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25px Belgium  1987 Belgian Grand Prix
Race details
Race 3 of 16 in the 1987 Formula One season
Belgian Grand Prix Spa
Date May 17, 1987
Official name Grand Prix de Belgique
Location Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Spa, Belgium
Course Permanent racing facility
6.940 km (4.312 mi)
Distance 43 laps, 298.420 km (185.429 mi)
Weather Cloudy and cool
Pole position
Driver 25px UK Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda
Time 1:52.026
Fastest lap
Driver 25px France Alain Prost McLaren-TAG
Time 1:57.153 on lap 26
Podium
First 25px France Alain Prost McLaren-TAG
Second 25px Sweden Stefan Johansson McLaren-TAG
Third 25px Italy Andrea de Cesaris Brabham-BMW

The 1987 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on May 17, 1987 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Spa. It was the third race of the 1987 Formula One season. It was the 45th Belgian Grand Prix and the 33rd to be held at Spa. It was the fourth since the circuit was redeveloped in 1979.

The race was won by French McLaren driver Alain Prost driving a McLaren MP4/3. It was Prost's second win in the Belgian Grand Prix and his 27th Grand Prix victory, equalling Jackie Stewart's all-time record. Prost won the race by 25 seconds over his Swedish team mate Stefan Johansson. It was the first 1-2 finish for McLaren since the previous year's Monaco Grand Prix. Third was Andrea de Cesaris driving a Brabham BT56. It would be de Cesaris' 1987 high point and one of only two race finishes for the year. It was also de Cesaris' fourth podium finish, having previously finished second all the way back in the 1983 South African Grand Prix.

The win, Prost's second for 1987, put him firmly in the championship lead, five points ahead of team mate Johansson and eight ahead of Williams driver Nigel Mansell.

Race summary[]

Qualifying runs saw the two Williams FW11Bs take the front row, with Nigel Mansell on the pole, nearly 1.5 seconds faster than Nelson Piquet. Ayrton Senna took the third place in his Lotus 99T ahead of the two Ferrari F1/87s of Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto.

The race required two starts. On the first start Mansell took the lead ahead of Senna, Piquet and Alboreto. At the back of the grid René Arnoux (Ligier JS29B) and Andrea de Cesaris (Brabham BT56) tangled, whilst Thierry Boutsen (Benetton B187) hit Berger's spinning Ferrari F1/87. A more serious accident befell Philippe Streiff who crashed heavily at the Eau Rouge before the wreckage was hit by Tyrrell teammate Jonathan Palmer; both were unhurt but their Tyrrell DG016s were reduced to scrap. By virtue of qualifying 23rd to his team mate's 24th, and ironically by crashing first, Streiff was given the spare car for the restart forcing Palmer out of the race.

On the second start, Senna led Mansell away, but during lap one the Briton tried to overtake the Brazilian. The two controversially tangled, leading to the retirement of the Lotus 99T. Mansell rejoined the race at the back, until the damage sustained in the collision finally forced him to retire. On lap 17. Mansell subsequently visited the Lotus garage where harsh words were exchanged and punches were thrown.

Berger retired on lap three with a broken piston whilst on lap 10 second place Michele Alboreto's wheel bearing broke and Nelson Piquet retired with a broken turbo pipe, handing the lead to Alain Prost from Teo Fabi and Stefan Johansson. The pitstops changed little in the situation, and he maintained this to win easily by 25 seconds, despite concerns with his fuel consumption due to a faulty gauge.

This was Prost's 27th win, equalling Jackie Stewart's record with team-mate Johansson making it a McLaren 1-2. Andrea de Cesaris drove superbly to finish third for Brabham despite having to push his car over the line with Eddie Cheever (Arrows A10), Satoru Nakajima (Lotus 99T) and Arnoux taking the remaining points. With the setbacks to the Tyrrell drivers, the Jim Clark points were won by the Lola LC87 of Philippe Alliot.

Classification[]

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

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 25px France Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 43 1:27:03.217 6 9
2 2 25px Sweden Stefan Johansson McLaren-TAG 43 + 24.764 10 6
3 8 25px Italy Andrea de Cesaris Brabham-BMW 42 + 1 Lap 13 4
4 18 25px USA Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 42 + 1 Lap 11 3
5 11 25px Japan Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 42 + 1 Lap 15 2
6 25 25px France René Arnoux Ligier-Megatron 41 + 2 Laps 16 1
7 26 25px Italy Piercarlo Ghinzani Ligier-Megatron 40 + 3 Laps 17  
8 (1) 30 25px France Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 40 + 3 Laps 22  
9 (2) 4 25px France Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Ford 39 + 4 Laps 23  
10 (3) 14 25px France Pascal Fabre AGS-Ford 38 + 5 Laps 25  
Ret 19 25px Italy Teo Fabi Benetton-Ford 34 Engine 9  
Ret 9 25px UK Martin Brundle Zakspeed 19 Overheating 18  
Ret 20 25px Belgium Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford 18 Wheel Bearing 7  
Ret 5 25px UK Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 17 Accident 1  
Ret 16 25px Italy Ivan Capelli March-Ford 14 Engine 21  
Ret 6 25px Brazil Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 11 Exhaust 2  
Ret 21 25px Italy Alex Caffi Osella-Alfa Romeo 11 Fuel Leak 26  
Ret 27 25px Italy Michele Alboreto Ferrari 9 Transmission 5  
Ret 10 25px Germany Christian Danner Zakspeed 9 Brakes 20  
Ret 17 25px UK Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 8 Radiator 12  
Ret 7 25px Italy Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 5 Clutch 8  
Ret 28 25px Austria Gerhard Berger Ferrari 2 Engine 4  
Ret 24 25px Italy Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 1 Turbo 14  
Ret 12 25px Brazil Ayrton Senna Lotus-Honda 0 Collision 3  
Ret 23 25px Spain Adrián Campos Minardi-Motori Moderni 0 Gearbox 19  
Ret 3 25px UK Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 0 Collision 24  

Standings after the race[]

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 25px France Alain Prost 18
2 25px Sweden Stefan Johansson 13
3 25px Great Britain Nigel Mansell 10
4 25px Brazil Nelson Piquet 6
5 25px Brazil Ayrton Senna 6
Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 25px Great Britain McLaren-TAG 31
2 25px Great Britain Williams-Honda 16
3 25px Great Britain Lotus-Honda 9
4 25px Italy Ferrari 7
5 25px Great Britain Brabham-BMW 4
Jim Clark Trophy standings
Pos Driver Points
1 25px France Philippe Streiff 21
2 25px France Philippe Alliot 15
3 25px France Pascal Fabre 12
4 25px Great Britain Jonathan Palmer 9
Colin Chapman trophy standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 25px Great Britain Tyrrell-Ford 30
2 25px France Lola-Ford 15
3 25px France AGS-Ford 12
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all four sets of standings.

References[]



Previous race:
1987 San Marino Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1987 season
Next race:
1987 Monaco Grand Prix
Previous race:
1986 Belgian Grand Prix
Belgian Grand Prix Next race:
1988 Belgian Grand Prix
Smallwikipedialogo.png This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1987 Belgian 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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