1988 Belgian Grand Prix

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Belgium  1988 Belgian Grand Prix
Race details
Race 11 of 16 in the 1988 Formula One season
Belgian Grand Prix Spa.png
Date August 28, 1988
Official name Champion Belgian Grand Prix
Location Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Spa, Belgium
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 6.940 km (4.312 mi)
Distance 43 laps, 298.420 km (185.429 mi)
Weather Warm, dry and overcast
Pole position
Driver McLaren-Honda
Time 1:53.718
Fastest lap
Driver Austria Gerhard Berger Ferrari
Time 2:00.772 on lap 10
Podium
First McLaren-Honda
Second McLaren-Honda
Third March-Judd

The 1988 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on August 28, 1988 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. It was the eleventh race of the 1988 Formula One season.

Race summary

This was the first race after the death of Enzo Ferrari. Nigel Mansell was forced to miss the race due to chicken pox and was replaced by Martin Brundle. The McLarens once again dominated the qualifying sessions, occupying the whole front row for the 7th time in 11 races, though neither Ayrton Senna nor Alain Prost could match Michele Alboreto on the uphill Kemmel Straight as he pushed his Ferrari to 312 km/h (194 mph). This was the first race in 1988 where neither of the new EuroBrun cars made the field.

Throughout 1988, Senna had copied Prost's car settings feeling that the Frenchman had a better handle on setting up the McLaren. At Spa Prost decided at the last minute to alter the settings on his car in a bid to gain an advantage. Unfortunately for the Frenchman this had a detrimental result and he was unhappy with the balance and handling of his car in the race, compared to Senna with Prost's original settings who reported no such problems. At the start, pole sitter Senna had too much wheelspin and Prost was able to take the lead. However, the first time through Eau Rouge Senna was clearly quicker and easily retook the lead after he slipstreamed Prost on the Kemmel straight and out braked him at Les Combes. Senna simply powered off into the distance while Prost, struggling with a car that was no longer handling to his liking, dropped back for a safe second place.

Gerhard Berger managed to get his Ferrari up to 3rd, challenging Prost briefly before pitting on lap 3 with electrical problems. He managed to rejoin and set the fastest lap before retiring on lap 12. Due to Berger's retirement, Thierry Boutsen climbed to 4th behind Michele Alboreto and ahead of a thrilling battle between Alessandro Nannini, Satoru Nakajima, Nelson Piquet, and the two Arrows. Piquet passed teammate Nakajima on lap 17 and the Japanese pitted with an acute misfire from a jammed plug, which caused him to retire. In the meantime, Ivan Capelli climbed from 9th to 6th.

On lap 36 Alboreto's engine blew up, sending him out of the race from 3rd. Just 2 laps later Nannini capped his progresses by passing Piquet with a move at the Source hairpin. The Brazilian was suffering from brake bias problems. While attempting to keep the correct balance of the brakes, he wore his tyres, which ultimately caused him to run wide off the track. In the process, grass gathered in the sidepods and caused the engine to overheat. On lap 42, Capelli passed Piquet to seize 5th place.

McLaren's 1-2 sealed the Constructors' Championship for the British team, with Benetton coming home third and fourth. Capelli and Piquet rounded out the points. McLaren-Honda won the Constructor's Championship earlier than anyone else had, with five races left. In a post-race interview, Prost virtually conceded the championship to Senna who had won his fourth race in succession and had taken the championship lead for the first time, though those who knew Prost didn't believe he would give up so easily.

