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25px United States  1986 Detroit Grand Prix
Race details
Race 7 of 16 in the 1986 Formula One season
Circuit Detroit
Date June 22, 1986
Official name 5th Detroit Grand Prix
Location Detroit street circuit
Detroit, Michigan
Course Temporary street course
4.120 km (2.56 mi)
Distance 63 laps, 259.56 km (161.28 mi)
Weather Cloudy, hot
Pole position
Driver 25px Brazil Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault
Time 1:38.301
Fastest lap
Driver 25px Brazil Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda
Time 1:41.233 on lap 41
Podium
First 25px Brazil Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault
Second 25px France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Renault
Third 25px France Alain Prost McLaren-TAG

The 1986 Detroit Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on June 22, 1986 in Detroit, Michigan.


Summary[]

Rising Lotus star Ayrton Senna started on the pole and came away with a hard-earned win, the fourth of his career. The young Brazilian charged through the field after dropping to eighth with a deflating tire for his first USGP victory. The race saw six lead changes among five drivers, and the victory for Senna began a streak that would see him take five United States Grand Prix wins in six years.

Gerhard Berger 1986 Detroit

Gerhard Berger driving for Benetton at the race.

American Eddie Cheever, in his only F1 race of the season, was taking Patrick Tambay's seat in the Carl Haas Lola, as Tambay had not fully recovered from his Montreal injuries. Haas had attempted to get the legendary Mario Andretti, but, apparently because of a FISA-CART feud, Andretti's application for a FISA license was denied. Cheever qualified tenth, and retired at just over half-distance with a broken wheel peg.

As expected, the drivers had difficulty finding grip in Friday's sessions, as the temporary street circuit needed time to get some rubber down. Williams driver Nigel Mansell was the only one under 1:40, putting in two outstanding laps on race tires. On a gorgeous Saturday, Mansell and Senna bided their time, waiting until halfway through the one-hour session to take the track. Senna came out on qualifiers, managed to get a clear track, and clocked a course record 1:38.301. Mansell was balked on his run on the fragile qualifying tires when Alain Prost crashed in the chicane, and Senna had the pole by more than half a second.

Sunday was hot and humid with a chance of rain. At the start, Senna led Mansell into the first corner, and René Arnoux's Ligier jumped ahead of Nelson Piquet in the second Williams.

Beginning lap 3, the Brazilian missed a gear entering Turn One, and Mansell's Williams shot by into the lead.

By the end of lap 5, Mansell's lead was 4.3 seconds, but that was as big as it got. His rear brake pads were too cool and had become glazed, and Senna was able to draw back up to him. By lap seven, he was right on his gearbox, and on lap 8, he retook the lead.

Senna immediately began to draw away, while Mansell slipped back through the field. On lap 14, with a 6.5 second lead, Senna suddenly ducked into the pits with a slowly deflating right rear tire. Despite a quick change, he re-entered in eighth place, twenty seconds behind the new leader, René Arnoux.

Arnoux held the lead for just three laps before having to pit for new rubber. His Ligier teammate Jacques Laffite, running with harder compound Pirelli rear tires, moved to the top of the score sheet. At age 42, it was Laffite's first time to lead a race in more than three years, and the last time in his career.

After his stop on lap 14, Senna had begun to carve his way back to the front, overtaking, not back markers, but the best drivers of the era. He passed Michele Alboreto on lap 15, Stefan Johansson on lap 17, Arnoux when he made his tire stop on lap 18, Prost on lap 28, and Mansell on lap 31. When Laffite also stopped for tires on lap 31, Piquet became the race's fifth different leader, and Senna was up to second place, just 1.7 seconds behind.

With the two of them in front on their own, and Piquet leading by up to 3.5 seconds, Senna was content for the time being to follow his countryman. After eight laps in the lead, Piquet pitted for tires, and Senna regained first place.

Piquet's 18.4 second stop was even slower than teammate Mansell's had been, but when he returned to the track, the two-time champion got the bit between his teeth. Running second behind Senna, Piquet set the fastest lap of the race on lap 41, but with a pit stop ten seconds quicker than Piquet's, Senna was able to retain the lead.

