1988 French Grand Prix

  1988 French Grand Prix

Race details
Race 7 of 16 in the 1988 Formula One season
Date	July 3, 1988
Official name	Rhône-Poulenc Grand Prix de France
Location	Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet, France
Course	Permanent racing facility 3.813 km (2.369 mi)
Distance	80 laps, 305.040 km (189.543 mi)
Weather	Sunny and hot
Pole position
Driver	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda
Time	1:07.589
Fastest lap
Driver	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda
Time	1:11.737 on lap 45
Podium
First	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda
Second	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Third	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari

The 1988 French Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on July 3, 1988 at the Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet. It was the seventh race of the 1988 Formula One season.

Qualifying

The two McLarens lined up in their usual front row places, ahead of the two Ferraris, but, for the first time that season, it wasn't Ayrton Senna on pole. A newly motivated Alain Prost had stopped Senna taking a record seventh straight pole with a time of 1:07.589, half a second in front of his team mate. Behind the Ferrari-filled second row were the two normally aspirated Benetton-Fords, a great performance at a fast circuit like Paul Ricard and ahead of the two Lotus-Hondas that filled row 4.

Nigel Mansell, who 12 months earlier had sat on the pole with a time of 1:06.454 in his Williams-Honda turbo, could only manage ninth place on the grid with a time of 1:10.337 in his normally aspirated Williams-Judd.

Ligier, the leading French team in Formula One at the time, had a disastrous weekend with both René Arnoux and Stefan Johansson failing to qualify for the team's home Grand Prix, though they did have a celebration of sorts over the weekend as Arnoux turned 40 the day after the race. Also failing to qualify were the Zakspeed turbo of Piercarlo Ghinzani and the Tyrrell of Julian Bailey. Ghinzani was excluded for missing a weight check.

Race summary

For the first time in the season there was a genuine battle for the lead - between Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, with Prost managing to maintain a 2-second advantage despite worries in the McLaren pit about overly high fuel consumption. The Benetton challenge faltered with Thierry Boutsen's retirement due to electrical problems on lap 17. On lap 22 Gerhard Berger spun to let his team-mate Michele Alboreto through to 3rd place. On lap 34 Senna pitted for tyres, followed 3 laps later by Prost whilst Riccardo Patrese's brakes failed. By lap 45, following traffic problems for Senna and a streak of fast laps, Prost had caught his team-mate and on lap 61 passed him at the inside at the Signes corner, while the Brazilian was having trouble lapping Alex Caffi and Pierluigi Martini. Senna eased off after suffering a gear linkage problem, due to which he lost gears, to follow his team-mate to the line. The Ferraris came home in 3rd and 4th - Berger had regained his 3rd place, but lost it again in the subsequent pit stop.

Nelson Piquet maintained 5th place throughout the race, holding it in the last 15 laps despite having lost second gear, with Alessandro Nannini collecting the final point. Nigel Mansell's retirement from 8th, with suspension problems, the seventh in a row, promoted the March team to 8th and 9th - a great achievement, especially in the case of Ivan Capelli who, after his crash in Detroit, was racing with a fractured left foot.

