1987 Belgian Grand Prix

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

The 1987 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor 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. Certainly, Piquet was still suffering the results of his accident at Imola. 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	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	43	1:27:03.217	6	9
2	2	Stefan Johansson	McLaren-TAG	43	+ 24.764	10	6
3	8	Andrea de Cesaris	Brabham-BMW	42	+ 1 Lap	13	4
4	18	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Megatron	42	+ 1 Lap	11	3
5	11	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Honda	42	+ 1 Lap	15	2
6	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Megatron	41	+ 2 Laps	16	1
7	26	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Ligier-Megatron	40	+ 3 Laps	17
8 (1)	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Ford	40	+ 3 Laps	22
9 (2)	4	Philippe Streiff	Tyrrell-Ford	39	+ 4 Laps	23
10 (3)	14	Pascal Fabre	AGS-Ford	38	+ 5 Laps	25
Ret	19	Teo Fabi	Benetton-Ford	34	Engine	9
Ret	9	Martin Brundle	Zakspeed	19	Overheating	18
Ret	20	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton-Ford	18	Wheel Bearing	7
Ret	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	17	Accident	1
Ret	16	Ivan Capelli	March-Ford	14	Engine	21
Ret	6	Nelson Piquet	Williams-Honda	11	Exhaust	2
Ret	21	Alex Caffi	Osella-Alfa Romeo	11	Fuel Leak	26
Ret	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	9	Transmission	5
Ret	10	Christian Danner	Zakspeed	9	Brakes	20
Ret	17	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Megatron	8	Radiator	12
Ret	7	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW	5	Clutch	8
Ret	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	2	Engine	4
Ret	24	Alessandro Nannini	Minardi-Motori Moderni	1	Turbo	14
Ret	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Honda	0	Collision	3
Ret	23	Adrián Campos	Minardi-Motori Moderni	0	Gearbox	19
Ret	3	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	0	Collision	24
Source:

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Alain Prost	18
2	Stefan Johansson	13
3	Nigel Mansell	10
4	Nelson Piquet	6
5	Ayrton Senna	6

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	McLaren-TAG	31
2	Williams-Honda	16
3	Lotus-Honda	9
4	Ferrari	7
5	Brabham-BMW	4

Jim Clark Trophy standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Philippe Streiff	21
2	Philippe Alliot	15
3	Pascal Fabre	12
4	Jonathan Palmer	9

Colin Chapman trophy standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Tyrrell-Ford	30
2	Lola-Ford	15
3	AGS-Ford	12

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