1987 Japanese Grand Prix
| 1987 Japanese Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 15 of 16 in the 1987 Formula One World Championship | |||
.svg) | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 1 November 1987 | ||
| Official name | XIII Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix | ||
| Location | Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Japan | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 5.859 km (3.641 miles) | ||
| Distance | 51 laps, 298.829 km (185.670 miles) | ||
| Weather | Dry | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Ferrari | ||
| Time | 1:40.042 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Alain Prost | McLaren-TAG | |
| Time | 1:43.844 on lap 35 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Ferrari | ||
| Second | Lotus-Honda | ||
| Third | McLaren-TAG | ||
|
Lap leaders | |||
The 1987 Japanese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Suzuka on 1 November 1987. It was the fifteenth and penultimate race of the 1987 FIA Formula One World Championship. It was the first Japanese Grand Prix since 1977, and the first as part of the Formula One World Championship to be held at the Honda-owned Suzuka Circuit, which originated as a test track for Honda motorcycles and automobiles.
Soichiro Honda was extremely enthusiastic about this race, and told his racing engineers "We have to win. And we have to keep winning..."[1] aiming for a hometown victory at Honda's home track in its native Japan. Soichiro Honda had reason for optimism as four of the entrants were powered by Honda-made engines. The Lotus 99Ts of Ayrton Senna, who had won races earlier in the season and was joined on Team Lotus with national favourite Satoru Nakajima, along with the dominating Williams FW11Bs driven by Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet, who were both vying for the overall championship. However, after Nigel Mansell was taken out of contention by a qualifying crash, the other three cars of Piquet, Senna and Nakajima could only qualify in 5th, 7th and 11th places respectively, with the best finish for Honda being Senna's 2nd place.
The race was won by Austrian driver Gerhard Berger driving a Ferrari F1/87. It was the end of a 38-race losing streak for Formula One's most famous team and Berger's second Grand Prix victory having won the Mexican Grand Prix the previous year. Berger won by 17 seconds over Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna driving a Lotus 99T. Third was the McLaren MP4/3 of Swedish driver Stefan Johansson.
The World Drivers' Championship was decided during practice when British driver Nigel Mansell crashed his Williams FW11B heavily at the S curves. Mansell's injuries put him out of racing for the remainder of the season, leaving Brazilian Williams driver Nelson Piquet unopposed to claim his third World Championship, adding to his victories with Brabham in 1981 and 1983.
Qualifying
The 1987 Japanese Grand Prix was the first race to be held in Japan since James Hunt won in his McLaren at Fuji, in 1977. This time, the Grand Prix circus utilised the Honda-owned Suzuka Circuit. The scene was set for a tense championship deciding race between bitter Williams Honda teammates, Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell. However, Mansell suffered a huge crash during Friday qualifying while trying to better Piquet's time which put him out of action for both the Japanese race and the subsequent Australian Grand Prix. As a consequence, Piquet won his third World Championship before the race even began.
Qualifying once again demonstrated the return to form of Ferrari, as Gerhard Berger obtained his second pole position of the season, with the F1/87 being perfectly suited to the Suzuka circuit. Alain Prost qualified 2nd in his McLaren-TAG with Thierry Boutsen 3rd in his Benetton-Ford. Following Mansell's Friday crash, the three remaining Honda powered cars of Piquet, Senna, and Senna's teammate, local favourite Satoru Nakajima, could only qualify in 5th, 7th and 11th places respectively. All drivers from 8th position and below moved up one position on the grid due to Mansell being unable to start. This meant Roberto Moreno was able to race the AGS despite having the 27th fastest qualifying time.
Race
At the start Berger immediately imposed his authority by building a cushion. Prost, in his McLaren, perhaps the only driver capable of challenging Berger for the victory, suffered a puncture on the first lap and, therefore, was out of contention. Prost, however, drove a superb race to climb up through the field finishing just outside the points with the consolation of having the fastest lap. Boutsen's Benetton ran second early on but could not live with the pace set by Berger, ultimately fading to fifth. Piquet spent much of the race behind Senna's Lotus but was unable to find a way past his countryman. The new world champion eventually retired in the pits with oil pouring from the rear of his Williams. At one stage Stefan Johansson in the McLaren closed on Berger, but the Austrian driver responded and eventually romped to a seemingly effortless victory, the first Ferrari's victory since the 1985 German Grand Prix. Ayrton Senna dramatically passed Johansson on the last lap to take second place. Michele Alboreto, in the second Ferrari, got away very slowly at the green lights leaving him towards the rear of the field. However, the Italian drove an aggressive race to climb his way back up the order to finish an excellent fourth despite suffering from a dragging undertray causing a huge amount of sparks. Boutsen and Nakajima rounded out the points.
Johansson's third place was the 54th and last podium finish for the Porsche-designed TAG turbo V6 engine which had been first used in Formula One by McLaren at the 1983 Dutch Grand Prix.
Classification
Qualifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28 |  Gerhard Berger
|
Ferrari | 1:42.160 | 1:40.042 | — | 1 |
| 2 | 1 | Alain Prost
|
McLaren-TAG | 1:42.496 | 1:40.652 | +0.610 | 2 |
| 3 | 20 |  Thierry Boutsen
|
Benetton-Ford | 1:43.130 | 1:40.850 | +0.808 | 3 |
| 4 | 27 |  Michele Alboreto
|
Ferrari | 1:42.416 | 1:40.984 | +0.942 | 4 |
| 5 | 6 |  Nelson Piquet
|
Williams-Honda | 1:41.423 | 1:41.144 | +1.099 | 5 |
| 6 | 19 | Teo Fabi
|
Benetton-Ford | 1:43.351 | 1:41.679 | +1.673 | 6 |
| 7 | 5 |  Nigel Mansell
|
Williams-Honda | 1:42.616 | no time | +2.573 | 7 |
| 8 | 12 | Ayrton Senna
|
Lotus-Honda | 1:44.026 | 1:42.723 | +2.681 | 8 |
| 9 | 7 | Riccardo Patrese
|
Brabham-BMW | 1:44.767 | 1:43.304 | +3.262 | 9 |
| 10 | 2 |  Stefan Johansson
|
McLaren-TAG | 1:43.612 | 1:43.371 | +3.329 | 10 |
| 11 | 8 | Andrea de Cesaris
|
Brabham-BMW | 1:46.399 | 1:43.618 | +3.576 | 11 |
| 12 | 11 |  Satoru Nakajima
|
Lotus-Honda | 1:45.898 | 1:43.685 | +3.643 | 12 |
| 13 | 18 |  Eddie Cheever
|
Arrows-Megatron | 1:45.427 | 1:44.277 | +4.385 | 13 |
| 14 | 17 | Derek Warwick
|
Arrows-Megatron | 1:44.768 | 1:44.626 | +4.584 | 14 |
| 15 | 24 | Alessandro Nannini
|
Minardi-Motori Moderni | 1:48.948 | 1:45.612 | +5.570 | 15 |
| 16 | 9 | Martin Brundle
|
Zakspeed | 1:46.715 | 1:46.023 | +5.981 | 16 |
| 17 | 10 |  Christian Danner
|
Zakspeed | 1:49.337 | 1:46.116 | +6.074 | 17 |
| 18 | 25 | René Arnoux
|
Ligier-Megatron | 1:50.542 | 1:46.200 | +6.158 | 18 |
| 19 | 30 | Philippe Alliot
|
Lola-Ford | 1:49.470 | 1:47.395 | +7.353 | 19 |
| 20 | 3 | Jonathan Palmer
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 1:48.902 | 1:47.775 | +7.733 | 20 |
| 21 | 16 | Ivan Capelli
|
March-Ford | 1:49.814 | 1:48.212 | +8.170 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 |  Adrián Campos
|
Minardi-Motori Moderni | 1:53.455 | 1:48.337 | +8.295 | 22 |
| 23 | 29 | Yannick Dalmas
|
Lola-Ford | 1:51.230 | 1:48.887 | +8.845 | 23 |
| 24 | 21 | Alex Caffi
|
Osella-Alfa Romeo | 1:49.017 | 1:50.902 | +8.975 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | Piercarlo Ghinzani
|
Ligier-Megatron | 1:51.554 | 1:49.641 | +9.599 | 25 |
| 26 | 4 | Philippe Streiff
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 1:50.896 | 1:49.741 | +9.699 | 26 |
| 27 | 14 | Roberto Moreno
|
AGS-Ford | 1:51.835 | 1:50.212 | +10.170 | |
| Source:[2][3][4][5] | |||||||
Race
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28 | Gerhard Berger
|
Ferrari | 51 | 1:32:58.072 | 1 | 9 |
| 2 | 12 | Ayrton Senna
|
Lotus-Honda | 51 | + 17.384 | 7 | 6 |
| 3 | 2 | Stefan Johansson
|
McLaren-TAG | 51 | + 17.694 | 9 | 4 |
| 4 | 27 | Michele Alboreto
|
Ferrari | 51 | + 1:20.441 | 4 | 3 |
| 5 | 20 | Thierry Boutsen
|
Benetton-Ford | 51 | + 1:25.576 | 3 | 2 |
| 6 | 11 | Satoru Nakajima
|
Lotus-Honda | 51 | + 1:36.479 | 11 | 1 |
| 7 | 1 | Alain Prost
|
McLaren-TAG | 50 | + 1 Lap | 2 | |
