1987 Austrian Grand Prix
The 1987 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Österreichring on 16 August 1987. It was the tenth race of the 1987 Formula One World Championship. It was the twentieth Austrian Grand Prix, and the last to be held until 1997. The race was run over 52 laps of the 5.94-kilometre (3.69 mi) circuit for a total race distance of 308.9 kilometres (191.9 mi), also being the last race in the original track.
| 1987 Austrian Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 10 of 16 in the 1987 Formula One World Championship | |||
| The Österreichring (last modified in 1977) | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 16 August 1987 | ||
| Official name | XXV Großer Preis von Österreich | ||
| Location | Österreichring, Spielberg, Styria, Austria | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 5.942 km (3.692 miles) | ||
| Distance | 52 laps, 308.984 km (191.984 miles) | ||
| Weather | Dry | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Williams-Honda | ||
| Time | 1:23.357 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver | Nigel Mansell | Williams-Honda | |
| Time | 1:28.318 on lap 31 (lap record) | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Williams-Honda | ||
| Second | Williams-Honda | ||
| Third | Benetton-Ford | ||
| Lap leaders | |||
The race needed to be restarted twice following crashes on the starting grid. It was eventually won by British driver Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Honda. Mansell took his third victory of the season by 56 seconds from Brazilian teammate Nelson Piquet, with Italian Teo Fabi third in a Benetton-Ford.
Race summary
The race was plagued with accidents. The first major incident came when Stefan Johansson hit a deer with his McLaren MP4/3 after it wandered onto the circuit during Friday practice. The terrified deer was crossing the track to seek refuge from the noise of the cars when it was struck by Johansson traveling at close to 140 mph (225 km/h), killing it instantly. The McLaren left front suspension was broken in the impact causing it to spear off into the guardrail and all four corners of the car, as well as the carbon fibre monocoque were destroyed.[1] Johansson was fortunate to escape with little more than a headache, though he was later flown by helicopter to a hospital in Klagenfurt for x-rays after complaining of headaches and neck pains. His crash caused McLaren to have to fly a spare car overnight from the team's base in Woking. Nelson Piquet's Williams-Honda had collided with the AGS of Pascal Fabre, ending with the Williams impacting in the wall.
The first race start ended quickly after the Zakspeed of Martin Brundle crashed, then the two Tyrrells of Jonathan Palmer and Philippe Streiff collided in the ensuing chaos with Piercarlo Ghinzani also crashing his Ligier. The second attempt to start was more serious. Mansell on the front row crawled away with clutch problems and the grid compacted behind him. The Österreichring's narrow front straight saw to the rest when Eddie Cheever (Arrows) and Riccardo Patrese (Brabham) collided and half the grid, including Johansson, Alex Caffi (Osella), Ivan Capelli (March), Pascal Fabre, Philippe Alliot (Larrousse-Lola), and both Zakspeeds of Brundle and Christian Danner were involved in the ensuing pile-up.
For the third start Streiff was missing. Tyrrell had run out of usable cars and Palmer got the use of the surviving DG016 as he had qualified higher (24th) than his teammate (25th). Several drivers were in repaired cars or in spare cars, including Ayrton Senna after a CV joint failed in his Lotus during the second start. The third start, over two hours late, continued to claim cars. Alain Prost (McLaren) had an electrical failure as the warm-up lap began. The team mechanics got the car going and Prost started from the pitlane along with Senna and the Ferrari of Michele Alboreto. The third attempt to start had no problems although Johansson soon pitted with a puncture then had a tyre fall off on his out lap after a chaotic pitstop. Johansson made it back to the pits and resumed.
Piquet led early from Thierry Boutsen in his Benetton and Mansell. Boutsen pitted with gear linking problems and Mansell leapt past Piquet while negotiating lapped cars. Fabi (Benetton) was a lap down in third ahead of Boutsen in a season best result for the team. Recovering from their difficulties, Senna, Prost and Johansson finished fifth, sixth and seventh. Ghinzani was eighth for Ligier ahead of Danner and René Arnoux in the second Ligier. Sixteen cars finished although Fabre had not completed enough laps to be classified and 14th placed Brundle would be disqualified for a bodywork infringement on the spare Zakspeed 871, pressed into service after the startline collisions.
