1987 Belgian Grand Prix

The 1987 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 17 May 1987 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Francorchamps, Wallonia. Contested over 43 laps, the race was the 45th Belgian Grand Prix, the 33rd to be held at Spa and the fourth since the circuit was redeveloped in 1979, and the third race of the 1987 Formula One season.

The race was won by France's Alain Prost driving a McLaren-TAG. This was Prost's second victory of the 1987 season and his second in the Belgian Grand Prix (after 1983), as well as his 27th Grand Prix victory overall, equalling Jackie Stewart's all-time record. Prost's Swedish team-mate Stefan Johansson finished second, the only other driver on the same lap, giving McLaren their first 1-2 finish since the previous year's Monaco Grand Prix. Italy's Andrea de Cesaris, driving a Brabham-BMW, finished third despite having to push his car over the line as he had run out of fuel.

The win gave Prost a five-point lead over Johansson in the Drivers' Championship. Williams driver Nigel Mansell was three points further back; a first-lap collision with Ayrton Senna's Lotus had ultimately led to his retirement from the race, after which he angrily confronted the Brazilian driver in the Lotus garage.

Background

The event, officially called the Grand Prix de Belgique, was held at the Template:Convert Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps outside the Belgian village of Francorchamps.<ref name="Autocourse 1987-88 Belgian GP" /> Untimed free practice sessions were held on the mornings of Friday 15 May, Saturday 16 May, and Sunday 17 May 1987, with timed qualifying practice sessions held on the Friday and Saturday afternoons and the main Grand Prix race itself held on the Sunday afternoon.<ref name="Autocourse 1987-88 Belgian GP" /> Twenty-six cars were entered by fifteen constructors.<ref name="Autocourse 1987-88 Belgian GP" /> All teams used Goodyear tyres.<ref name="Autocourse 1987-88 Belgian GP" /> Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives (AGS), Arrows, Benetton Formula, Scuderia Ferrari, Ligier, Team Lotus, McLaren, Minardi, Tyrrell Racing, Williams, and Zakspeed had all modified their cars to varying extents ahead of this event.<ref name="Autocourse 1987-88 Belgian GP" /> Friday practice was wet with temperatures below Template:Convert.<ref name="Autocourse 1987-88 Belgian GP" /> The race was held in dry conditions with temperatures around Template:Convert.<ref name="Autocourse 1987-88 Belgian GP" />

Race summary

Qualifying runs saw the two Williams FW11Bs take the front row, with Nigel Mansell on the pole, nearly 1.5 seconds faster than Nelson Piquet. Certainly, Piquet was still suffering the results of his accident at Imola. Ayrton Senna took the third place in his Lotus 99T ahead of the two Ferrari F1/87s of Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto.

The race required two starts. On the first start Mansell took the lead ahead of Senna, Piquet and Alboreto. At the back of the grid René Arnoux (Ligier JS29B) and Andrea de Cesaris (Brabham BT56) tangled, whilst Thierry Boutsen (Benetton B187) hit Berger's spinning Ferrari F1/87. A more serious accident befell Philippe Streiff who crashed heavily at the Eau Rouge before the wreckage was hit by Tyrrell teammate Jonathan Palmer; both were unhurt but their Tyrrell DG016s were reduced to scrap. By virtue of qualifying 23rd to his teammate's 24th, and ironically by crashing first, Streiff was given the spare car for the restart forcing Palmer out of the race.

On the second start, Senna led Mansell away, but during lap one the Briton tried to overtake the Brazilian. The two controversially tangled, leading to the retirement of the Lotus 99T. Mansell rejoined the race at the back, until the damage sustained in the collision finally forced him to retire on lap 17. Mansell subsequently visited the Lotus garage where harsh words were exchanged and punches were thrown.

Berger retired on lap three with a broken piston whilst on lap 10 second place Michele Alboreto's wheel bearing broke and Nelson Piquet retired with a broken turbo pipe, handing the lead to Alain Prost from Teo Fabi and Stefan Johansson. The pitstops changed little in the situation, and he maintained this to win easily by 25 seconds, despite concerns with his fuel consumption due to a faulty gauge.

