German GP 1987

JULY 26, 1987

German GP, 1987

The World Championship was finely balanced at the midseason with Nelson Piquet leading on 39 points, Ayrton Senna second with 35, Nigel Mansell third with 30 and Alain Prost fourth with 26.

Qualifying resulted in Mansell beating Senna to pole with Prost third, edging Piquet to fourth. Michele Alboreto was fifth fastest in his Ferrari with Thierry Boutsen sixth for Benetton. The top 10 was completed by Andrea de Cesaris (Brabham-BMW), Stefan Johansson (McLaren), Teo Fabi (Benetton) and Gerhard Berger (Ferrari).

At the start Senna took the lead with Mansell slow away but he recovered to be second by the end of the first lap ahead of Prost, Piquet, Boutsen, Alboreto and Johansson. At the start of the second lap Mansell went ahead and It was clear that Senna was holding everyone up behind him. Prost went by later on the second lap and Piquet followed on the third lap. Prost was able to close up to Mansell and on lap seven the Frenchman went ahead. Further back in the field the attrition rate was high but at the front little changed until lap 19 when Prost pitted for tires. When Mansell pitted on lap 23 Prost went ahead again. Mansell hoped to catch the McLaren but his engine failed on lap 25 and so Piquet moved to second place while Senna pitted twice trying to solve a serious handling problem and dropped back, leaving Johansson in third place after Boutsen's Benetton had blown its engine. Prost seemed to have the race won but with four laps to go an alternator belt broke and he was forced to retire. Victory thus went to Piquet with Johansson second, Senna third and stragglers picking up the other points: Philippe Streiff and Jonathan Palmer coming home fourth and fifth in their Tyrrells and Philippe Alliot sixth in his Larrousse Lola. The only other man running was Martin Brundle in his Zakspeed 10 laps behind the winner.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda  44 1h21m25.091s  
Stefan Johansson McLaren-TAG Porsche  44 1h23m04.682s  
12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Honda  43  
Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Cosworth  43  22 
Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Cosworth  43  23 
30 Philippe Alliot Lola-Cosworth  42  21 
7r Alain Prost McLaren-TAG Porsche  39 Alternator Belt 
nc Martin Brundle Zakspeed  34  19 
26 Piercarlo Ghinzani Ligier-Megatron  32 Engine 17 
23 Adrian Campos Minardi-Motori Moderni  28 Engine 18 
20 Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Cosworth  26 Engine 
Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda  25 Engine 
24 Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni  25 Engine 16 
17 Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron  23 Turbo 13 
10 Christian Danner Zakspeed  21 Input Shaft 20 
28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari  19 Turbo 10 
19 Teo Fabi Benetton-Cosworth  18 Engine 
21 Alex Caffi Osella-Alfa Romeo  17 Engine 26 
Andrea de Cesaris Brabham-BMW  12 Engine 
27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari  10 Turbo  
14 Pascal Fabre AGS-Cosworth  10 Valve 25 
18 Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron  Throttle Linkage 15 
11 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda  Suspension 14 
16 Ivan Capelli March-Cosworth  Distributor Rotor Arm 24 
25 Rene Arnoux Ligier-Megatron  Electrics 12 
Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW  Engine 11