice on Thursday morning; the McLaren team did not even hear from him until that evening, when he walked into the pits as they were packing up. ^[3]

Prost thus took his fourth Monaco win in five years, with Berger some 20 seconds behind and Alboreto a further 21 seconds back. Warwick finished fourth after a race-long battle with Palmer, while Patrese recovered from his collision with Alliot to take the final point, passing the other Lola of Yannick Dalmas on the last lap. Patrese's point was also the first-ever World Championship point scored by a Judd-powered car and his first point for Williams.

Race classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	11	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	78	1:57:17.077	2	9
2	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	78	+ 20.453	3	6
3	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	78	+ 41.229	4	4
4	17	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Megatron	77	+ 1 lap	7	3
5	3	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	77	+ 1 lap	10	2
6	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Judd	77	+ 1 lap	8	1
7	29	Yannick Dalmas	Lola-Ford	77	+ 1 lap	21
8	20	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton-Ford	76	+ 2 laps	16
9	21	Nicola Larini	Osella	75	+ 3 laps	25
10	16	Ivan Capelli	March-Judd	72	+ 6 laps	22
Ret	12	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	66	Accident	1
Ret	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Ford	50	Collision	13
Ret	15	Maurício Gugelmin	March-Judd	45	Fuel system	14
Ret	9	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Zakspeed	43	Gearbox	23
Ret	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	38	Gearbox	6
Ret	24	Luis Pérez-Sala	Minardi-Ford	36	Halfshaft	15
Ret	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Judd	32	Collision	5
Ret	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Rial-Ford	28	Engine	19
Ret	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Judd	17	Engine	20
Ret	32	Oscar Larrauri	EuroBrun-Ford	14	Brakes	18
Ret	18	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Megatron	8	Engine	9
Ret	26	Stefan Johansson	Ligier-Judd	6	Engine	26
Ret	31	Gabriele Tarquini	Coloni-Ford	5	Suspension	24
Ret	1	Nelson Piquet	Lotus-Honda	1	Collision	11
Ret	36	Alex Caffi	Dallara-Ford	0	Spun off	17
Ret	14	Philippe Streiff	AGS-Ford	0	Throttle	12
DNQ	2	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Honda
DNQ	10	Bernd Schneider	Zakspeed
DNQ	23	Adrián Campos	Minardi-Ford
DNQ	4	Julian Bailey	Tyrrell-Ford
EX	33	Stefano Modena	EuroBrun-Ford		Missed weight check
Source: [4]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Alain Prost 24 2 Gerhard Berger 14 3 Ayrton Senna 9 4 Nelson Piquet 8 5 Michele Alboreto 6 Source: [5]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Honda 33 2 Ferrari 20 3 Lotus-Honda 9 4 Arrows-Megatron 6 5 Benetton-Ford 4 Source: [5]

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

References

1. "Motor Racing Programme Covers: 1988". The Programme Covers Project. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
2. Rubython, Tom (October 2011). The Life of Senna. Myrtle Books. ISBN   978-0-9570605-0-0.
3. "Ron Dennis on Senna - Part one: the early years". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 23 June 2014. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
4. "1988 Monaco Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
5. "Monaco 1988 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 19 March 2019.

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