Classification
Qualifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Nelson Piquet | Williams-Honda | 1:23.357 | 1:49.991 | — | |
| 2 | 5 | Nigel Mansell | Williams-Honda | 1:23.459 | 1:33.779 | +0.102 | |
| 3 | 28 | Gerhard Berger | Ferrari | 1:24.213 | 1:38.388 | +0.856 | |
| 4 | 20 | Thierry Boutsen | Benetton-Ford | 1:24.348 | 1:48.124 | +0.991 | |
| 5 | 19 | Teo Fabi | Benetton-Ford | 1:25.054 | no time | +1.697 | |
| 6 | 27 | Michele Alboreto | Ferrari | 1:25.077 | 1:45.518 | +1.720 | |
| 7 | 12 | Ayrton Senna | Lotus-Honda | 1:25.492 | 1:39.647 | +2.135 | |
| 8 | 7 | Riccardo Patrese | Brabham-BMW | 1:25.766 | 1:53.119 | +2.409 | |
| 9 | 1 | Alain Prost | McLaren-TAG | 1:26.170 | 1:43.132 | +2.813 | |
| 10 | 8 | Andrea de Cesaris | Brabham-BMW | 1:27.672 | no time | +4.315 | |
| 11 | 17 | Derek Warwick | Arrows-Megatron | 1:27.762 | no time | +4.405 | |
| 12 | 18 | Eddie Cheever | Arrows-Megatron | 1:28.370 | 1:37.908 | +5.013 | |
| 13 | 11 | Satoru Nakajima | Lotus-Honda | 1:28.786 | 1:43.002 | +5.429 | |
| 14 | 2 | Stefan Johansson | McLaren-TAG | 1:29.003 | 1:41.711 | +5.646 | |
| 15 | 24 | Alessandro Nannini | Minardi-Motori Moderni | 1:29.435 | 1:49.566 | +6.078 | |
| 16 | 25 | René Arnoux | Ligier-Megatron | 1:29.733 | no time | +6.376 | |
| 17 | 9 | Martin Brundle | Zakspeed | 1:29.893 | 1:42.383 | +6.536 | |
| 18 | 26 | Piercarlo Ghinzani | Ligier-Megatron | 1:30.682 | no time | +7.325 | |
| 19 | 23 | Adrián Campos | Minardi-Motori Moderni | 1:30.797 | 1:47.128 | +7.440 | |
| 20 | 10 | Christian Danner | Zakspeed | 1:31.015 | 1:48.880 | +7.658 | |
| 21 | 21 | Alex Caffi | Osella-Alfa Romeo | 1:32.313 | 1:50.273 | +8.956 | |
| 22 | 30 | Philippe Alliot | Lola-Ford | 1:33.741 | 1:48.595 | +10.384 | |
| 23 | 16 | Ivan Capelli | March-Ford | 1:34.199 | 1:54.807 | +10.842 | |
| 24 | 3 | Jonathan Palmer | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:34.619 | 1:49.308 | +11.262 | |
| 25 | 4 | Philippe Streiff | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:35.338 | 1:51.624 | +11.981 | |
| 26 | 14 | Pascal Fabre | AGS-Ford | 1:40.633 | 1:57.236 | +17.276 | |
| Source:[2][3][4] | |||||||
Race
Numbers in brackets refer to positions of naturally aspirated entrants competing for the Jim Clark Trophy.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Nigel Mansell | Williams-Honda | 52 | 1:18:44.898 | 2 | 9 |
| 2 | 6 | Nelson Piquet | Williams-Honda | 52 | + 55.704 | 1 | 6 |
| 3 | 19 | Teo Fabi | Benetton-Ford | 51 | + 1 Lap | 5 | 4 |
| 4 | 20 | Thierry Boutsen | Benetton-Ford | 51 | + 1 Lap | 4 | 3 |
| 5 | 12 | Ayrton Senna | Lotus-Honda | 50 | + 2 Laps | 7 | 2 |
| 6 | 1 | Alain Prost | McLaren-TAG | 50 | + 2 Laps | 9 | 1 |
| 7 | 2 | Stefan Johansson | McLaren-TAG | 50 | + 2 Laps | 14 | |
| 8 | 26 | Piercarlo Ghinzani | Ligier-Megatron | 50 | + 2 Laps | 18 | |
| 9 | 10 | Christian Danner | Zakspeed | 49 | + 3 Laps | 20 | |
| 10 | 25 | René Arnoux | Ligier-Megatron | 49 | + 3 Laps | 16 | |
| 11 (1) | 16 | Ivan Capelli | March-Ford | 49 | + 3 Laps | 23 | |
| 12 (2) | 30 | Philippe Alliot | Lola-Ford | 49 | + 3 Laps | 22 | |
| 13 | 11 | Satoru Nakajima | Lotus-Honda | 49 | + 3 Laps | 13 | |
| DSQ | 9 | Martin Brundle | Zakspeed | 48 | Bodywork infringement | 17 | |
| 14 (3) | 3 | Jonathan Palmer | Tyrrell-Ford | 47 | + 5 Laps | 24 | |
| NC | 14 | Pascal Fabre | AGS-Ford | 45 | + 7 Laps | 26 | |
| Ret | 7 | Riccardo Patrese | Brabham-BMW | 43 | Engine | 8 | |
| Ret | 27 | Michele Alboreto | Ferrari | 42 | Turbo | 6 | |
| Ret | 8 | Andrea de Cesaris | Brabham-BMW | 35 | Engine | 10 | |
| Ret | 17 | Derek Warwick | Arrows-Megatron | 35 | Engine | 11 | |
| Ret | 18 | Eddie Cheever | Arrows-Megatron | 31 | Tyre | 12 | |
| Ret | 28 | Gerhard Berger | Ferrari | 5 | Turbo | 3 | |
| Ret | 23 | Adrián Campos | Minardi-Motori Moderni | 3 | Electrical | 19 | |
| Ret | 24 | Alessandro Nannini | Minardi-Motori Moderni | 1 | Engine | 15 | |
| Ret | 21 | Alex Caffi | Osella-Alfa Romeo | 0 | Electrical | 21 | |
| Ret | 4 | Philippe Streiff | Tyrrell-Ford | 0 | Accident | 25 | |
Source:[5] | |||||||
Championship standings after the race
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for all four sets of standings.
References
- ^ "SPORTS PEOPLE; Race Car Hits Deer". The New York Times. August 15, 1987.
- ^ "Austrian Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 1". formula1.com. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
- ^ "Austrian Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 2". formula1.com. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
- ^ "Austrian Grand Prix - OVERALL QUALIFYING". formula1.com. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
- ^ . formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
- ^ a b "Austria 1987 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 7 March 2019.