Alain Prost set the fastest lap of the race on lap 45 with a time of 1:11.737. This compared to the lap record of 1:09.548 set in the 1987 French Grand Prix by Nelson Piquet in a Williams-Honda.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	11	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	1:08.171	1:07.589	—
2	12	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	1:08.456	1:08.067	+0.478
3	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	1:09.032	1:08.282	+0.693
4	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	1:09.624	1:09.422	+1.833
5	20	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton-Ford	1:11.170	1:09.587	+1.998
6	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	1:10.743	1:09.718	+2.129
7	1	Nelson Piquet	Lotus-Honda	1:09.734	1:09.900	+2.145
8	2	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Honda	1:11.394	1:10.250	+2.661
9	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Judd	1:11.112	1:10.337	+2.748
10	16	Ivan Capelli	March-Judd	1:11.779	1:10.496	+2.907
11	17	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Megatron	1:11.339	1:10.634	+3.045
12	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Rial-Ford	1:11.854	1:10.861	+3.272
13	18	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Megatron	1:11.567	1:10.979	+3.390
14	36	Alex Caffi	Dallara-Ford	1:13.144	1:11.211	+3.622
15	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Judd	1:11.671	1:11.286	+3.697
16	15	Mauricio Gugelmin	March-Judd	1:11.315	1:11.404	+3.726
17	14	Philippe Streiff	AGS-Ford	1:12.004	1:11.466	+3.877
18	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Ford	1:12.286	1:11.511	+3.922
19	29	Yannick Dalmas	Lola-Ford	1:12.547	1:11.747	+4.158
20	33	Stefano Modena	EuroBrun-Ford	1:12.997	1:12.007	+4.418
21	10	Bernd Schneider	Zakspeed	1:13.527	1:12.026	+4.437
22	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	1:13.039	1:12.268	+4.679
23	3	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	1:13.063	1:12.316	+4.272
24	21	Nicola Larini	Osella	1:13.037	1:12.406	+4.817
25	24	Luis Pérez-Sala	Minardi-Ford	1:12.938	1:12.525	+4.936
26	32	Oscar Larrauri	EuroBrun-Ford	1:13.888	1:12.538	+4.949
DNQ	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Judd	1:12.654	1:12.736	+5.065
DNQ	4	Julian Bailey	Tyrrell-Ford	1:13.839	1:12.697	+5.108
DNQ	26	Stefan Johansson	Ligier-Judd	1:13.629	1:12.801	+5.212
EX	9	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Zakspeed	1:14.797	1:12.121
DNPQ	31	Gabriele Tarquini	Coloni-Ford

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	11	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	80	1:37:37.328	1	9
2	12	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	80	+ 31.752	2	6
3	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	80	+ 1:06.505	4	4
4	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	79	+ 1 Lap	3	3
5	1	Nelson Piquet	Lotus-Honda	79	+ 1 Lap	7	2
6	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	79	+ 1 Lap	6	1
7	2	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Honda	79	+ 1 Lap	8
8	15	Maurício Gugelmin	March-Judd	79	+ 1 Lap	16
9	16	Ivan Capelli	March-Judd	79	+ 1 Lap	10
10	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Rial-Ford	78	+ 2 Laps	12
11	18	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Megatron	78	+ 2 Laps	13
12	36	Alex Caffi	Dallara-Ford	78	+ 2 Laps	14
13	29	Yannick Dalmas	Lola-Ford	78	+ 2 Laps	19
14	33	Stefano Modena	Euro Brun-Ford	77	+ 3 Laps	20
15	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	77	+ 3 Laps	22
NC	24	Luis Pérez-Sala	Minardi-Ford	70	Not Classified	25
Ret	32	Oscar Larrauri	Euro Brun-Ford	64	Clutch	26
Ret	21	Nicola Larini	Osella	56	Halfshaft	24
Ret	10	Bernd Schneider	Zakspeed	55	Gearbox	21
Ret	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Judd	48	Suspension	9
Ret	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Ford	46	Electrical	18
Ret	3	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	40	Engine	23
Ret	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Judd	35	Brakes	15
Ret	20	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton-Ford	28	Engine	5
Ret	14	Philippe Streiff	AGS-Ford	20	Fuel Leak	17
Ret	17	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Megatron	11	Spun Off	11
DNQ	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Judd
DNQ	4	Julian Bailey	Tyrrell-Ford
DNQ	26	Stefan Johansson	Ligier-Judd
DNPQ	31	Gabriele Tarquini	Coloni-Ford
EX	9	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Zakspeed		Excluded

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Alain Prost 54 2 Ayrton Senna 39 3 Gerhard Berger 21 4 Michele Alboreto 13 5 Nelson Piquet 13

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Honda 93 2 Ferrari 34 3 Lotus-Honda 14 4 Benetton-Ford 13 5 Arrows-Megatron 9

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

• Unless otherwise indicated, all race results are taken from "The Official Formula 1 website". http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1988/269/. Retrieved 2007-07-12. 

Previous race: 1988 Detroit Grand Prix	FIA Formula One World Championship 1988 season	Next race: 1988 British Grand Prix
Previous race: 1987 French Grand Prix	French Grand Prix	Next race: 1989 French Grand Prix

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