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| 1988 Belgian Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 11 of 16 in the1988 Formula One World Championship | |||
 | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 28 August 1988 | ||
| Official name | XLVIChampion Belgian Grand Prix | ||
| Location | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Francorchamps,Wallonia,Belgium[1] | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 6.940 km (4.312 miles) | ||
| Distance | 43 laps, 298.420 km (185.429 miles) | ||
| Weather | Warm, dry and overcast | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Time | 1:53.718 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Gerhard Berger | Ferrari | |
| Time | 2:00.772 on lap 10 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Second | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Third | March-Judd | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1988 Belgian Grand Prix (formally the XLVIChampion Belgian Grand Prix) was aFormula One motor race held at theCircuit de Spa-Francorchamps on 28 August 1988. It was the eleventh race of the1988 Formula One World Championship.
The 43-lap race was won frompole position by Brazilian driverAyrton Senna, driving aMcLaren-Honda. Senna's French teammateAlain Prost was second, with Italy'sIvan Capelli third in aMarch-Judd after theBenetton-Fords of local driverThierry Boutsen andAlessandro Nannini were disqualified for fuel irregularities.
The win, Senna's seventh of the season and fourth in succession, gave him a three-point lead over Prost in the Drivers' Championship.
This was the first race after the death ofEnzo Ferrari.Nigel Mansell was forced to miss the race due to chicken pox and was replaced atWilliams byMartin Brundle who actually managed to be fastest in the second, wet qualifying session. TheMcLaren-Hondas had dominated the first qualifying session and occupied the whole front row for the 7th time in 11 races, though neitherAyrton Senna norAlain Prost could matchMichele Alboreto on the uphill Kemmel Straight as he pushed hisFerrari to 312 km/h (194 mph). This was the first race in 1988 where neither of the newEuroBrun cars made the field.
Riccardo Patrese did a fine job to be 5th on the grid in his naturally aspiratedWilliams-Judd, but his time of 1:57.138 was still 3.420 seconds slower than pole man Senna. Local driverThierry Boutsen gave the Belgian crowd something to cheer when he put hisBenetton-Ford in 6th place on the grid.
The grid was set by Friday's qualifying session as Saturday's qualifying was held in wet conditions. Martin Brundle surprised by being fastest in the Williams, but even more of a surprise wasSatoru Nakajima who was second fastest in hisLotus-Honda. Alain Prost, never a fan of driving in the wet and knowing his second place on the grid was safe, did not drive in the second session.
TheMinardis ofLuis Pérez-Sala andPierluigi Martini,Stefano Modena in theEuroBrun andJulian Bailey in theTyrrell all failed to qualify while Modena's teammateOscar Larrauri failed to pre-qualify.
Throughout 1988, Senna had copied Prost's car settings feeling that the Frenchman had a better handle on setting up the McLaren (after driving Prost's spare car inBrazil he found that his teammates settings actually suited his own driving style, plus they were easier on the car). At Spa Prost decided at the last minute to alter the settings on his car by taking off some wing for more straight line speed in a bid to gain an advantage. Unfortunately for the Frenchman this had a detrimental result and he was unhappy with the balance and handling of his car in the race, compared to Senna with Prost's original settings who reported no such problems. At the start, pole sitter Senna had too much wheelspin and Prost was able to take the lead. However, the first time through Eau Rouge, Senna, with better downforce and grip, was clearly quicker and easily retook the lead after he slipstreamed Prost on the Kemmel Straight and out braked him at Les Combes. Senna powered off into the distance while Prost, struggling with a car that was no longer handling to his liking, settled for second place.
Gerhard Berger managed to get hisFerrari up to 3rd, challenging Prost briefly before pitting on lap 3 with electrical problems. He managed to rejoin and set the fastest lap before retiring on lap 12. Due to Berger's retirement, Boutsen climbed to 4th behind Alboreto and ahead of a thrilling battle betweenAlessandro Nannini (Benetton), Nakajima,Nelson Piquet (Lotus), and the twoArrows-Megatrons ofDerek Warwick andEddie Cheever. Piquet passed teammate Nakajima on lap 17, before the Japanese driver pitted with an acute misfire from a jammed plug, which caused him to retire. In the meantime,Ivan Capelli climbed from ninth to sixth in hisMarch-Judd.
On lap 36, Alboreto's engine blew at Les Combes, sending him out of the race from third. On lap 38, Nannini passed Piquet for fourth at the La Source hairpin, before Capelli overtook the Brazilian driver for fifth on the penultimate lap.
McLaren's 1-2 sealed the Constructors' Championship for the British team with five races remaining. Boutsen and Nannini came home third and fourth for Benetton, with Capelli and Piquet rounding out the top six. In a post-race interview, Prost virtually conceded the championship to Senna, who had won his fourth race in succession and had taken the championship lead for the first time.
