1988 Italian Grand Prix

  1988 Italian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 12 of 16 in the 1988 Formula One season
Date	September 11, 1988
Official name	LIX Coca-Cola Gran Premio d'Italia
Location	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza, Italy
Course	Permanent racing facility 5.80 km (3.603 mi)
Distance	51 laps, 295.800 km (183.801 mi)
Weather	Sunny and hot
Pole position
Driver	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Time	1:25.974
Fastest lap
Driver	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari
Time	1:29.070 on lap 44
Podium
First	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari
Second	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari
Third	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Megatron

The 1988 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on September 11, 1988 at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza. It was the twelfth race of the 1988 season. It is often remembered for the 1-2 finish for the Ferrari team, and the only race of the 1988 season that McLaren-Honda failed to win.

Report

Qualifying

Qualifying at Monza went as expected with the McLaren's of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost heading the field, Senna the only driver to lap the 5.80 km (3.603 mi) under 1:26. In the first Italian Grand Prix since the death of Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari his beloved scarlet cars were 3rd and 4th on the grid, Gerhard Berger in front of Michele Alboreto.

The third row of the grid was a surprise, even at this power circuit. Ever since the item was made compulsory for turbo powered cars at the start of the previous season, the Arrows team had been experiencing problems with the FIA pop-off valve on their Megatron turbo engines, the problem being that the valve was cutting in too early and the drivers weren't able to exploit the full available power. In 1988 this meant that drivers Derek Warwick and Eddie Cheever were often only as fast as the leading atmos, and often they were in fact slower, even on noted power circuits such as Silverstone and Hockenheim which should have suited their turbo power. The teams engine guru Heini Mader had finally solved the pop-off valve problem and suddenly with an extra 30-50 hp at their disposal the Arrows' were actually faster than the Honda-powered McLarens and Lotuses (but slower than the Ferrari's) on Monza's long straights allowing Cheever and Warwick to line up 5th and 6th respectively, one place in front of World Champion Nelson Piquet in his Lotus. This also meant that turbos filled the first seven places on the grid. Piquet's Lotus team mate Satoru Nakajima qualified 10th, with the Lotuses split by the fastest non-turbos, the Benetton-Fords of Thierry Boutsen and Alessandro Nannini in 8th and 9th places on the grid.

The 1988 Italian Grand Prix was the last race of the turbo era in Formula One in which all cars powered by turbocharged engines that entered actully qualified for the race. Both McLarens and Lotus-Hondas, Ferraris, Arrows-Megatrons, Zakspeeds and the lone Osella all easily qualifying for the race, with the slowest of the turbos, Nicola Larini in the Osella qualifying 17th, 4.507 seconds slower than pole man Senna.

Race

The tifosi prayed for a Ferrari victory at this the Mecca of motor racing. However, with the McLaren dominance, hopes for a home victory seemed bleak. The season was dominated by McLaren, who had won all 11 of the season's races before the Italian Grand Prix, and would go on to win the 4 remaining races.

Nigel Mansell was still affected by chicken pox, and was still forced to sit out. Martin Brundle, his replacement in Belgium, was scheduled to race with Jaguar on the weekend and so the second Williams seat went to test driver Jean-Louis Schlesser.

Prost managed to jump Senna at the start but as he changed from 2nd to 3rd on the run to the Rettifilo his engine began to misfire and would not run properly again. Berger followed Prost with Alboreto, Cheever, Boutsen, Patrese and Piquet. Prost, realising that the misfire wasn't going away decided to turn his boost up to full and give chase to his team mate. Many people in the F1 Paddock believed that Prost, knowing he wouldn't finish, hoped to make Senna use too much fuel in his bid to keep ahead, something which could have consequences for Senna later in the race if he was forced to back off to try to finish.

Prost continued to chase Senna despite the misfire, his full boost run saw him able to stay within 5 seconds of the Brazilian. By lap 30 he had reduced Senna's lead to only 2 seconds but as he went by the pits at the end of lap 30 the misfire got worse and by lap 35 had been passed by Berger and Alboreto and was heading for the pits and his first mechanical retirement of the season. While this was happening Alboreto, troubled by gear selection problems had dropped back from Berger to allow his gearbox oil to cool hoping it would come good. It did and the Italian in the All-Italian car began to charge at the Italian Grand Prix and was catching his team mate.

Later in the race Berger and Alboreto began closing on Senna rapidly, though it was assumed that Senna was merely pacing himself to the finish. With two laps remaining in the race, Senna attempted to lap the Williams of Schlesser at the Rettifilo Chicane. Senna headed to the left to pass the Frenchman on the inside of the first chicane, however Schlesser locked his brakes and the Williams slid forward towards the gravel trap. Somehow Schlesser managed to collect the car and turned left to avoid going off. Senna, who had taken his normal line and hadn't counted on Schlesser regaining control was t-boned in the right rear by Schlesser's Williams causing broken rear suspension for the Mclaren. Senna spun onto the exit kerb of the first part of the chicane and with the car stuck on the kerb he was forced to retire from the race. BBC commentator James Hunt placed the blame on Schlesser although many felt that Senna had not given any allowance for Schlesser to come back on the track. It was also generally thought that Senna had used too much fuel in the first half of the race in his bid to keep in front of Prost and that was why the Ferraris were catching him rapidly at the end with Berger only 5 seconds behind when Senna and Schlesser collided.