Both Benettons were later disqualified for using irregular fuel, so the third podium spot went to Capelli, and the two Arrows of Derek Warwick and Eddie Cheever went into the points. The disqualification of the Benettons was not made official until long after the season had finished, so many published records list them as having finished third and fourth. The three points Arrows gained from the disqualification brought the team to fifth in the Constructors' Championship.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 12 Brazil Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:53.718 2:15.196
2 11 France Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 1:54.128 no time +0.410
3 28 Austria Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:54.581 2:17.115 +0.863
4 27 Italy Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:55.665 2:15.667 +1.947
5 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Judd 1:57.138 2:15.358 +3.420
6 20 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford 1:57.455 2:15.236 +3.737
7 19 Italy Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 1:57.535 2:17.077 +3.817
8 2 Japan Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 1:57.616 2:14.739 +3.898
9 1 Brazil Nelson Piquet Lotus-Honda 1:57.821 2:15.027 +4.103
10 17 United Kingdom Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 1:57.925 2:16.770 +4.207
11 18 United States Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 1:57.980 2:19.908 +4.262
12 5 United Kingdom Martin Brundle Williams-Judd 1:58.206 2:14.517 +4.488
13 15 Brazil Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 1:58.361 no time +4.643
14 16 Italy Ivan Capelli March-Judd 1:58.439 2:22.821 +4.721
15 36 Italy Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 1:59.736 2:18.052 +6.018
16 30 France Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 1:59.906 2:21.219 +6.188
17 25 France René Arnoux Ligier-Judd 2:00.037 2:19.260 +6.319
18 14 France Philippe Streiff AGS-Ford 2:00.410 2:23.953 +6.692
19 22 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Rial-Ford 2:00.521 2:17.028 +6.803
20 26 Sweden Stefan Johansson Ligier-Judd 2:00.857 no time +7.139
21 3 United Kingdom Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 2:01.078 2:20.594 +7.360
22 31 Italy Gabriele Tarquini Coloni-Ford 2:01.359 2:19.939 +7.641
23 29 France Yannick Dalmas Lola-Ford 2:01.467 2:19.909 +7.749
24 9 Italy Piercarlo Ghinzani Zakspeed 2:01.899 2:22.064 +8.181
25 10 West Germany Bernd Schneider Zakspeed 2:01.938 2:19.825 +8.220
26 21 Italy Nicola Larini Osella 2:02.029 2:17.127 +8.311
DNQ 24 Spain Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford 2:02.129 no time +8.411
DNQ 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 2:02.314 no time +8.596
DNQ 33 Italy Stefano Modena EuroBrun-Ford 2:02.322 2:19.880 +8.604
DNQ 4 United Kingdom Julian Bailey Tyrrell-Ford 2:02.519 no time +8.801
DNPQ 32 Argentina Oscar Larrauri EuroBrun-Ford

Race

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 12 Brazil Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 43 1:28:00.549 1 9
2 11 France Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 43 + 30.470 2 6
3 16 Italy Ivan Capelli March-Judd 43 + 1:15.768 14 4
4 1 Brazil Nelson Piquet Lotus-Honda 43 + 1:23.628 9 3
5 17 United Kingdom Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 43 + 1:25.355 10 2
6 18 United States Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 42 + 1 Lap 11 1
7 5 United Kingdom Martin Brundle Williams-Judd 42 + 1 Lap 12  
8 36 Italy Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 42 + 1 Lap 15  
9 30 France Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 42 + 1 Lap 16  
10 14 France Philippe Streiff AGS-Ford 42 + 1 Lap 18  
11 26 Sweden Stefan Johansson Ligier-Judd 39 Engine 20  
12 3 United Kingdom Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 39 Throttle 21  
13 10 West Germany Bernd Schneider Zakspeed 38 Gearbox 25  
DSQ 20 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford 43 Irregular fuel 6  
DSQ 19 Italy Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 43 Irregular fuel 7  
Ret 31 Italy Gabriele Tarquini Coloni-Ford 36 Steering 22  
Ret 27 Italy Michele Alboreto Ferrari 35 Engine 4  
Ret 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Judd 30 Engine 5  
Ret 15 Brazil Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 29 Spun Off 13  
Ret 9 Italy Piercarlo Ghinzani Zakspeed 25 Oil Leak 24  
Ret 2 Japan Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 22 Engine 8  
Ret 21 Italy Nicola Larini Osella 14 Fuel System 26  
Ret 28 Austria Gerhard Berger Ferrari 11 Injection 3  
Ret 29 France Yannick Dalmas Lola-Ford 9 Engine 23  
Ret 22 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Rial-Ford 2 Collision 19  
Ret 25 France René Arnoux Ligier-Judd 2 Collision 17  
DNQ 24 Spain Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford    
DNQ 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford    
DNQ 33 Italy Stefano Modena EuroBrun-Ford    
DNQ 4 United Kingdom Julian Bailey Tyrrell-Ford    
DNPQ 32 Argentina Oscar Larrauri EuroBrun-Ford    
Source:[1]

Championship standings after the race

  • Bold Text indicates World Champions.
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Points accurate at final declaration of results. The Benettons were disqualified from this race, and their points reallocated, after the end of the season.

References

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Previous race:
1988 Hungarian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1988 season
Next race:
1988 Italian Grand Prix
Previous race:
1987 Belgian Grand Prix
Belgian Grand Prix Next race:
1989 Belgian Grand Prix
  1. REDIRECT Template:F1GP 1980–1989

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