French GP 1988

French GP, 1988

It was business as usual at Paul Ricard with the two McLaren-Hondas well clear of the opposition in qualifying although on this occasion Alain Prost was ahead of Ayrton Senna. Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto shared the second row as usual in their Ferraris while the third row was all-Benetton with Thierry Boutsen just faster than Sandro Nannini. The team-by-team theme continued with the two Lotus-Hondas of Nelson Piquet and Satoru Nakajima on row four while the pattern was finally broken on the fifth row as Nigel Mansell (Williams) was alongside Ivan Capelli (March). It was a disaster for the Ligier team with both Rene Arnoux and Stefan Johansson failing to qualify.

Prost took the lead at the start with Senna second ahead of the two Ferraris and a fast-starting Piquet. During the mid-race pit stops Senna managed to get ahead. Senna began to suffer a slight gearbox problem and Prost closed right to him. Senna looked to be in command until they got into traffic and on lap 61 Prost produced a brave opportunist move and was back in the lead. He went on to win with Senna dropping back in the closing laps as he lost gears. He was still second, however, ahead of Alboreto, Berger, Piquet and Nannini.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
11 Alain Prost McLaren-Honda  80 1h37m37.328s  
12 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda  80 1h38m09.080s  
27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari  80 1h38m43.833s  
28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari  79  
Nelson Piquet Lotus-Honda  79  
19 Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Cosworth  79  
Satoru Nakajimi Lotus-Honda  79  
15 Mauricio Gugelmin March-Judd  79  16 
16 Ivan Capelli March-Judd  79  10 
10 22 Andrea de Cesaris Rial-Cosworth  78  12 
11 18 Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron  78  13 
12 36 Alex Caffi Dallara-Cosworth  78  14 
13 29 Yannick Dalmas Lola-Cosworth  78  19 
14 33 Stefano Modena EuroBrun-Cosworth  77  20 
15 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Cosworth  77  22 
nc 24 Luis Sala Minardi-Cosworth  70  25 
32 Oscar Larrauri EuroBrun-Cosworth  64 Clutch 26 
21 Nicola Larini Osella-Alfa Romeo  56 Drive Shaft 24 
10 Bernd Schneider Zakspeed  55 Gearbox 21 
Nigel Mansell Williams-Judd  48  Suspension 
30 Philippe Alliot Lola-Cosworth  46 Electrics 18 
Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Cosworth  40 Engine 23 
Riccardo Patrese Williams-Judd  35 Brakes 15 
20 Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Cosworth  28 Electrics 
14 Philippe Streiff AGS-Cosworth  20 Fuel Leak 17 
17 Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron  11 Spin 11 
exc Piercarlo Ghinzani Zakspeed   Missed Weight Check 27 
nq 25 Rene Arnoux Ligier-Judd    28 
nq Julian Bailey Tyrrell-Cosworth    29 
nq 26 Stefan Johansson Ligier-Judd    30 
npq 31 Gabriele Tarquini Coloni-Cosworth    31