1987 Australian Grand Prix

The 1987 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Adelaide on 15 November 1987. It was the sixteenth and final race of the 1987 Formula One World Championship.

1987 Australian Grand Prix
Race 16 of 16 in the 1987 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 15 November 1987
Official name LII Foster's Australian Grand Prix
Location Adelaide Street Circuit
Adelaide, South Australia
Course Temporary street circuit
Course length 3.780 km (2.362 mi)
Distance 82 laps, 309.960 km (193.684 mi)
Weather Sunny
Pole position
Driver
Ferrari
Time 1:17.267
Fastest lap
Driver Gerhard Berger Ferrari
Time 1:20.416 on lap 72
Podium
First
Ferrari
Second
Ferrari
Third
Benetton-Ford

The 82-lap race was won by Austrian driver Gerhard Berger, who started from pole position and led every lap in his Ferrari. Brazilian Ayrton Senna finished second in his Lotus-Honda but was subsequently disqualified, thus promoting Berger's Italian teammate Michele Alboreto to second and the Benetton-Ford of Belgian Thierry Boutsen to third.

Race

Ferrari's Gerhard Berger started from pole position despite being ill during qualifying. Nigel Mansell was still recovering from his accident in the previous race in Japan and so Riccardo Patrese, who had already signed for Williams to partner Mansell in 1988, was given permission by Brabham owner Bernie Ecclestone to stand in for the Englishman in this race; he was replaced at Brabham by Formula 3000 champion Stefano Modena, making his Formula One debut.

At the green light, it was Nelson Piquet, in his last race for Williams before moving to Lotus in 1988, who got away best of all, darting past Berger to take the lead into the first chicane whilst Alessandro Nannini in the Minardi was out immediately after crashing into the wall on the exit. A confident Berger, fresh from his victory in the previous race in Japan, re-passed Piquet at Wakefield Corner and began to make a break from the field.

Early retirements included Philippe Streiff spinning off in his Tyrrell and debutant Modena stopping in the pits due to exhaustion. The Italian drew the attention of BBC commentators Murray Walker and James Hunt for his efforts, as well as his highly superstitious manner; Modena wouldn't let anyone touch the car once strapped in and drove with one glove inside out.

The battle for second between Piquet, Alain Prost, Michele Alboreto and Ayrton Senna changed little until lap 35 when Piquet pitted for tyres and dropped to 6th. Seven laps later, Prost found himself baulked by former team-mate Rene Arnoux's Ligier on the pits straight and Alboreto slipped through. Senna, meanwhile, decided gung-ho was best and powered past both; 4th to 2nd in one move.

Attrition kicked in as the race continued with brakes in particular being a big issue. Teo Fabi's Benetton was the first brake-related retirement on lap 46. Shortly after, McLaren lost both cars within five laps as Prost and team-mate Stefan Johansson spun off at Stag Turn and Wakefield Corner respectively, again with brake issues. Piquet's brakes also failed on lap 58 leaving Berger, Senna and Alboreto as the top three.

Senna made a late charge, trading fastest laps with the Austrian, but Berger had enough in hand to respond, despite having what appeared to be a dragging under-tray and took his second consecutive victory by just under 35 seconds. Senna finished second but was later disqualified when post race scrutineering revealed oversized brake ducts on his Lotus. Alboreto was promoted up to second to make it a Ferrari 1–2, the first since Alboreto and Johansson finished 1–2 in the 1985 Canadian Grand Prix. Third across the line was the Benetton of Thierry Boutsen. Of the races seven finishers (the Brabham of Andrea de Cesaris and the Williams of Patrese were classified as finishers despite not running at the end), Alboreto was the only driver on the same lap as Berger.

The first non-turbo car to finish was the Tyrrell of Jonathan Palmer in 4th place. Frenchman Yannick Dalmas finished 5th in his Larrousse (but wasn't awarded points as the team had only entered one car for the season) with triple Australian Grand Prix winner Roberto Moreno (1981, 1983 and 1984) scoring a point in his Formula One debut with AGS by finishing 6th. The last car to cross the finish line was the Zakspeed of Christian Danner, 3 laps down in 7th.

