1988 Brazilian Grand Prix
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| Race details | ||
|---|---|---|
| Race 1 of 16 in the 1988 Formula One season. | ||
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| Date | April 3, 1988 | |
| Official name | 17o Grande Premio do Brasil | |
| Location | Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | |
| Course | Permanent racing facility 3.126 mi / 5.031 km |
|
| Distance | 60 laps, 186.417 mi / 301.860 km | |
| Weather | Cloudy and hot | |
| Pole position | ||
| Driver |  Ayrton Senna |
McLaren-Honda |
| Time | 1:28.096 | |
| Fastest lap | ||
| Driver |  Gerhard Berger |
Ferrari |
| Time | 1:32.943 on lap 45 | |
| Podium | ||
| First |  Alain Prost |
McLaren-Honda |
| Second | Gerhard Berger |
Ferrari |
| Third | Nelson Piquet |
Lotus-Honda |
The 1988 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on March 3, 1983 at the Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet, Rio de Janeiro. It was the first race of the 1988 Formula One season.
Contents |
[edit] Race summary
Winter testing had indicated Ferrari would be maintaining the edge that they had gained at the end of the 1987 season, with McLaren and Williams also producing cars that looked like potential race winners. During the qualifying session there was controversy when Nelson Piquet made comments in the local media publicly insulting Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, their wives and families.
Mansell produced a sensational performance to qualify 2nd, just five months after his crash at the 1987 Japanese Grand Prix. The pole was Senna in his first drive for the McLaren team; the second row was occupied by Gerhard Berger's Ferrari and Piquet's Williams.
On the parade lap, Senna's gear selector mechanism broke and he had to complete the lap jammed in first gear. The first start was aborted and Senna started from the spare car in the pits. At the second start, Alain Prost led from the first lap, with Mansell in 2nd place. On lap 19, the temperature gauge showed that the British's Williams was overheated and he entered the pits to investigate, handing the position to Gerhard Berger; during the process, his engine stalled. Senna was making a remarkable drive from the rear of the grid, climbing to 21st on lap 1, 15th on lap 4, 8th on lap 10, into the points on lap 13 and by lap 20 was in second place.
Prost pitted on lap 26 without losing the lead, and Senna pitted a lap later. He stalled the engine and dropped to 6th place. Shortly afterwards he was shown the black flag and disqualified for changing cars after the parade lap, a move that was not allowed. Despite closing to within 10 seconds of leader Prost, Berger was unable to catch him.
Piquet came home in 3rd ahead of Derek Warwick in the Arrows with a fine drive, Michele Alboreto in the second Ferrari and Satoru Nakajima in the second Lotus.
[edit] Classification
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[edit] Notes
- Ayrton Senna was disqualified for starting illegally with the spare car after the first start.
[edit] References
- Unless otherwise indicated, all race results are taken from The Official Formula 1 website. Retrieved on 2007-07-12.
| Previous race: 1987 Australian Grand Prix |
FIA Formula One World Championship 1988 season |
Next race: 1988 San Marino Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1987 Brazilian Grand Prix |
Brazilian Grand Prix | Next race: 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix |
