1989 Portuguese Grand Prix

1989 Portuguese Grand Prix
Race 13 of 16 in the 1989 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	24 September 1989
Official name	XXIII Grande Prémio de Portugal
Location	Autódromo do Estoril Estoril, Portugal
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.350 km (2.703 miles)
Distance	71 laps, 308.850 km (191.910 miles)
Weather	Hot, dry, sunny
Pole position
Driver	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Time	1:15.468
Fastest lap
Driver	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari
Time	1:18.986 on lap 49
Podium
First	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari
Second	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda
Third	Stefan Johansson	Onyx-Ford
Lap leaders

The 1989 Portuguese Grand Prix (formally the XXIII Grande Prémio de Portugal) was a Formula One motor race held at the Autódromo do Estoril in Estoril, Portugal on 24 September 1989. It was the thirteenth race of the 1989 Formula One World Championship.

The 71-lap race was won by Austrian driver Gerhard Berger, driving a Ferrari, with Frenchman Alain Prost second in a McLaren-Honda and Swede Stefan Johansson third in an Onyx-Ford. Prost's teammate and Drivers' Championship rival, Brazilian Ayrton Senna, retired following a collision with the Ferrari of Briton Nigel Mansell, who had been black-flagged for reversing in the pit lane. As a result, Prost moved 24 points clear of Senna in the championship with three races remaining.

As well as Johansson taking Onyx's only podium finish, the race also saw Italian Pierluigi Martini lead for one lap – the first and only time the Minardi team led a Formula One race – and ten drivers from ten different teams finish in the top ten places. The race was also Prost's 150th Grand Prix start and the last start for the Coloni team, though it would continue in F1 until the end of 1991.

Qualifying

Pre-qualifying report

Onyx returned to the top of the Friday morning time sheets as Stefan Johansson was fastest by half a second. His new team-mate was Finnish driver JJ Lehto, who had replaced Bertrand Gachot since the last race, after Gachot openly criticised the team and was fired. In his first Formula One event, Lehto just missed out on pre-qualification after a suspension failure during the session, leaving him fifth. The Larrousse-Lola cars both pre-qualified again, with Philippe Alliot second and Michele Alboreto fourth. The other driver to go through to the main qualifying sessions was Roberto Moreno in third place in the Coloni. ^[1]

Yannick Dalmas had originally pre-qualified in third place in his AGS, but was excluded from the session and his times were deleted, after mistakenly using the wrong tyres. Also excluded was Osella driver Nicola Larini, for missing a weight check, although he had already failed to pre-qualify, being only ninth fastest. ^[1]

The other drivers who failed to proceed any further included the other Osella of Piercarlo Ghinzani, who outpaced his team-mate in sixth, and Oscar Larrauri, despite an improvement to seventh in the EuroBrun. Eighth was Gabriele Tarquini in the other AGS, ahead of the Zakspeeds of Aguri Suzuki and Bernd Schneider. Slowest by nearly four seconds was the second Coloni of Enrico Bertaggia, the third time in a row the Italian had been bottom of the time sheets. ^[1]

Pre-qualifying classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	36	Stefan Johansson	Onyx-Ford	1:18.623	—
2	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Lamborghini	1:19.164	+0.541
3	31	Roberto Moreno	Coloni-Ford	1:19.780	+1.157
4	29	Michele Alboreto	Lola-Lamborghini	1:19.869	+1.246
5	37	JJ Lehto	Onyx-Ford	1:20.880	+2.257
6	18	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Ford	1:21.021	+2.398
7	33	Oscar Larrauri	EuroBrun-Judd	1:21.326	+2.703
8	40	Gabriele Tarquini	AGS-Ford	1:21.881	+3.258
9	35	Aguri Suzuki	Zakspeed-Yamaha	1:24.116	+5.493
10	34	Bernd Schneider	Zakspeed-Yamaha	1:24.732	+6.109
11	32	Enrico Bertaggia	Coloni-Ford	1:28.526	+9.903
EX	41	Yannick Dalmas	AGS-Ford	—	—
EX	17	Nicola Larini	Osella-Ford	—	—

Qualifying report

Qualifying saw McLaren's Ayrton Senna take his tenth pole position of the season, with the Ferrari of Gerhard Berger alongside him on the front row. Nigel Mansell took third in the other Ferrari, with Alain Prost fourth in the other McLaren. Pierluigi Martini impressed by qualifying fifth in his Minardi, ahead of the two Williams of Riccardo Patrese and Thierry Boutsen in sixth and eighth respectively, with Alex Caffi seventh in the Dallara. The top ten was completed by Luis Pérez-Sala in the second Minardi and Martin Brundle in the Brabham. Further down the grid, Stefan Johansson took 12th in his Onyx after setting the fastest time in pre-qualifying, while another pre-qualifier, Roberto Moreno, took 15th, the best-ever grid position for the Coloni team.

