1988 Spanish Grand Prix

  1988 Spanish Grand Prix

Race details
Race 14 of 16 in the 1988 Formula One season
Date	2 October 1988
Official name	XXX Gran Premio Tio Pepe de España
Location	Circuito Permanente de Jerez, Jerez de la Frontera, Spain
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.218 km (2.620 mi)
Distance	72 laps, 303.696 km (188.708 mi)
Weather	Sunny and hot
Pole position
Driver	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Time	1:24.067
Fastest lap
Driver	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda
Time	1:27.845 on lap 60
Podium
First	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda
Second	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Judd
Third	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford

The 1988 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 2 October 1988 at the Circuito Permanente de Jerez, Jerez de la Frontera. It was the fourteenth race of the 1988 Formula One season.

Pre-Race

Benetton announced that British Formula 3000 driver Johnny Herbert would be joining the team in 1989 to replace Thierry Boutsen who would be joining Williams. At the time of the announcement Herbert was still in hospital recovering from his horrifying F3000 crash at Brands Hatch just a few weeks earlier.

Qualifying

During qualifying, F1's most experienced driver of the time Riccardo Patrese (who was only 3 races from equalling Graham Hill's record number of F1 starts), was on his hot lap when the slower Julian Bailey (who was heading for the pits) got on the wrong side of the track and Patrese had to slow down considerably to avoid hitting Bailey, ruining his fast lap. A furious Patrese retaliated by getting in front of Bailey and brake testing his Tyrrell, the subsequent collision sending Bailey's car into the air and off the track into the gravel trap. Officials at first blamed Bailey and also called his Tyrrell team mate Jonathan Palmer to the hearing for good measure on the premise that the slower Tyrrells were generally a menace and both drivers needed to be told. After a protest by Ken Tyrrell however, officials later reviewed the incident again and Patrese was fined $10,000 for his actions, although most in the Formula One paddock argued that Patrese's fine was not enough, and that he should also pay the Tyrrell team to fix the damages on the Tyrrell 017 and the general feeling was that Patrese, Grand Prix racing's most experienced driver of the day, should have faced a harsher penalty. One unnamed driver was quoted as saying "I hope they fine him his bloody retainer. There are enough accidental shunts in this business without people actually trying to cause them....."

McLaren locked out the front row for the 10th time in 14 races in 1988 with Ayrton Senna on pole for the 11th time. On this tight and twisty track that was as slippery as ever due to its dusty surroundings and lack of use for anything other than car and motorcycle Grand Prix racing, it was no surprise to see 1987 race winner Nigel Mansell in third place in his Williams only 2/10ths from the pole. In fact, the nature of the circuit saw atmo cars from 3rd to 7th on the grid. The next best turbo behind the McLarens being the Ferrari of Gerhard Berger in 8th place, though the Austrian was only 1.399 slower than Senna.

Both Zakspeed turbos of Piercarlo Ghinzani and Bernd Schneider failed to qualify, as did Julian Bailey, while there was a general sigh of relief on this tight circuit that the EuroBrun of Oscar Larrauri who had proven to be something of a mobile chicane in his rookie year and had a reputation for ignoring blue flags and his mirrors, also failed to make the cut. Gabriele Tarquini failed to pre-qualify his Coloni.

Race summary

From the 10th all-McLaren front row of the year, Alain Prost made a good start, with the Williams of Nigel Mansell drafting past Ayrton Senna into 2nd. Ivan Capelli and Thierry Boutsen tangled, damaging the Benetton's nosecone. On lap 2, Senna passed Mansell but ran wide, allowing the Englishman to retake the lead. On lap 16, Michele Alboreto retired with engine problems on his Ferrari. For the first 28 laps there was no change amongst the top 7: Prost (cautiously conserving tyres and fuel, after the problems experienced in Portugal) led Mansell by a mere half second. Senna had to defend his 3rd place from Riccardo Patrese and Capelli, who in turn was being challenged by Alessandro Nannini and Gerhard Berger.

Around lap 30, Nannini, Berger and Piquet all pitted for new tyres. After trailing the Williams for the first hour of the race, and doing so without a clutch since the early laps, Capelli managed to pass Patrese to gain 4th place on lap 36 and then three laps later at exactly the same corner he passed Senna's McLaren. Sadly on lap 46 his engine starting smoking and the March driver retired after another outstanding drive.

Mansell managed to keep Prost within arms length, but with a less powerful engine on the tight Jerez circuit, could not get past, or close enough, to the Frenchman who was driving close to a perfect race (Mansell described it as "following the master"). On lap 47 Mansell pitted but a sticking wheel nut delayed him and enabled Prost to pull ahead. Meanwhile, Nannini was going fast on his new tyres, passing both Patrese and Senna in one lap. Mansell's slow stop allowed Prost to pit on lap 50 without losing his lead (though he accidentally selected second gear and was slow getting away from his pit), and a lap later Senna also pitted for new tyres and dropped out of the points. He passed Gugelmin and Berger before finally overtaking Patrese on lap 65, who drove the entire race on one set of tyres.

