1987 German Grand Prix

  1987 German Grand Prix

Race details
Race 8 of 16 in the 1987 Formula One season
Date	July 26, 1987
Official name	Grosser Mobil 1 Preis von Deutschland
Location	Hockenheimring Hockenheim, West Germany
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	6.797 km (4.223 mi)
Distance	45 laps, 299.068 km (185.832 mi)
Pole position
Driver	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda
Time	1:42.616[1]
Fastest lap
Driver	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda
Time	1:45.716[1] on lap 24
Podium
First	Nelson Piquet	Williams-Honda
Second	Stefan Johansson	McLaren-TAG
Third	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Honda

The 1987 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Hockenheimring on July 26, 1987. It was the eighth round of the 1987 Formula One season. It was the 49th German Grand Prix and the eleventh to be held at the Hockenheimring. It was held over 44 laps of the seven kilometre circuit for a race distance of 298.760 km (185.812 mi).

Pre-race

In the week leading up to the German Grand Prix a number of teams tested at the Hockenheim circuit. During testing Ayrton Senna had a very lucky escape when he had a rear tyre failure at over 300 km/h (186 mph) on the long straight leading to the Bremsschikane. The rear corner of his Lotus 99T was destroyed and parts were reported to be hard to find as most ended up flying off into the forest. As a result of the crash Goodyear took the precaution of immediately flying in new compound tyres from their plant in Akron in the United States in time for the Grand Prix weekend.

The tyre failure was determined to be the result of Senna picking up a puncture late on his previous lap. However the Lotus' active suspension system compensated for that and kept the car at its correct ride height, masking the problem from Senna. This caused many to question the system as the general belief was that with a passively suspended car Senna would have known he had a puncture and would not have continued to drive at high speed.

Race

The race was won by eventual 1987 World Champion, Nelson Piquet driving a Williams FW11B. It was his first win of the season and his third win in the German Grand Prix having previously won for Brabham in 1981, and Williams in the previous year. Piquet won by over a minute and a half from Swedish driver Stefan Johansson driving a McLaren MP4/3, who coasted over the finish line on three wheels due to a tyre puncture suffered just past the pits on his last lap. The Swede's second place was the 50th podium finish for the Porsche designed TAG turbo engine. Piquet inherited the win after engine failure claimed his team mate, Briton Nigel Mansell, and reigning champion, Frenchman Alain Prost (McLaren MP4/3). Ayrton Senna finished third in his Lotus 99T.

Just six cars finished the event as the long straights took their toll on engine reliability. Naturally asiprated cars finished as high as fourth place with Frenchman Philippe Streiff leading home a team one-two in the Jim Clark/Colin Chapman Trophy standings for Tyrrell. In sixth was French driver Philippe Alliot driving a Lola LC87 for the new Larrousse team. It was Alliot's second top six finish in Formula One and Larrousse's first world championship point, although the Constructor's Championship point would be credited to the chassis designers, Lola Cars.

Piquet's win vaulted him into the championship lead for the first time in 1987, putting him four points ahead of Senna and nine ahead of Mansell.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	6	Nelson Piquet	Williams-Honda	44	1:21:25.091	4	9
2	2	Stefan Johansson	McLaren-TAG	44	+ 1:39.591	8	6
3	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Honda	43	+ 1 Lap	2	4
4 (1)	4	Philippe Streiff	Tyrrell-Ford	43	+ 1 Lap	22	3
5 (2)	3	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	43	+ 1 Lap	23	2
6 (3)	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Ford	42	+ 2 Laps	21	1
7	1	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	39	Electrical	3
NC	9	Martin Brundle	Zakspeed	34	Not Classified	19
Ret	26	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Ligier-Megatron	32	Engine	17
Ret	23	Adrián Campos	Minardi-Motori Moderni	28	Engine	18
Ret	20	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton-Ford	26	Engine	6
Ret	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	25	Engine	1
Ret	24	Alessandro Nannini	Minardi-Motori Moderni	25	Engine	16
Ret	17	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Megatron	23	Turbo	13
Ret	10	Christian Danner	Zakspeed	21	Halfshaft	20
Ret	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	19	Turbo	10
Ret	19	Teo Fabi	Benetton-Ford	18	Engine	9
Ret	21	Alex Caffi	Osella-Alfa Romeo	17	Engine	26
Ret	8	Andrea de Cesaris	Brabham-BMW	12	Engine	7
Ret	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	10	Turbo	5
Ret	14	Pascal Fabre	AGS-Ford	10	Engine	25
Ret	18	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Megatron	9	Throttle	15
Ret	11	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Honda	9	Turbo[2]	14
Ret	16	Ivan Capelli	March-Ford	7	Engine	24
Ret	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Megatron	6	Ignition	12
Ret	7	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW	5	Ignition	11
Source:[3]

• Numbers in brackets refer to positions of normally aspirated entrants competing for the Jim Clark Trophy.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Nelson Piquet 39 2 Ayrton Senna 35 3 Nigel Mansell 30 4 Alain Prost 26 5 Stefan Johansson 19

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Honda 69 2 McLaren-TAG 45 3 Lotus-Honda 41 4 Ferrari 17 5 Tyrrell-Ford 8

Jim Clark Trophy standings Pos Driver Points 1 Jonathan Palmer 48 2 Philippe Streiff 39 3 Pascal Fabre 34 4 Philippe Alliot 19 5 Ivan Capelli 6

Colin Chapman Trophy standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Tyrrell-Ford 87 2 AGS-Ford 32 3 Lola-Ford 19 4 March-Ford 6

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

References