Spanish GP 1988

Spanish GP, 1988

There was only a week between the Portuguese and Spanish GP and the story was much the same as it had been all year with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost ahead in their McLaren-Hondas. Nigel Mansell was third quickest in his Williams-Judd with Thierry Boutsen fourth in his Benetton. Then came Sandro Nannini in the second Benetton, Ivan Capelli's March and Riccardo Patrese in the second Williams. The Italian was given a $10,000 fine for giving Tyrrell's Julian Bailey a brake test in qualifying after the Englishman got in his way. Bailey ran into the back of the Williams and flew over it, losing any hope he had of qualifying. The Ferraris were not very competitive with Gerhard Berger eighth and Michele Alboreto 10th, the pair split by Nelson Piquet's Lotus.

Prost took the lead at the start while Senna went away rather more slowly than usual and he was overtaken by Mansell. Prost set off to build a lead while Senna found himself stuck behind Mansell. Senna was in difficulties with his fuel computer which insisted that he drive slowly and so he soon found himself trying to keep Patrese and Capelli behind him. Ivan finally got ahead of Patrese on lap 36 and within three laps he was ahead of Senna as well. A few laps later the March went out with engine trouble. While this was happening Nannini was getting ahead of Patrese and Senna and so claimed third place at the finish behind Prost and Mansell. Senna finished fourth with Patrese fifth and Berger sixth.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 11 Alain Prost McLaren-Honda  72 1h48m43.851s  2 
2 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Judd  72 1h49m10.083s  3 
3 19 Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Cosworth  72 1h49m19.297s  5 
4 12 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda  72 1h49m30.561s  1 
5 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Judd  72 1h49m31.281s  7 
6 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari  72 1h49m35.664s  8 
7 15 Mauricio Gugelmin March-Judd  72 1h49m59.815s  11 
8 1 Nelson Piquet Lotus-Honda  72 1h50m01.160s  9 
9 20 Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Cosworth  72 1h50m01.506s  4 
10 36 Alex Caffi Dallara-Cosworth  71  18 
11 29 Yannick Dalmas Lola-Cosworth  71  16 
12 24 Luis Sala Minardi-Cosworth  70  24 
13 33 Stefano Modena EuroBrun-Cosworth  70  46 
14 30 Philippe Alliot Lola-Cosworth  69  12 
r 26 Stefan Johansson Ligier-Judd  62 Wheel/lost 21 
r 18 Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron  60 Handling 25 
r 16 Ivan Capelli March-Judd  45 Engine 6 
r 17 Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron  41 Accident/chassis 17 
r 22 Andrea de Cesaris Rial-Cosworth  37 Engine 23 
r 14 Philippe Streiff AGS-Cosworth  16 Engine 13 
r 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari  15 Engine 10 
r 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Cosworth  15 Gearbox 20 
r 2 Satoru Nakajimi Lotus-Honda  14 Spin 15 
r 21 Nicola Larini Osella-Alfa Romeo  9 Suspension 14 
r 3 Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Cosworth  4 Accident/radiator 22 
r 25 Rene Arnoux Ligier-Judd  0 Throttle Jammed  19 
nq 10 Bernd Schneider Zakspeed    27 
nq 32 Oscar Larrauri EuroBrun-Cosworth    28 
nq 4 Julian Bailey Tyrrell-Cosworth    29 
nq 9 Piercarlo Ghinzani Zakspeed    30 
npq 31 Gabriele Tarquini Coloni-Cosworth    31