Prost sealed his 34th career victory with a fastest lap record and Mansell gaining his 2nd second-place of the year from just two finishes. Nannini collected another podium finish ahead of Senna (troubled with fuel readout problems again, crossing the line with his readout telling him he had almost no fuel left), Patrese and Berger (almost out of fuel) in 6th.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	12	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	1:24.775	1:24.067	—
2	11	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	1:26.735	1:24.134	+0.067
3	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Judd	1:25.898	1:24.269	+0.202
4	20	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton-Ford	EX	1:24.904	+0.837
5	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	1:26.673	1:25.032	+0.965
6	16	Ivan Capelli	March-Judd	1:26.221	1:25.115	+1.048
7	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Judd	1:27.504	1:25.217	+1.150
8	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	1:27.796	1:25.466	+1.399
9	1	Nelson Piquet	Lotus-Honda	1:28.015	1:25.648	+1.581
10	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	1:29.034	1:26.447	+2.380
11	15	Maurício Gugelmin	March-Judd	1:27.414	1:26.578	+2.511
12	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Ford	1:27.927	1:26.832	+2.765
13	14	Philippe Streiff	AGS-Ford	1:28.099	1:26.971	+2.904
14	21	Nicola Larini	Osella	1:28.417	1:27.012	+2.945
15	2	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Honda	1:28.840	1:27.171	+3.104
16	29	Yannick Dalmas	Lola-Ford	1:29.688	1:27.187	+3.120
17	17	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Megatron	1:28.473	1:27.240	+3.173
18	36	Alex Caffi	Dallara-Ford	1:27.907	1:27.350	+3.283
19	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Judd	1:29.157	1:27.351	+3.284
20	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	1:27.826	1:27.407	+3.340
21	26	Stefan Johansson	Ligier-Judd	1:28.009	1:27.474	+3.407
22	3	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	1:27.582	1:27.548	+3.481
23	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Rial-Ford	1:28.315	1:27.798	+3.731
24	24	Luis Pérez-Sala	Minardi-Ford	1:28.694	1:27.833	+3.816
25	18	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Megatron	1:29.305	1:27.859	+3.792
26	33	Stefano Modena	EuroBrun-Ford	1:30.759	1:27.977	+3.910
DNQ	10	Bernd Schneider	Zakspeed	1:31.144	1:28.194	+4.127
DNQ	32	Oscar Larrauri	EuroBrun-Ford	1:31.366	1:28.664	+4.597
DNQ	4	Julian Bailey	Tyrrell-Ford	1:30.125	1:29.066	+4.999
DNQ	9	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Zakspeed	1:29.824	1:29.503	+5.436
DNPQ	31	Gabriele Tarquini	Coloni-Ford	1:30.459

• Note: Boutsen's time from Q1 excluded as front wing end plates were 5mm longer than allowed.

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	11	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	72	1:48:43.851	2	9
2	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Judd	72	+ 26.232	3	6
3	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	72	+ 35.446	5	4
4	12	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	72	+ 46.710	1	3
5	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Judd	72	+ 47.430	7	2
6	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	72	+ 51.813	8	1
7	15	Maurício Gugelmin	March-Judd	72	+ 1:15.964	11
8	1	Nelson Piquet	Lotus-Honda	72	+ 1:17.309	9
9	20	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton-Ford	72	+ 1:17.655	4
10	36	Alex Caffi	Dallara-Ford	71	+ 1 Lap	18
11	29	Yannick Dalmas	Lola-Ford	71	+ 1 Lap	16
12	24	Luis Pérez-Sala	Minardi-Ford	70	+ 2 Laps	24
13	33	Stefano Modena	Euro Brun-Ford	70	+ 2 Laps	26
14	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Ford	69	+ 3 Laps	12
Ret	26	Stefan Johansson	Ligier-Judd	62	Wheel	21
Ret	18	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Megatron	60	Chassis	25
Ret	16	Ivan Capelli	March-Judd	45	Engine	6
Ret	17	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Megatron	41	Chassis	17
Ret	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Rial-Ford	37	Engine	23
Ret	14	Philippe Streiff	AGS-Ford	16	Engine	13
Ret	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	15	Engine	10
Ret	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	15	Gearbox	20
Ret	2	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Honda	14	Spun Off	15
Ret	21	Nicola Larini	Osella	9	Suspension	14
Ret	3	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	4	Chassis	22
Ret	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Judd	0	Throttle	19
DNQ	10	Bernd Schneider	Zakspeed
DNQ	32	Oscar Larrauri	Euro Brun-Ford
DNQ	4	Julian Bailey	Tyrrell-Ford
DNQ	9	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Zakspeed
DNPQ	31	Gabriele Tarquini	Coloni-Ford
Source:[1]

Championship standings after the race

• Bold Text indicates World Champions.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Alain Prost 84 (90) 2 Ayrton Senna 79 3 Gerhard Berger 38 4 Thierry Boutsen 25 5 Michele Alboreto 24

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Honda 169 2 Ferrari 62 3 Benetton-Ford 38 4 Arrows-Megatron 20 5 March-Judd 19

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Drivers could only count their best 11 results; numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored. Points accurate at final declaration of results. The Benettons were subsequently disqualified from the Belgian Grand Prix and their points reallocated.

References