Belgian GP 1989

Belgian GP, 1989

The future of Brabham was once again called into question by the news that Joachim Luhti had been arrested in connection with allegations of fraud in Switzerland. The political battle at Benetton had come to a head with team manager Peter Collins leaving and Flavio Briatore taking on an important new role within the team. As Jean Alesi was busy trying to win the Formula 3000 title his place at Tyrrell was taken by Johnny Herbert while at Coloni Pierre-Henri Raphanel had given up trying to pre-qualify the cars and had been replaced by Enrico Bertaggia. Raphanel had replaced Volker Weidler at Rial.

The battle for the World Championship was the talking point and in qualifying Ayrton Senna was on pole in his McLaren-Honda ahead of his team mate Alain Prost. Gerhard Berger was third in his Ferrari with Thierry Bousten fourth in his Williams ahead of his team mate Riccardo Patrese. Nigel Mansell was sixth in his Ferrari ahead of Sandro Nannini (Benetton), Stefano Modena (Brabham), Mauricio Gugelmin (Leyton House) and Derek Warwick (Arrows). There was disaster for Lotus as neither Nelson Piquet not Satoru Nakajima was able to qualify.

On race day it was wet and at the start Senna went into the lead with Prost, Berger, Mansell, Boutsen, Patrese and Warwick chasing him. Berger disappeared in the early laps when his Ferrari aquaplaned off. It made no difference at the front where Senna led Prost for the entire race. Mansell ended up third with Boutsen fourth, Nannini fifth and Warwick sixth.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda  44 1h40m54.196s  
Alain Prost McLaren-Honda  44 1h40m55.500s  
27 Nigel Mansell Ferrari  44 1h40m56.020s  
Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault  44 1h41m489.614  
19 Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Cosworth  44 1h42m03.001s  
Derek Warwick Arrows-Cosworth  44 1h42m12.512  10 
15 Mauricio Gugelmin March-Judd  43  
36 Stefan Johansson Onyx-Cosworth  43  15 
23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Cosworth  43  14 
10 20 Emanuele Pirro Benetton-Cosworth  43  13 
11 22 Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Cosworth  43  18 
12 16 Ivan Capelli March-Judd  43  19 
13 26 Olivier Grouillard Ligier-Cosworth  43  26 
14 Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Cosworth  42  21 
15 24 Luis Sala Minardi-Cosworth  41  25 
30 Philippe Alliot Lola-Lamborghini  39 Oil Pressure 11 
10 Eddie Cheever Arrows-Cosworth  38 Wheel Nut 24 
37 Bertrand Gachot Onyx-Cosworth  21 Wheel Bearing/accident 23 
Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault  20 Accident 
29 Michele Alboreto Lola-Lamborghini  19 Accident 22 
21 Alex Caffi Dallara-Cosworth  13 Spin 12 
Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd  12 Brakes 20 
28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari  Spin 
Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd  Handling 
25 Rene Arnoux Ligier-Cosworth  Accident 17 
Johnny Herbert Tyrrell-Cosworth  Spin 16 
nq 12 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Judd    27 
nq 11 Nelson Piquet Lotus-Judd    28 
nq 38 Christian Danner Rial-Cosworth    29 
nq 39 Pierre-Henri Raphanel Rial-Cosworth    30 
npq 17 Nicola Larini Osella-Cosworth    31 
npq 18 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Cosworth    32 
npq 31 Roberto Moreno Coloni-Cosworth    33 
npq 40 Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Cosworth    34 
npq 34 Bernd Schneider Zakspeed-Yamaha    35 
npq 35 Aguri Suzuki Zakspeed-Yamaha    36 
npq 41 Yannick Dalmas AGS-Cosworth    37 
npq 33 Gregor Foitek EuroBrun-Judd    38 
npq 32 Enrico Bertaggia Coloni-Cosworth    39