1987 Brazilian Grand Prix

The 1987 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on April 12, 1987 at the Jacarepaguá Circuit in Rio de Janeiro. It was the first race of the 1987 Formula One season. It was the sixteenth Brazilian Grand Prix and the eighth to be held at the Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet. It was held over 61 laps of the five kilometre circuit for a race distance of 307 kilometres.

The race was won by the reigning world champion, Frenchman Alain Prost driving a McLaren MP4/3. It was Prost's fourth victory in the Brazilian Grand Prix, expanding his own record. Prost won the race by 40 seconds over local hero Nelson Piquet driving a Williams FW11B. Third was Prost's Swedish team mate Stefan Johansson.

Race summary
Qualifying was dominated by the Honda powered Williams, with Nigel Mansell ahead of Nelson Piquet. Third was Ayrton Senna, with Lotus. The total number of cars entered for the event was 23, but on race day the March team ran out of Cosworth DFZs, blowing their last in the Sunday morning warm-up and there were only 22 starters. At the start Piquet was fastest, taking the lead from Senna, while Mansell made a bad start; the Benetton B187s of Thierry Boutsen and Teo Fabi outdragged Mansell and Alain Prost. Adrián Campos was disqualified for an incorrect starting procedure, he had forgotten his ear plugs and by the time he had fitted them on the grid the rest of the field had moved away on the warm-up lap. Campos resumed his grid position instead of starting at the rear and race officials removed him for his rookie mistake. Piquet's lead did not last long: on lap 7, he had to pit with engine overheating caused by litter on the track getting into the radiator sidepods. He rejoined back in eleventh position, leaving Senna to lead Mansell (who in the meantime fought back to second) although he too entered in the pits to have his radiators cleared. He rejoined behind Piquet and the pair began to climb through the field.

Senna pitted because of handling troubles of his Lotus 99T and so Prost went into the lead. When Prost stopped for fresh tyres the lead was briefly passed to Thierry Boutsen, who was performing admirably with his Benetton B187, before Piquet went back to first before his second stop, on lap 21. Prost then went ahead again and led for the rest of the race, never looking threatened as he preserved his tyres to only require two stops, while his rivals Senna and Piquet had three.

Mansell's race was compromised late in the race by a tyre puncture, who sent him back to seventh place. On lap 51 Senna suffered an engine failure, causing him to retire from the second place he held for much of the race despite problems with the Lotus' active suspensions.

Prost won ahead of Piquet, his teammate Stefan Johansson, Gerhard Berger (who battled for the whole race with handling problems of his Ferrari F1/87), Boutsen and Mansell, who caught the last point. Satoru Nakajima's first Grand Prix, saw him finish just outside of the points in seventh in his Lotus 99T. This was Prost's 26th victory, which made him the second most successful Grand Prix winner at the time, moving him ahead of Jim Clark and just one win behind tying with Jackie Stewart as the most successful.

Classification
Numbers in brackets refer to positions of normally aspirated entrants competing for the Jim Clark Trophy.

Standings after the race

 * Drivers' Championship standings


 * Constructors' Championship standings


 * Jim Clark Trophy standings


 * Colin Chapman trophy standings


 * Note: Only the top five positions are included for all four sets of standings.