| 8 (1) | 3 | Jonathan Palmer
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 50 | + 1 Lap | 19 | |
| 9 | 18 | Eddie Cheever
|
Arrows-Megatron | 50 | Out of Fuel | 12 | |
| 10 | 17 | Derek Warwick
|
Arrows-Megatron | 50 | + 1 Lap | 13 | |
| 11 | 7 | Riccardo Patrese
|
Brabham-BMW | 49 | + 2 Laps | 8 | |
| 12 (2) | 4 | Philippe Streiff
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 49 | + 2 Laps | 25 | |
| 13 | 26 | Piercarlo Ghinzani
|
Ligier-Megatron | 48 | + 3 Laps | 24 | |
| 14 (3) | 29 | Yannick Dalmas
|
Lola-Ford | 47 | + 4 Laps | 22 | |
| 15 | 6 | Nelson Piquet
|
Williams-Honda | 46 | Engine | 5 | |
| Ret | 25 | René Arnoux
|
Ligier-Megatron | 44 | Out of Fuel | 17 | |
| Ret | 21 | Alex Caffi
|
Osella-Alfa Romeo | 43 | Out of Fuel | 23 | |
| Ret | 14 | Roberto Moreno
|
AGS-Ford | 38 | Electrical | 26 | |
| Ret | 24 | Alessandro Nannini
|
Minardi-Motori Moderni | 35 | Engine | 14 | |
| Ret | 9 | Martin Brundle
|
Zakspeed | 32 | Engine | 15 | |
| Ret | 8 | Andrea de Cesaris
|
Brabham-BMW | 26 | Engine | 10 | |
| Ret | 19 | Teo Fabi
|
Benetton-Ford | 16 | Engine | 6 | |
| Ret | 10 | Christian Danner
|
Zakspeed | 13 | Engine | 16 | |
| Ret | 16 | Ivan Capelli
|
March-Ford | 13 | Accident | 20 | |
| Ret | 23 | Adrián Campos
|
Minardi-Motori Moderni | 2 | Engine | 21 | |
| Ret | 30 | Philippe Alliot
|
Lola-Ford | 0 | Accident | 18 | |
| DNS | 5 | Nigel Mansell
|
Williams-Honda | Practice Accident | |||
Source:[6]
| |||||||
* Numbers in brackets refer to positions of normally aspirated entrants competing for the Jim Clark Trophy.
Lap leaders
Gerhard Berger 50 (1–24, 26–51), Ayrton Senna 1 (25)
Notes
- This was the first Drivers' Championship win for a Honda powered car.
- 60th podium finish for Honda.
- 150th Grand Prix start for Arrows
- 214th and final Grand Prix start for Alfa Romeo until the name returned with the rebranded Sauber team in 2019. Although the Osella team would continue to use the Alfa Romeo 890T V8 engine in 1988, Alfa Romeo pulled its support from the team and the engine was badged as the "Osella V8" in 1988.[7]
Championship standings after the race
- Bold text indicates the World Champions.
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for all four sets of standings.
References
- ^ Sato, Masaaki (2006). The Honda Myth: The Genius and his Wake. Vertical. p. 349. ISBN 1932234268.
- ^ "1987 Japanese Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 1". formula1.com. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
- ^ "1987 Japanese Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 2". formula1.com. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
- ^ "1987 Japanese Grand Prix - OVERALL QUALIFYING". formula1.com. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
- ^ "1987 Japanese Grand Prix - STARTING GRID". formula1.com. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
- ^ "1987 Japanese Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
- ^ "Japan 1976 , STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
- ^ a b "Japan 1987 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.