| 1987 British Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 7 of 16 in the1987 Formula One World Championship | |||
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| Race details | |||
| Date | 12 July 1987 | ||
| Official name | XL Shell Oils British Grand Prix | ||
| Location | Silverstone Circuit Silverstone,Northamptonshire, England | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 4.778 km (2.969 miles) | ||
| Distance | 65 laps, 310.570 km (192.979 miles) | ||
| Weather | Sunny and warm | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Williams-Honda | ||
| Time | 1:07.110 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Nigel Mansell | Williams-Honda | |
| Time | 1:09.832 on lap 58 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Williams-Honda | ||
| Second | Williams-Honda | ||
| Third | Lotus-Honda | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1987 British Grand Prix (formally theXL Shell Oils British Grand Prix) was aFormula One motor race held on 12 July 1987 at theSilverstone Circuit,Silverstone. It was the seventh race of the1987 Formula One World Championship. It was the 42ndBritish Grand Prix and the 23rd to be held at Silverstone. The race was held over 65 laps of the 4.78-kilometre (2.97 mi) circuit for race distance of 311 kilometres (193 mi).
The race was won by local driverNigel Mansell, driving aWilliams-Honda. In one of his most memorable Formula One performances, Mansell hunted down Brazilian team-mateNelson Piquet, who had started frompole position, with three laps remaining. It was Mansell's third win of the season, and his second consecutive British Grand Prix victory.Ayrton Senna finished third in hisLotus-Honda, one lap behind.
The win moved Mansell into second place in the Drivers' Championship, level on points with Piquet and one point behind Senna.
As usual,Honda-powered cars dominated the qualifying sessions, withNelson Piquet taking pole position andAyrton Senna third in hisLotus despite being a full second slower than Mansell.Alain Prost was fourth in hisMcLaren, while theBenettons ofThierry Boutsen andTeo Fabi were fifth and sixth, and theFerraris ofMichele Alboreto andGerhard Berger seventh and eighth. Completing the top ten wereAndrea de Cesaris in theBrabham andStefan Johansson in the second McLaren.
During qualifying,Piercarlo Ghinzani'sLigier ran out of fuel in front of the pits. His mechanics jumped the pit wall, refuelled him on the track and then push-started him, a clear violation of the rules leading to Ghinzani's exclusion from the remainder of the event. Before the incident, the Italian had set a time which would have put him 19th on the grid.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 |  Nelson Piquet | Williams-Honda | 1:07.596 | 1:07.110 | — |
| 2 | 5 | Nigel Mansell | Williams-Honda | 1:07.725 | 1:07.180 | +0.070 |
| 3 | 12 | Ayrton Senna | Lotus-Honda | 1:09.255 | 1:08.181 | +1.071 |
| 4 | 1 |  Alain Prost | McLaren-TAG | 1:08.577 | 1:09.492 | +1.467 |
| 5 | 20 |  Thierry Boutsen | Benetton-Ford | 1:09.724 | 1:08.972 | +1.862 |
| 6 | 19 |  Teo Fabi | Benetton-Ford | 1:10.264 | 1:09.246 | +2.136 |
| 7 | 27 | Michele Alboreto | Ferrari | 1:10.441 | 1:09.274 | +2.164 |
| 8 | 28 |  Gerhard Berger | Ferrari | 1:10.328 | 1:09.408 | +2.298 |
| 9 | 8 | Andrea de Cesaris | Brabham-BMW | 1:10.787 | 1:09.475 | +2.365 |
| 10 | 2 |  Stefan Johansson | McLaren-TAG | 1:10.242 | 1:09.541 | +2.431 |
| 11 | 7 | Riccardo Patrese | Brabham-BMW | 1:10.012 | 1:10.020 | +2.902 |
| 12 | 11 |  Satoru Nakajima | Lotus-Honda | 1:10.619 | 1:10.998 | +3.509 |
| 13 | 17 | Derek Warwick | Arrows-Megatron | 1:10.654 | 1:10.781 | +3.544 |
| 14 | 18 |  Eddie Cheever | Arrows-Megatron | 1:11.053 | 1:11.310 | +3.943 |
| 15 | 24 | Alessandro Nannini | Minardi-Motori Moderni | 1:13.737 | 1:12.293 | +5.183 |
| 16 | 25 | René Arnoux | Ligier-Megatron | 1:12.503 | 1:12.402 | +5.292 |
| 17 | 9 | Martin Brundle | Zakspeed | 1:12.852 | 1:12.632 | +5.522 |
| 18 | 10 |  Christian Danner | Zakspeed | 1:15.833 | 1:13.337 | +6.227 |
| 19 | 23 |  Adrián Campos | Minardi-Motori Moderni | 1:15.719 | 1:13.793 | +6.683 |
| 20 | 21 | Alex Caffi | Osella-Alfa Romeo | 1:18.495 | 1:15.558 | +8.448 |
| 21 | 30 | Philippe Alliot | Lola-Ford | 1:16.770 | 1:15.868 | +8.758 |
| 22 | 4 | Philippe Streiff | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:17.208 | 1:16.524 | +9.414 |
| 23 | 3 | Jonathan Palmer | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:16.644 | 1:17.105 | +9.534 |
| 24 | 16 | Ivan Capelli | March-Ford | 1:17.122 | 1:16.692 | +9.582 |
| 25 | 14 | Pascal Fabre | AGS-Ford | 1:19.163 | 1:18.237 | +11.127 |
| EX | 26 | Piercarlo Ghinzani | Ligier-Megatron | 1:13.381 | no time | +6.271 |
At the start, Prost was the quickest and took the lead, only to be passed by Piquet at Maggotts; Mansell soon followed his teammate. The race then developed into a battle between the two Williams drivers, with Piquet leading.
On lap 35, Mansell was around two seconds behind his teammate. Both Williams drivers were scheduled to complete the race without a tyre change, but Mansell and the team elected to make a stop to change tyres. Mansell rejoined the race some 29 seconds behind Piquet, with 28 laps remaining. On fresh rubber, Mansell began an epic charge, breaking the lap record eight times to the delight of the over 100,000 strong British crowd.
By lap 62 Mansell was right on Piquet's tail, and on lap 63 the Englishman overtook his teammate. Shortly after crossing the finish line, Mansell's car slowed down and was engulfed by the crowd. Initially it was thought that he had run out of fuel, but he had actually blown up the engine, out of the stress of running the last 6 laps on "Q" mode (which gives the engine +100 hp), and risking running out of fuel at any moment (his fuel display was reading "minus 2.5 laps"). In fact that incident was the last straw for the patience of the Honda management, since it had – again – threatened their easily attainable 1-2 result. Honda would switch their supply of engines from Williams to McLaren for 1988, while Piquet would sign for Lotus – also running Hondas – in the following weeks.[1] Senna finished third, one lap down, with a further lap back to teammateSatoru Nakajima in fourth.Derek Warwick was fifth in theArrows-Megatron, with Fabi completing the top six.
Numbers in brackets refer to positions ofnormally aspirated entrants competing for theJim Clark Trophy.
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| Previous race: 1987 French Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1987 season | Next race: 1987 German Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1986 British Grand Prix | British Grand Prix | Next race: 1988 British Grand Prix |
