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.
POS | NO | DRIVER | ENTRANT | LAPS | TIME/RETIREMENT | QUAL POS |
1 | 6 | Nelson Piquet | Williams-Honda | 44 | 1h21m25.091s | 4 |
2 | 2 | Stefan Johansson | McLaren-TAG Porsche | 44 | 1h23m04.682s | 8 |
3 | 12 | Ayrton Senna | Lotus-Honda | 43 | 2 | |
4 | 4 | Philippe Streiff | Tyrrell-Cosworth | 43 | 22 | |
5 | 3 | Jonathan Palmer | Tyrrell-Cosworth | 43 | 23 | |
6 | 30 | Philippe Alliot | Lola-Cosworth | 42 | 21 | |
7r | 1 | Alain Prost | McLaren-TAG Porsche | 39 | Alternator Belt | 3 |
nc | 9 | Martin Brundle | Zakspeed | 34 | 19 | |
r | 26 | Piercarlo Ghinzani | Ligier-Megatron | 32 | Engine | 17 |
r | 23 | Adrian Campos | Minardi-Motori Moderni | 28 | Engine | 18 |
r | 20 | Thierry Boutsen | Benetton-Cosworth | 26 | Engine | 6 |
r | 5 | Nigel Mansell | Williams-Honda | 25 | Engine | 1 |
r | 24 | Alessandro Nannini | Minardi-Motori Moderni | 25 | Engine | 16 |
r | 17 | Derek Warwick | Arrows-Megatron | 23 | Turbo | 13 |
r | 10 | Christian Danner | Zakspeed | 21 | Input Shaft | 20 |
r | 28 | Gerhard Berger | Ferrari | 19 | Turbo | 10 |
r | 19 | Teo Fabi | Benetton-Cosworth | 18 | Engine | 9 |
r | 21 | Alex Caffi | Osella-Alfa Romeo | 17 | Engine | 26 |
r | 8 | Andrea de Cesaris | Brabham-BMW | 12 | Engine | 7 |
r | 27 | Michele Alboreto | Ferrari | 10 | Turbo | 5 |
r | 14 | Pascal Fabre | AGS-Cosworth | 10 | Valve | 25 |
r | 18 | Eddie Cheever | Arrows-Megatron | 9 | Throttle Linkage | 15 |
r | 11 | Satoru Nakajima | Lotus-Honda | 9 | Suspension | 14 |
r | 16 | Ivan Capelli | March-Cosworth | 7 | Distributor Rotor Arm | 24 |
r | 25 | Rene Arnoux | Ligier-Megatron | 6 | Electrics | 12 |
r | 7 | Riccardo Patrese | Brabham-BMW | 5 | Engine | 11 |