On the very next lap, the 42nd, Piquet pushed a bit too much, and crashed hard at the left-hand corner before the last chicane. He ended up in the tire barrier, unhurt, but with his car in a very precarious position. The crane, present for just that reason, was unable to move the car. Arnoux, now 16.6 seconds behind in second, took a second a lap off Senna's lead for five laps while a yellow was displayed in the corner where Piquet had crashed. As soon as the yellow flag was gone, Arnoux went wide and hit Piquet's abandoned Williams! The Frenchman decided that his car was not damaged, and attempted to rejoin the field, but did so right in front of Thierry Boutsen's Arrows, sidelining both cars.

Very uncharacteristic of a street race, these three – Piquet, Arnoux and Boutsen – were the only drivers all afternoon to retire due to accidents.

With 17 laps to go, Senna led Prost by 27 seconds, and the McLaren's TAG engine was cutting out under braking. Laffite was able to close as Prost struggled, and quickly the Ligier moved by into second place. Senna came home 30 seconds in front for a his first victory in the United States, and the only American win for the great French engine maker Renault.

Classification[]

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 12 25px Brazil Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault 63 1:51:12.847 1 9
2 26 25px France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Renault 63 + 31.017 6 6
3 1 25px France Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 63 + 31.824 7 4
4 27 25px Italy Michele Alboreto Ferrari 63 + 1:30.936 11 3
5 5 25px UK Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 62 + 1 Lap 2 2
6 7 25px Italy Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 62 + 1 Lap 8 1
7 11 25px UK Johnny Dumfries Lotus-Renault 61 + 2 Laps 14  
8 14 25px UK Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed 61 + 2 Laps 20  
9 4 25px France Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Renault 61 + 2 Laps 18  
10 8 25px UK Derek Warwick Brabham-BMW 60 + 3 Laps 15  
Ret 17 25px Germany Christian Danner Arrows-BMW 51 Electrical 19  
Ret 25 25px France René Arnoux Ligier-Renault 46 Accident 4  
Ret 18 25px Belgium Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 44 Accident 13  
Ret 23 25px Italy Andrea de Cesaris Minardi-Motori Moderni 43 Gearbox 23  
Ret 6 25px Brazil Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 41 Accident 3  
Ret 28 25px Sweden Stefan Johansson Ferrari 40 Electrical 5  
Ret 19 25px Italy Teo Fabi Benetton-BMW 38 Gearbox 17  
Ret 16 25px USA Eddie Cheever Lola-Ford 37 Steering 10  
Ret 15 25px Australia Alan Jones Lola-Ford 33 Steering 21  
Ret 22 25px Canada Allen Berg Osella-Alfa Romeo 28 Electrical 25  
Ret 3 25px UK Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Renault 15 Electrical 16  
Ret 21 25px Italy Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 14 Turbo 22  
Ret 2 25px Finland Keke Rosberg McLaren-TAG 12 Transmission 9  
Ret 20 25px Austria Gerhard Berger Benetton-BMW 8 Engine 12  
Ret 24 25px Italy Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 3 Turbo 24  
DNS 29 25px Netherlands Huub Rothengatter Zakspeed 0 Electrical 26  

Standings after Grand Prix[]

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 25px Brazil Ayrton Senna 36
2 25px France Alain Prost 33
3 25px Great Britain Nigel Mansell 29
4 25px Brazil Nelson Piquet 19
5 25px Finland Keke Rosberg 14
Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 25px Great Britain Williams-Honda 48
2 25px Great Britain McLaren-TAG 47
3 25px Great Britain Lotus-Renault 36
4 25px France Ligier-Renault 19
5 25px Italy Ferrari 13
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References[]

  • Rob Walker (October, 1986). "5th Detroit Grand Prix: Front And Senna". Road & Track, 130-132.

External links[]


Previous race:
1986 Canadian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1986 season
Next race:
1986 French Grand Prix
Previous race:
1985 Detroit Grand Prix
Detroit Grand Prix Next race:
1987 Detroit Grand Prix
Smallwikipedialogo.png This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1986 Detroit Grand Prix. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


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