This was Christian Danner's last Formula One qualifying attempt as he was fired by Rial after this race. ^[2]

The Minardi, Dallara, Brabham and Coloni teams all had their tyres supplied by Pirelli, whose special qualifying tyres were generally regarded as being superior to those of Goodyear. However, Goodyear's race tyres were still acknowledged as being superior to Pirelli's. ^[3]

Qualifying classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	1:15.496	1:15.468	—
2	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	1:16.799	1:16.059	+0.591
3	27	Nigel Mansell	Ferrari	1:17.387	1:16.193	+0.725
4	2	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	1:17.336	1:16.204	+0.736
5	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	1:16.938	1:17.161	+1.470
6	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	1:17.281	1:17.852	+1.813
7	21	Alex Caffi	Dallara-Ford	1:18.623	1:17.661	+2.193
8	5	Thierry Boutsen	Williams-Renault	1:17.801	1:17.888	+2.333
9	24	Luis Pérez-Sala	Minardi-Ford	1:17.844	1:18.305	+2.376
10	7	Martin Brundle	Brabham-Judd	1:17.874	1:17.995	+2.406
11	8	Stefano Modena	Brabham-Judd	1:18.589	1:18.093	+2.625
12	36	Stefan Johansson	Onyx-Ford	1:19.281	1:18.105	+2.637
13	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	1:18.115	1:18.359	+2.647
14	15	Maurício Gugelmin	March-Judd	1:18.124	1:18.277	+2.656
15	31	Roberto Moreno	Coloni-Ford	1:18.196	1:20.512	+2.728
16	20	Emanuele Pirro	Benetton-Ford	1:18.340	1:18.328	+2.860
17	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Lamborghini	1:19.306	1:18.386	+2.918
18	3	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	1:19.172	1:18.404	+2.936
19	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Dallara-Ford	1:18.442	1:18.511	+2.974
20	11	Nelson Piquet	Lotus-Judd	1:18.482	1:18.682	+3.014
21	29	Michele Alboreto	Lola-Lamborghini	1:18.563	1:18.846	+3.095
22	9	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Ford	1:18.711	1:18.892	+3.243
23	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Ford	1:18.767	1:19.979	+3.299
24	16	Ivan Capelli	March-Judd	1:19.079	1:18.785	+3.317
25	12	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Judd	1:19.278	1:19.165	+3.697
26	10	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Ford	1:19.247	1:20.006	+3.779
27	4	Johnny Herbert	Tyrrell-Ford	1:19.515	1:19.264	+3.796
28	26	Olivier Grouillard	Ligier-Ford	1:19.605	1:19.436	+3.968
29	39	Pierre-Henri Raphanel	Rial-Ford	No time	1:21.435	+5.967
30	38	Christian Danner	Rial-Ford	1:21.678	1:22.423	+6.210

Race

Race report

Berger had a great start and managed to overtake Senna. Mansell was in third followed by Prost, Martini and Patrese. Berger quickly opened a lead while Senna was trying to keep Mansell behind. Then Mansell finally managed to overtake Senna and started to catch Berger. As the two Ferraris caught up with the slower cars and were starting to lap them, Mansell managed to overtake Berger. Positions at lap 24 were: Mansell, Berger, Senna and Prost. Prost was the first of the leaders to pit for new tyres from fourth position. He was quickly followed by Berger on lap 35 and then by Senna. Then came the crucial moment of the race. Mansell came into the pits slightly too fast, locked his tyres and missed his pit box by a few metres. Although his pit crew moved down the pit lane to try to change his tyres where he had stopped, Mansell engaged reverse gear and drove backwards the short distance into the correct spot, despite the Ferrari mechanics signalling to him to not reverse the car. After the leaders went to pit for tyres, Martini led a lap in the Minardi, the only time in F1 history that a Minardi car was at the front leading. Mansell was down in fourth. Berger, Senna and Mansell quickly overtook Martini and Mansell closed on Senna. However, as driving a car in reverse in the pit lane was expressly forbidden (the pit crew may legally push a car backwards), Mansell was given the black disqualification flag. At the start of lap 48, approaching Turn 1 even while the black flag was being waved at him Mansell tried to overtake Senna, the cars collided and both drivers were out. This damaged Senna's title chances, especially since rival Alain Prost came in second place. The race was won by Berger ahead of Prost, with Stefan Johansson a surprising third in the underfunded Onyx; the Swede did not make a pit-stop at any stage of the race and was initially on course for fifth place until both Williams-Renault entries were pulled out with overheating issues. It turned out to be Johansson's final career podium.

