1988 Belgian Grand Prix

  1988 Belgian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 11 of 16 in the 1988 Formula One season
Date	August 28, 1988
Official name	Champion Belgian Grand Prix
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	Warm, dry and overcast
Pole position
Driver	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Time	1:53.718
Fastest lap
Driver	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari
Time	2:00.772 on lap 10
Podium
First	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Second	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda
Third	Ivan Capelli	March-Judd

The 1988 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on August 28, 1988 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. It was the eleventh race of the 1988 Formula One season.

Race summary

This was the first race after the death of Enzo Ferrari. Nigel Mansell was forced to miss the race due to chicken pox and was replaced by Martin Brundle. The McLarens once again dominated the qualifying sessions, occupying the whole front row for the 7th time in 11 races. It was the first race in 1988 where neither of the new EuroBrun cars made the field.

At the start, polesitter Ayrton Senna had too much wheelspin and his teammate, Alain Prost, was able to take the lead. Senna retook the lead after he slipstreamed Prost on the Kemmel straight and outbraked him at Les Combes. Senna held the lead until the end of the race.

Gerhard Berger managed to get his Ferrari up to 3rd, challenging Prost briefly before pitting on lap 3 with electrical problems. He managed to rejoin and set the fastest lap before retiring on lap 12. Due to Berger's retirement, Thierry Boutsen climbed to 4th behind Michele Alboreto and ahead of a thrilling battle between Alessandro Nannini, Satoru Nakajima, Nelson Piquet, and the two Arrows. Piquet passed teammate Nakajima on lap 17 and the Japanese pitted with an acute misfire from a jammed plug, which caused him to retire. In the meantime, Ivan Capelli climbed from 9th to 6th.

On lap 36 Alboreto's engine blew up, sending him out of the race from 3rd. Just 2 laps later Nannini capped his progresses by passing Piquet with a move at the Source hairpin. The Brazilian was suffering from brake bias problems. While attempting to keep the correct balance of the brakes, he wore his tyres, which ultimately caused him to run wide off the track. In the process, grass gathered in the sidepods and caused the engine to overheat. On lap 42, Capelli passed Piquet to seize 5th place.

McLaren's 1-2 sealed the Constructors' Championship for the British team, with Benetton coming home third and fourth. Capelli and Piquet rounded out the points. McLaren-Honda won the Constructor's Championship earlier than anyone else had, with five races left.

Both Benettons were later disqualified for using irregular fuel, so the third podium spot went to Capelli, and the two Arrows of Derek Warwick and Eddie Cheever went into the points. The disqualification of the Benettons was not made official until long after the season had finished, so many published records list them as having finished third and fourth. The three points Arrows gained from the disqualification brought the team to fifth in the Constructors' Championship.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	12	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	1:53.718	2:15.196	—
2	11	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	1:54.128	no time	+0.410
3	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	1:54.581	2:17.115	+0.863
4	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	1:55.665	2:15.667	+1.947
5	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Judd	1:57.138	2:15.358	+3.420
6	20	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton-Ford	1:57.455	2:15.236	+3.737
7	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	1:57.535	2:17.077	+3.817
8	2	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Honda	1:57.616	2:14.739	+3.898
9	1	Nelson Piquet	Lotus-Honda	1:57.821	2:15.027	+4.103
10	17	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Megatron	1:57.925	2:16.770	+4.207
11	18	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Megatron	1:57.980	2:19.908	+4.262
12	5	Martin Brundle	Williams-Judd	1:58.206	2:14.517	+4.488
13	15	Mauricio Gugelmin	March-Judd	1:58.361	no time	+4.643
14	16	Ivan Capelli	March-Judd	1:58.439	2:22.821	+4.721
15	36	Alex Caffi	Dallara-Ford	1:59.736	2:18.052	+6.018
16	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Ford	1:59.906	2:21.219	+6.188
17	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Judd	2:00.037	2:19.260	+6.319
18	14	Philippe Streiff	AGS-Ford	2:00.410	2:23.953	+6.692
19	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Rial-Ford	2:00.521	2:17.028	+6.803
20	26	Stefan Johansson	Ligier-Judd	2:00.857	no time	+7.139
21	3	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	2:01.078	2:20.594	+7.360
22	31	Gabriele Tarquini	Coloni-Ford	2:01.359	2:19.939	+7.641
23	29	Yannick Dalmas	Lola-Ford	2:01.467	2:19.909	+7.749
24	9	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Zakspeed	2:01.899	2:22.064	+8.181
25	10	Bernd Schneider	Zakspeed	2:01.938	2:19.825	+8.220
26	21	Nicola Larini	Osella	2:02.029	2:17.127	+8.311
DNQ	24	Luis Pérez-Sala	Minardi-Ford	2:02.129	no time	+8.411
DNQ	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	2:02.314	no time	+8.596
DNQ	33	Stefano Modena	EuroBrun-Ford	2:02.322	2:19.880	+8.604
DNQ	4	Julian Bailey	Tyrrell-Ford	2:02.519	no time	+8.801
DNPQ	32	Oscar Larrauri	EuroBrun-Ford