This was Prost's 27th win, equalling Jackie Stewart's record with team-mate Johansson making it a McLaren 1-2. Andrea de Cesaris drove superbly to finish third for Brabham despite having to push his car over the line with Eddie Cheever (Arrows A10), Satoru Nakajima (Lotus 99T) and Arnoux taking the remaining points. With the setbacks to the Tyrrell drivers, the Jim Clark points were won by the Lola LC87 of Philippe Alliot. Template:As of, this was also the last time that the Belgian Grand Prix was held at the beginning of the season; since 1988, it has always been held in July, August or September.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap	Grid
1	5	Template:Flagicon Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	2:06.965	1:52.026	—	1
2	6	Template:Flagicon Nelson Piquet	Williams-Honda	2:08.143	1:53.416	+1.390	2
3	12	Template:Flagicon Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Honda	2:08.450	1:53.426	+1.400	3
4	28	Template:Flagicon Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	2:06.216	1:53.451	+1.425	4
5	27	Template:Flagicon Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	2:07.459	1:53.511	+1.485	5
6	1	Template:Flagicon Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	2:11.203	1:54.186	+2.160	6
7	20	Template:Flagicon Thierry Boutsen	Benetton-Ford	2:08.752	1:54.300	+2.274	7
8	7	Template:Flagicon Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW	2:12.914	1:55.064	+3.038	8
9	19	Template:Flagicon Teo Fabi	Benetton-Ford	2:12.358	1:55.339	+3.313	9
10	2	Template:Flagicon Stefan Johansson	McLaren-TAG	2:12.063	1:55.781	+3.755	10
11	18	Template:Flagicon Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Megatron	2:15.321	1:55.899	+3.873	11
12	17	Template:Flagicon Derek Warwick	Arrows-Megatron	2:10.946	1:56.359	+4.333	12
13	8	Template:Flagicon Andrea de Cesaris	Brabham-BMW	2:13.871	1:57.101	+5.075	13
14	24	Template:Flagicon Alessandro Nannini	Minardi-Motori Moderni	2:09.650	1:58.132	+6.106	14
15	11	Template:Flagicon Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Honda	2:11.441	1:58.649	+6.623	15
16	25	Template:Flagicon René Arnoux	Ligier-Megatron	2:15.012	1:59.117	+7.091	16
17	26	Template:Flagicon Piercarlo Ghinzani	Ligier-Megatron	2:15.339	1:59.291	+7.265	17
18	9	Template:Flagicon Martin Brundle	Zakspeed	2:14.432	2:00.433	+8.407	18
19	23	Template:Flagicon Adrián Campos	Minardi-Motori Moderni	2:14.945	2:00.763	+8.737	19
20	10	Template:Flagicon Christian Danner	Zakspeed	2:20.610	2:01.072	+9.046	20
21	16	Template:Flagicon Ivan Capelli	March-Ford	2:13.355	2:02.036	+10.010	21
22	30	Template:Flagicon Philippe Alliot	Lola-Ford	2:13.082	2:02.347	+10.321	22
23	4	Template:Flagicon Philippe Streiff	Tyrrell-Ford	2:18.900	2:03.098	+11.072	23
24	3	Template:Flagicon Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	2:14.931	2:04.677	+12.651	24
25	14	Template:Flagicon Pascal Fabre	AGS-Ford	2:26.498	2:07.361	+15.335	25
26	21	Template:Flagicon Alex Caffi	Osella-Alfa Romeo	2:16.268	2:12.086	+20.060	26
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Race

Numbers in brackets refer to positions of normally aspirated entrants competing for the Jim Clark Trophy.

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Template:Flagicon Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	43	1:27:03.217	6	9
2	2	Template:Flagicon Stefan Johansson	McLaren-TAG	43	+ 24.764	10	6
3	8	Template:Flagicon Andrea de Cesaris	Brabham-BMW	42	Out of Fuel	13	4
4	18	Template:Flagicon Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Megatron	42	+ 1 Lap	11	3
5	11	Template:Flagicon Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Honda	42	+ 1 Lap	15	2
6	25	Template:Flagicon René Arnoux	Ligier-Megatron	41	+ 2 Laps	16	1
7	26	Template:Flagicon Piercarlo Ghinzani	Ligier-Megatron	40	Out of Fuel	17
8 (1)	30	Template:Flagicon Philippe Alliot	Lola-Ford	40	+ 3 Laps	22
9 (2)	4	Template:Flagicon Philippe Streiff	Tyrrell-Ford	39	+ 4 Laps	23
10 (3)	14	Template:Flagicon Pascal Fabre	AGS-Ford	38	Ignition	25
Ret	19	Template:Flagicon Teo Fabi	Benetton-Ford	34	Engine	9
Ret	9	Template:Flagicon Martin Brundle	Zakspeed	19	Overheating	18
Ret	20	Template:Flagicon Thierry Boutsen	Benetton-Ford	18	Wheel Bearing	7
Ret	5	Template:Flagicon Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	17	Accident	1
Ret	16	Template:Flagicon Ivan Capelli	March-Ford	14	Engine	21
Ret	6	Template:Flagicon Nelson Piquet	Williams-Honda	11	Exhaust	2
Ret	21	Template:Flagicon Alex Caffi	Osella-Alfa Romeo	11	Fuel Leak	26
Ret	27	Template:Flagicon Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	9	Transmission	5
Ret	10	Template:Flagicon Christian Danner	Zakspeed	9	Brakes	20
Ret	17	Template:Flagicon Derek Warwick	Arrows-Megatron	8	Radiator	12
Ret	7	Template:Flagicon Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW	5	Clutch	8
Ret	28	Template:Flagicon Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	2	Engine	4
Ret	24	Template:Flagicon Alessandro Nannini	Minardi-Motori Moderni	1	Turbo	14
Ret	12	Template:Flagicon Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Honda	0	Collision	3
Ret	23	Template:Flagicon Adrián Campos	Minardi-Motori Moderni	0	Gearbox	19
Ret	3	Template:Flagicon Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	0	Collision	24
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Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Template:Flagicon Alain Prost	18
2	Template:Flagicon Stefan Johansson	13
3	Template:Flagicon Nigel Mansell	10
4	Template:Flagicon Nelson Piquet	6
5	Template:Flagicon Ayrton Senna	6
Source: <ref name="champ">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation				CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Template:Flagicon McLaren-TAG	31
2	Template:Flagicon Williams-Honda	16
3	Template:Flagicon Lotus-Honda	9
4	Template:Flagicon Ferrari	7
5	Template:Flagicon Brabham-BMW	4
Source: <ref name="champ"/>

Jim Clark Trophy standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Template:Flagicon Philippe Streiff	21
2	Template:Flagicon Philippe Alliot	15
3	Template:Flagicon Pascal Fabre	12
4	Template:Flagicon Jonathan Palmer	9

Colin Chapman trophy standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Template:Flagicon Tyrrell-Ford	30
2	Template:Flagicon Lola-Ford	15
3	Template:Flagicon AGS-Ford	12

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

References

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