As of 2024, Johansson's podium remains the last for a Swedish driver in Formula One.

Race classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	71	1:36:48.546	2	9
2	2	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	71	+ 32.637	4	6
3	36	Stefan Johansson	Onyx-Ford	71	+ 55.325	12	4
4	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	71	+ 1:22.369	13	3
5	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	70	+ 1 lap	5	2
6	3	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	70	+ 1 lap	18	1
7	12	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Judd	70	+ 1 lap	25
8	7	Martin Brundle	Brabham-Judd	70	+ 1 lap	10
9	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Lamborghini	70	+ 1 lap	17
10	15	Maurício Gugelmin	March-Judd	69	+ 2 laps	14
11	29	Michele Alboreto	Lola-Lamborghini	69	+ 2 laps	21
12	24	Luis Pérez-Sala	Minardi-Ford	69	+ 2 laps	9
13	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Ford	69	+ 2 laps	23
14	8	Stefano Modena	Brabham-Judd	69	+ 2 laps	11
Ret	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	60	Overheating	6
Ret	5	Thierry Boutsen	Williams-Renault	60	Overheating	8
Ret	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	48	Collision	1
DSQ	27	Nigel Mansell	Ferrari	48	Reversed in pits (Collision)	3
Ret	9	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Ford	37	Accident	22
Ret	11	Nelson Piquet	Lotus-Judd	33	Collision	20
Ret	21	Alex Caffi	Dallara-Ford	33	Collision	7
Ret	20	Emanuele Pirro	Benetton-Ford	29	Suspension	16
Ret	16	Ivan Capelli	March-Judd	25	Engine	24
Ret	10	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Ford	24	Spun off	26
Ret	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Dallara-Ford	17	Electrical	19
Ret	31	Roberto Moreno	Coloni-Ford	11	Electrical	15
DNQ	4	Johnny Herbert	Tyrrell-Ford
DNQ	26	Olivier Grouillard	Ligier-Ford
DNQ	39	Pierre-Henri Raphanel	Rial-Ford
DNQ	38	Christian Danner	Rial-Ford
DNPQ	41	Yannick Dalmas	AGS-Ford
DNPQ	37	JJ Lehto	Onyx-Ford
DNPQ	18	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Ford
DNPQ	33	Oscar Larrauri	EuroBrun-Judd
DNPQ	40	Gabriele Tarquini	AGS-Ford
DNPQ	17	Nicola Larini	Osella-Ford
DNPQ	35	Aguri Suzuki	Zakspeed-Yamaha
DNPQ	34	Bernd Schneider	Zakspeed-Yamaha
DNPQ	32	Enrico Bertaggia	Coloni-Ford
Source: [4]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Alain Prost 75 (77) 2 Ayrton Senna 51 3 Nigel Mansell 38 4 Riccardo Patrese 28 5 Thierry Boutsen 24 Source: [5]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Honda 128 2 Ferrari 53 3 Williams-Renault 52 4 Benetton-Ford 22 5 Tyrrell-Ford 13 Source: [5]

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

References

1. Walker, Murray (1989). Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year. First Formula Publishing. pp. 109–116. ISBN   1-870066-22-7.
2. "Rial". grandprix.com. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
3. Roebuck, Nigel; Henry, Alan (1989). Naismith, Barry (ed.). "Round 13: Portugal The Incidental Winner". Grand Prix. 5. Glen Waverley, Victoria, Australia: Garry Sparke & Associates: 126. ISBN   0-908081-99-5.
4. "1989 Portuguese Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
5. "Portugal 1989 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.

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