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	12	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	43	1:28:00.549	1	9
2	11	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	43	+ 30.470	2	6
3	16	Ivan Capelli	March-Judd	43	+ 1:15.768	14	4
4	1	Nelson Piquet	Lotus-Honda	43	+ 1:23.628	9	3
5	17	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Megatron	43	+ 1:25.355	10	2
6	18	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Megatron	42	+ 1 Lap	11	1
7	5	Martin Brundle	Williams-Judd	42	+ 1 Lap	12
8	36	Alex Caffi	Dallara-Ford	42	+ 1 Lap	15
9	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Ford	42	+ 1 Lap	16
10	14	Philippe Streiff	AGS-Ford	42	+ 1 Lap	18
11	26	Stefan Johansson	Ligier-Judd	39	Engine	20
12	3	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	39	Throttle	21
13	10	Bernd Schneider	Zakspeed	38	Gearbox	25
DSQ	20	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton-Ford	43	Irregular fuel	6
DSQ	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	43	Irregular fuel	7
Ret	31	Gabriele Tarquini	Coloni-Ford	36	Steering	22
Ret	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	35	Engine	4
Ret	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Judd	30	Engine	5
Ret	15	Maurício Gugelmin	March-Judd	29	Spun Off	13
Ret	9	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Zakspeed	25	Oil Leak	24
Ret	2	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Honda	22	Engine	8
Ret	21	Nicola Larini	Osella	14	Fuel System	26
Ret	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	11	Injection	3
Ret	29	Yannick Dalmas	Lola-Ford	9	Engine	23
Ret	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Rial-Ford	2	Collision	19
Ret	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Judd	2	Collision	17
DNQ	24	Luis Pérez-Sala	Minardi-Ford
DNQ	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford
DNQ	33	Stefano Modena	Euro Brun-Ford
DNQ	4	Julian Bailey	Tyrrell-Ford
DNPQ	32	Oscar Larrauri	Euro Brun-Ford

Standings after the race

• Bold Text indicates World Champions.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Ayrton Senna 75 2 Alain Prost 72 3 Gerhard Berger 28 4 Thierry Boutsen 20 5 Michele Alboreto 16

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Honda 147 2 Ferrari 44 3 Benetton-Ford 29 4 Lotus-Honda 17 5 March-Judd 11

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Points accurate at final declaration of results. The Benettons were not disqualified and their points reallocated until after the end of the season.

References

• Unless otherwise indicated, all race results are taken from "The Official Formula 1 website". http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1988/273/. Retrieved 2007-07-12. 

Previous race: 1988 Hungarian Grand Prix	FIA Formula One World Championship 1988 season	Next race: 1988 Italian Grand Prix
Previous race: 1987 Belgian Grand Prix	Belgian Grand Prix	Next race: 1989 Belgian Grand Prix

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