The Tifosi was beyond overjoyed as Berger inherited the win, with Alboreto taking second place only half a second behind in the first Italian Grand Prix since the death of the great Enzo Ferrari. Eddie Cheever finished in 3rd place for Arrows, 35 seconds behind the Ferraris and only half a second in front of his team mate Derek Warwick in a great race for the Arrows team. The remaining points went to Italian Ivan Capelli, a considerable achievement by the atmo March on a circuit which requires powerful engines but showed just how aerodynamic the Adrian Newey designed 881 was. Sixth place went to the Benetton-Ford of Thierry Boutsen.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	12	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	1:26.160	1:25.974	—
2	11	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	1:26.277	1:26.428	+0.303
3	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	1:28.082	1:26.654	+0.680
4	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	1:27.618	1:26.988	+1.014
5	18	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Megatron	1:28.101	1:27.660	+1.686
6	17	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Megatron	1:28.258	1:27.815	+1.841
7	1	Nelson Piquet	Lotus-Honda	1:28.440	1:28.044	+2.070
8	20	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton-Ford	1:29.607	1:28.870	+2.896
9	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	1:28.969	1:28.958	+2.984
10	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Judd	1:30.124	1:29.435	+3.461
11	16	Ivan Capelli	March-Judd	1:29.513	1:29.696	+3.539
12	2	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Honda	1:29.541	1:30.570	+3.567
13	15	Mauricio Gugelmin	March-Judd	1:30.145	1:30.035	+4.061
14	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	1:30.734	1:30.125	+4.151
15	10	Bernd Schneider	Zakspeed	1:30.773	1:30.161	+4.187
16	9	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Zakspeed	1:31.182	1:30.035	+4.061
17	21	Nicola Larini	Osella	1:31.721	1:30.481	+4.507
18	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Rial-Ford	1:31.263	1:30.560	+4.586
19	24	Luis Pérez-Sala	Minardi-Ford	1:30.944	1:30.698	+4.724
20	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Ford	1:31.168	1:30.962	+4.988
21	36	Alex Caffi	Dallara-Ford	1:30.989	1:31.009	+5.015
22	5	Jean-Louis Schlesser	Williams-Judd	1:31.548	1:31.620	+5.574
23	14	Philippe Streiff	AGS-Ford	1:31.676	1:31.687	+5.702
24	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Judd	1:32.049	1:32.316	+6.075
25	29	Yannick Dalmas	Lola-Ford	1:32.164	1:32.686	+6.190
26	4	Julian Bailey	Tyrrell-Ford	1:32.573	1:32.290	+6.316
DNQ	3	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	1:32.405	1:33.067	+6.431
DNQ	26	Stefan Johansson	Ligier-Judd	1:33.272	1:32.438	+6.464
DNQ	31	Gabriele Tarquini	Coloni-Ford	1:32.829	1:35.805	+6.855
DNQ	33	Stefano Modena	EuroBrun-Ford	1:34.727	1:33.226	+7.252
DNPQ	32	Oscar Larrauri	EuroBrun-Ford

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	51	1:17:39.744	3	9
2	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	51	+ 0.502	4	6
3	18	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Megatron	51	+ 35.532	5	4
4	17	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Megatron	51	+ 36.114	6	3
5	16	Ivan Capelli	March-Judd	51	+ 52.522	11	2
6	20	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton-Ford	51	+ 59.878	8	1
7	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Judd	51	+ 1:14.743	10
8	15	Maurício Gugelmin	March-Judd	51	+ 1:32.566	13
9	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	50	+ 1 Lap	9
10	12	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	49	Collision	1
11	5	Jean-Louis Schlesser	Williams-Judd	49	+ 2 Laps	22
12	4	Julian Bailey	Tyrrell-Ford	49	+ 2 Laps	26
13	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Judd	49	+ 2 Laps	24
Ret	11	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	34	Engine	2
Ret	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Ford	33	Engine	20
Ret	14	Philippe Streiff	AGS-Ford	31	Clutch	23
Ret	10	Bernd Schneider	Zakspeed	28	Engine	15
Ret	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Rial-Ford	27	Chassis	18
Ret	9	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Zakspeed	25	Engine	16
Ret	36	Alex Caffi	Dallara-Ford	24	Engine	21
Ret	29	Yannick Dalmas	Lola-Ford	17	Radiator	25
Ret	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	15	Engine	14
Ret	2	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Honda	14	Engine	12
Ret	24	Luis Pérez-Sala	Minardi-Ford	12	Gearbox	19
Ret	1	Nelson Piquet	Lotus-Honda	11	Clutch	7
Ret	21	Nicola Larini	Osella	2	Engine	17
DNQ	3	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford
DNQ	26	Stefan Johansson	Ligier-Judd
DNQ	31	Gabriele Tarquini	Coloni-Ford
DNQ	33	Stefano Modena	Euro Brun-Ford
DNPQ	32	Oscar Larrauri	Euro Brun-Ford

Notes

• This was the last Formula One Grand Prix in which all turbo powered cars that were entered actually qualified for the race.

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 37 4 Michele Alboreto 22 5 Thierry Boutsen 21

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Honda 147 2 Ferrari 59 3 Benetton-Ford 30 4 Arrows-Megatron 17 5 Lotus-Honda 17

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Points accurate at final declaration of results. The Benettons were subsequently disqualified from the Belgian Grand Prix and their points reallocated.

References

• Unless otherwise indicated, all race results are taken from "The Official Formula 1 website". Archived

from the original on 29 June 2007. http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1988/274/. Retrieved 2007-07-12. 

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

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