Both Benettons were later disqualified for using irregular fuel, so the third podium spot went to Ivan Capelli. It was his first podium finish in Formula One andMarch's first podium finish sinceRonnie Peterson had won the1976 Italian Grand Prix. The post race disqualification of the Benettons also meant that the two Arrows of Warwick and Cheever went into the points.
The disqualification of the Benettons was not made official until long after the season had finished, so many published records list them as having finished third and fourth. The three points Arrows gained from the disqualification brought the team to fifth in the Constructors' Championship.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 36 |  Alex Caffi | Dallara-Ford | 2:01.068 | — |
| 2 | 31 | Gabriele Tarquini | Coloni-Ford | 2:02.101 | +1.033 |
| 3 | 21 | Nicola Larini | Osella | 2:02.347 | +1.279 |
| 4 | 33 | Stefano Modena | EuroBrun-Ford | 2:02.933 | +1.865 |
| DNPQ | 32 |  Oscar Larrauri | EuroBrun-Ford | 2:04.208 | +3.140 |
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 |  Ayrton Senna | McLaren-Honda | 1:53.718 | 2:15.196 | — |
| 2 | 11 |  Alain Prost | McLaren-Honda | 1:54.128 | no time | +0.410 |
| 3 | 28 | Gerhard Berger | Ferrari | 1:54.581 | 2:17.115 | +0.863 |
| 4 | 27 | Michele Alboreto | Ferrari | 1:55.665 | 2:15.667 | +1.947 |
| 5 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese | Williams-Judd | 1:57.138 | 2:15.358 | +3.420 |
| 6 | 20 |  Thierry Boutsen | Benetton-Ford | 1:57.455 | 2:15.236 | +3.737 |
| 7 | 19 | Alessandro Nannini | Benetton-Ford | 1:57.535 | 2:17.077 | +3.817 |
| 8 | 2 |  Satoru Nakajima | Lotus-Honda | 1:57.616 | 2:14.739 | +3.898 |
| 9 | 1 | Nelson Piquet | Lotus-Honda | 1:57.821 | 2:15.027 | +4.103 |
| 10 | 17 |  Derek Warwick | Arrows-Megatron | 1:57.925 | 2:16.770 | +4.207 |
| 11 | 18 |  Eddie Cheever | Arrows-Megatron | 1:57.980 | 2:19.908 | +4.262 |
| 12 | 5 | Martin Brundle | Williams-Judd | 1:58.206 | 2:14.517 | +4.488 |
| 13 | 15 | Maurício Gugelmin | March-Judd | 1:58.361 | no time | +4.643 |
| 14 | 16 | Ivan Capelli | March-Judd | 1:58.439 | 2:22.821 | +4.721 |
| 15 | 36 | Alex Caffi | Dallara-Ford | 1:59.736 | 2:18.052 | +6.018 |
| 16 | 30 | Philippe Alliot | Lola-Ford | 1:59.906 | 2:21.219 | +6.188 |
| 17 | 25 | René Arnoux | Ligier-Judd | 2:00.037 | 2:19.260 | +6.319 |
| 18 | 14 | Philippe Streiff | AGS-Ford | 2:00.410 | 2:23.953 | +6.692 |
| 19 | 22 | Andrea de Cesaris | Rial-Ford | 2:00.521 | 2:17.028 | +6.803 |
| 20 | 26 |  Stefan Johansson | Ligier-Judd | 2:00.857 | no time | +7.139 |
| 21 | 3 | Jonathan Palmer | Tyrrell-Ford | 2:01.078 | 2:20.594 | +7.360 |
| 22 | 31 | Gabriele Tarquini | Coloni-Ford | 2:01.359 | 2:19.939 | +7.641 |
| 23 | 29 | Yannick Dalmas | Lola-Ford | 2:01.467 | 2:19.909 | +7.749 |
| 24 | 9 | Piercarlo Ghinzani | Zakspeed | 2:01.899 | 2:22.064 | +8.181 |
| 25 | 10 |  Bernd Schneider | Zakspeed | 2:01.938 | 2:19.825 | +8.220 |
| 26 | 21 | Nicola Larini | Osella | 2:02.029 | 2:17.127 | +8.311 |
| DNQ | 24 |  Luis Pérez-Sala | Minardi-Ford | 2:02.129 | no time | +8.411 |
| DNQ | 23 | Pierluigi Martini | Minardi-Ford | 2:02.314 | no time | +8.596 |
| DNQ | 33 | Stefano Modena | EuroBrun-Ford | 2:02.322 | 2:19.880 | +8.604 |
| DNQ | 4 | Julian Bailey | Tyrrell-Ford | 2:02.519 | no time | +8.801 |
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| Previous race: 1988 Hungarian Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1988 season | Next race: 1988 Italian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1987 Belgian Grand Prix | Belgian Grand Prix | Next race: 1989 Belgian Grand Prix |
