Belgian GP 1987

Belgian GP, 1987

The field was much as it had been at the San Marino GP a fortnight earlier, although Osella was back to one car again. Nelson Piquet was back in action after his huge crash at Imola while Zakspeed had two 871 chassis for Martin Brundle and Christian Danner, the German having used an older car in the two previous races.

Qualifying saw the two Williams-Hondas at the front with Mansell on pole by nearly 1.5secs while Ayrton Senna was third in his Lotus-Honda ahead of the two Ferraris of Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto, Alain Prost's McLaren-TAG, Thierry Boutsen's Benetton-Ford, Riccardo Patrese's Brabham-BMW, Teo Fabi's Benetton and Stefan Johansson in the second McLaren.

At the start Mansell took the lead and led Senna, Piquet, Alboreto and Prost. At the start of the second lap Philippe Streiff lost control of his Tyrrell at Raidillon and smashed into the barriers, the impact tearing the engine from the car. Jonathan Palmer then arrived on the scene in the second Tyrrell and smashed into the wreck of Streiff's car. The race was stopped but both men were unhurt, although the Tyrrell team's cars were demolished.

At race was restarted which was good luck for Berger and Boutsen who had collided at the Bus Stop chicane. This time Senna took the lead from Mansell although halfway around the first lap Nigel tried to overtake and the two cars collided and both spun. Senna was out but Mansell was able to get going again. This put Piquet into the lead and Mansell at the back. He would continue until damage from the incident caused him to stop on lap 17. Second place belonged to Alboreto with Prost third, Boutsen fourth and Fabi fifth after Berger went out with an engine failure.

Piquet went out with an engine failure after 10 laps and with Alboreto stopping with a broken CV joint, Prost went into the lead with Boutsen second and Johansson third, the Swede having overtaken Fabi. Stefan then closed on Boutsen and moved to second on lap 17. The pits stops changed little but in the latter part of the race Boutsen fell behind a charged-up Andrea de Cesaris (Brabham-BMW). Thierry finally retired with a broken CV joint which left fourth place to Eddie Cheever (Arrows-Megatron) with Satoru Nakajima's Lotus-Honda and Rene Arnoux sixth in the Ligier-Megatron.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 1 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG Porsche  43 1h27m03.217s  6 
2 2 Stefan Johansson McLaren-TAG Porsche  43 1h27m27.981s  10 
3r 8 Andrea de Cesaris Brabham-BMW  42 Out Of Fuel 13 
4 18 Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron  42  11 
5 11 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda  42  15 
6 25 Rene Arnoux Ligier-Megatron  41  16 
7 26 Piercarlo Ghinzani Ligier-Megatron  40 Out Of Fuel  17 
8 30 Philippe Alliot Lola-Cosworth  40  22 
9 4 Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Cosworth  39  23 
10r 14 Pascal Fabre AGS-Cosworth  38 Electrics 25 
r 19 Teo Fabi Benetton-Cosworth  34 Oil Pump Drive 9 
r 9 Martin Brundle Zakspeed  19 Engine 18 
r 20 Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Cosworth  18 Cv Joint 7 
r 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda  17 Accident/undertray 1 
r 16 Ivan Capelli March-Cosworth  14 Oil Pressure 21 
r 6 Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda  11 Turbo Sensor 2 
r 21 Alex Caffi Osella-Alfa Romeo  11 Engine 26 
r 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari  9 Wheel Bearing 5 
r 10 Christian Danner Zakspeed  9 Brakes/spin 20 
r 17 Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron  8 Water Hose/engine Overheating 12 
r 7 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW  5 Clutch 8 
r 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari  2 Turbo 4 
r 24 Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni  1 Turbo 14 
r 12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Honda  0 Accident 3 
r 23 Adrian Campos Minardi-Motori Moderni  0 Clutch 19 
r 3 Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Cosworth  1 Accident 24