Portuguese GP 1989

Portuguese GP, 1989

The big news in the paddock was that Ferrari's John Barnard had been signed to become technical director of Benetton while there was much controversy about remarks made by Alain Prost about Honda not treating the McLaren drivers fairly. There was a change at Onyx where Bertrand Gachot had been ditched by the team for public criticism of the team and had been replaced by Finland's JJ Lehto while Johnny Herbert was back in the Tyrrell as Jean Alesi was again racing elsewhere in Formula 3000.

Ayrton Senna was again on pole position but the Ferraris of Gerhard Berger and Nigel Mansell were between the Brazilian and Prost. Pierluigi Martini was an impressive sixth in his Minardi (showing the competitive of Pirelli qualifying tires) while sixth place went to Riccardo Patrese (Williams) ahead of Alex Caffi (Dallara), Thierry Boutsen (Williams), Luis Sala (Minardi) and Martin Brundle (Brabham).

At the start Berger took the lead from Senna. The Brazilian held on to second until the eighth lap when Nigel Mansell moved to second and then the order stabilized until lap 24 when Nigel moved ahead of Berger to take the lead. When the mid-race pit stops began Martini briefly led the race for Minardi while Mansell overshot his pit. He then put his car into reverse and went back to where he should be. It was an offense for which Mansell was disqualified but he chose to ignore the black flags which were shown to him. Senna and Mansell were soon fighting for second place behind Berger. On lap 49 they collided at the first corner. Both were out and Prost was up to second.

Berger duly won the race with Prost second and Stefan Johansson (Onyx) third. Nannini was fourth, Martini fifth and Jonathan Palmer sixth in his Tyrrell.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari  71 1h36m48.546s  
Alain Prost McLaren-Honda  71 1h37m21.183s  
36 Stefan Johansson Onyx-Cosworth  71 1h37m43.871s  12 
19 Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Cosworth  71 1h38m10.915s  13 
23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Cosworth  70  
Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Cosworth  70  18 
12 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Judd  70  25 
Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd  70  10 
30 Philippe Alliot Lola-Lamborghini  70  17 
10 15 Mauricio Gugelmin March-Judd  69  14 
11 29 Michele Alboreto Lola-Lamborghini  69  21 
12 24 Luis Sala Minardi-Cosworth  69  
13 25 Rene Arnoux Ligier-Cosworth  69  23 
14 Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd  69  11 
Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault  60 Radiator 
Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault  60 Radiator 
Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda  48 Accident 
r/dq 27 Nigel Mansell Ferrari  48 Accident (disqualified For Push) 
Derek Warwick Arrows-Cosworth  37 Accident 22 
11 Nelson Piquet Lotus-Judd  33 Accident 20 
21 Alex Caffi Dallara-Cosworth  33 Accident 
20 Emanuele Pirro Benetton-Cosworth  29 Suspension 16 
16 Ivan Capelli March-Judd  25 Engine 24 
10 Eddie Cheever Arrows-Cosworth  24 Engine/spin 26 
22 Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Cosworth  17 Electronics 19 
31 Roberto Moreno Coloni-Cosworth  11 Electrics 15 
nq Johnny Herbert Tyrrell-Cosworth    27 
nq 26 Olivier Grouillard Ligier-Cosworth    28 
nq 39 Volker Weidler Rial-Cosworth    29 
nq 38 Christian Danner Rial-Cosworth    30 
npq 37 JJ Lehto Onyx-Cosworth    31 
npq 18 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Cosworth    32 
npq 33 Oscar Larrauri EuroBrun-Judd    33 
npq 40 Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Cosworth    34 
npq 35 Aguri Suzuki Zakspeed-Yamaha    35 
npq 34 Bernd Schneider Zakspeed-Yamaha    36 
npq 32 Enrico Bertaggia Coloni-Cosworth    37 
exc 41 Yannick Dalmas AGS-Cosworth   Tire Infringement 38 
exc 17 Nicola Larini Osella-Cosworth   Missed Weight Check 39