San Marino GP 1986

San Marino GP, 1986

Two weeks after the dramatic finish at Jerez, where Ayrton Senna beat Nigel Mansell by the tiniest of margins. The F1 teams were in action again in Spain. The field had been bolstered by a second Zakspeed for Huub Rothengatter but otherwise was the same as before although Alan Jones finally had the first of the new Ford turbocharged engines in his Beatrice Lola.

Ayrton Senna (Lotus-Renault) was on pole ahead of the two Williams-Hondas of Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell. The McLaren of Alain Prost was ahead of Michele Alboreto's Ferrari with Keke Rosberg (McLaren), Stefan Johansson (Ferrari) and the Ligier-Renault of Rene Arnoux next up. The top 10 was completed by the Benetton-BMWs of Gerhard Berger and Teo Fabi while Patrick Tambay was 11th in his Lola-Hart.

Piquet took the lead at the start with Piquet behind him but Mansell had an engine problem and dropped back behind Prost and Rosberg. On the fourth lap Prost and Rosberg both overtook Senna but then Rosberg passed his team mate to take second place. Alboreto was fourth while Senna disappeared with a wheelbearing failure. This meant that Fabi and Berger were fifth and sixth, although the Austrian soon overtook the Italian.

During the pit stops Prost's crew did a better job and he took the lead when Rosberg pitted on lap 33. Keke's stop was slow and he rejoined second. The order then settled with Piquet having to watch his mirrors for Alboreto while he conserved fuel. Finally he had enough fuel to race again. Alboreto faded and disappeared later with a turbo problem. Piquet caught Rosberg but the McLaren seemed to be able to hold him off until Rosberg ran out of petrol. Riccardo Patrese, up to fourth in his Brabham, also stopped and this meant that Gerhard Berger found himself in third at the finish behind Prost and Piquet. Johansson was fourth with Rosberg and Patrese classified fifth and sixth.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 1 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG Porsche  60 1h32m28.408s  4 
2 6 Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda  60 1h32m36.053s  2 
3 20 Gerhard Berger Benetton-BMW  59  9 
4 28 Stefan Johansson Ferrari  59  7 
5r 2 Keke Rosberg McLaren-TAG Porsche  58  6 
6r 7 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW  58 Out Of Fuel 16 
7 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW  58 Out Of Fuel 12 
8 3 Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Renault  58  13 
9r 17 Marc Surer Arrows-BMW  57 Out Of Fuel 15 
10r 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari  56 Turbo Boost Pressure 5 
r 21 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo  52 Out Of Fuel 26 
r 25 Rene Arnoux Ligier-Renault  46 Wheel Lost 8 
r 4 Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Renault  41 Transmission 22 
r 19 Teo Fabi Benetton-BMW  39 Engine 10 
r 14 Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed  38 Brakes 20 
r 22 Christian Danner Osella-Alfa Romeo  31 Electrics 25 
r 15 Alan Jones Lola-Hart  28 Radiator/engine Overheating 21 
r 23 Andrea de Cesaris Minardi-Motori Moderni  20 Engine 23 
r 8 Elio de Angelis Brabham-BMW  19 Engine 19 
r 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Renault  14 Turbo Boost Pressure 14 
r 12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault  11 Wheel Bearing 1 
r 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda  8 Engine 3 
r 11 Johnny Dumfries Lotus-Renault  8 Wheel Bearing 17 
r 29 Huub Rothengatter Zakspeed  7 Turbo Boost Pressure 24 
r 16 Patrick Tambay Lola-Hart  5 Engine 11 
r 24 Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni  0 Accident 18