Classification

Qualifying
PosNoDriverConstructorQ1Q2Gap
1 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:17.267 1:18.142
2 1 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:18.200 1:17.967 +0.700
3 6 Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 1:18.017 1:18.176 +0.750
4 12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Honda 1:18.508 1:18.488 +1.221
5 20 Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford 1:18.943 1:18.523 +1.256
6 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:18.578 1:19.612 +1.311
7 5 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Honda 1:19.507 1:18.813 +1.546
8 2 Stefan Johansson McLaren-TAG 1:19.761 1:18.826 +1.559
9 19 Teo Fabi Benetton-Ford 1:19.461 1:20.301 +2.194
10 8 Andrea de Cesaris Brabham-BMW 1:19.768 1:19.590 +2.323
11 18 Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 1:20.187 1:21.592 +2.920
12 17 Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 1:20.638 1:20.837 +3.371
13 24 Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:20.701 1:21.523 +3.434
14 11 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 1:21.708 1:20.891 +3.624
15 7 Stefano Modena Brabham-BMW 1:21.887 1:21.014 +3.747
16 9 Martin Brundle Zakspeed 1:22.224 1:21.483 +4.216
17 30 Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 1:21.888 1:22.846 +4.621
18 4 Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Ford 1:21.971 1:22.434 +4.704
19 3 Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 1:22.315 1:22.087 +4.820
20 25 René Arnoux Ligier-Megatron 1:24.833 1:22.303 +5.036
21 29 Yannick Dalmas Lola-Ford 1:25.021 1:22.650 +5.383
22 26 Piercarlo Ghinzani Ligier-Megatron 1:22.689 1:24.652 +5.422
23 16 Ivan Capelli March-Ford 1:22.698 1:22.704 +5.437
24 10 Christian Danner Zakspeed 1:23.046 1:22.736 +5.469
25 14 Roberto Moreno AGS-Ford 1:23.659 1:24.149 +6.392
26 23 Adrián Campos Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:25.760 1:24.121 +6.859
DNQ 21 Alex Caffi Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:25.872 1:27.331 +8.585
Source:[1][2][3]

Race
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 82 1:52:56.144 1 9
2 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 82 + 1:07.884 6 6
3 20 Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford 81 + 1 Lap 5 4
4 (1) 3 Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 80 + 2 Laps 19 3
5 (2) 29 Yannick Dalmas Lola-Ford 79 + 3 Laps 21 0*
6 (3) 14 Roberto Moreno AGS-Ford 79 + 3 Laps 25 1
7 10 Christian Danner Zakspeed 79 + 3 Laps 24  
8 8 Andrea de Cesaris Brabham-BMW 78 Spun off 10  
9 5 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Honda 76 Oil leak 7  
DSQ 12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Honda 82 Illegal brake ducts[4] 4  
Ret 6 Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 58 Brakes 3  
Ret 16 Ivan Capelli March-Ford 58 Spun off 23  
Ret 1 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 53 Brakes 2  
Ret 18 Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 53 Overheating 11  
Ret 2 Stefan Johansson McLaren-TAG 48 Brakes 8  
Ret 19 Teo Fabi Benetton-Ford 46 Brakes 9  
Ret 23 Adrián Campos Minardi-Motori Moderni 46 Transmission 26  
Ret 30 Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 45 Electrical 17  
Ret 25 René Arnoux Ligier-Megatron 41 Ignition 20  
Ret 7 Stefano Modena Brabham-BMW 31 Physical 15  
Ret 26 Piercarlo Ghinzani Ligier-Megatron 26 Ignition 22  
Ret 11 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 22 Hydraulics[4] 14  
Ret 17 Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 19 Transmission 12  
Ret 9 Martin Brundle Zakspeed 18 Engine 16  
Ret 4 Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Ford 6 Spun off 18  
Ret 24 Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 0 Accident 13  
Source:[5]

* Dalmas did not receive points towards the Drivers' Championship or the Jim Clark Trophy, as he was driving Larrousse-Lola's second car and the team had officially entered only one car for the entire championship.

Lap leaders

Championship standings after the race
  • Bold text indicates the World Champions.
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for all four sets of standings.

References
  1. "Foster's Australian Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 1". formula1.com. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  2. "Foster's Australian Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 2". formula1.com. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  3. "Foster's Australian Grand Prix - OVERALL QUALIFYING". formula1.com. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  4. Pritchard, Anthony (March 2006). Lotus: The Competition Cars. Haynes Publishing. p. 246. ISBN 1-84425-006-7.
  5. "1987 Australian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 10 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  6. "Australia 1987 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
Previous race:
1987 Japanese Grand Prix		 FIA Formula One World Championship
1987 season		 Next race:
1988 Brazilian Grand Prix
Previous race:
1986 Australian Grand Prix		 Australian Grand Prix Next race:
1988 Australian Grand Prix
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