| 1988 Italian Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 12 of 16 in the1988 Formula One World Championship | |||
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| Race details | |||
| Date | 11 September 1988 | ||
| Official name | LIX Coca-Cola Gran Premio d'Italia | ||
| Location | Autodromo Nazionale di Monza,Monza,Italy | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 5.80 km (3.603 miles) | ||
| Distance | 51 laps, 295.800 km (183.801 miles) | ||
| Weather | Sunny and hot | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Time | 1:25.974 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Michele Alboreto | Ferrari | |
| Time | 1:29.070 on lap 44 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Ferrari | ||
| Second | Ferrari | ||
| Third | Arrows-Megatron | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1988 Italian Grand Prix was aFormula One motor race held on 11 September 1988 at theAutodromo Nazionale di Monza,Monza. It was the twelfth race of the1988 season. It is often remembered for the first win and 1–2 finish for theFerrari team after the death of team founderEnzo Ferrari, and as the only race of the 1988 season that was not won byMcLaren-Honda. It is also the only Grand Prix in the1988 season without aMcLaren-Honda driver on the podium, as well asFerrari's last win at Monza until1996.
Qualifying at Monza went as expected with the McLarens ofAyrton Senna andAlain Prost heading the field, Senna the only driver to lap under 1:26. In the first Italian Grand Prix since the death ofFerrari founderEnzo Ferrari, his team's scarlet cars were 3rd and 4th on the grid,Gerhard Berger in front ofMichele Alboreto. As a mark of respect for the Ferrari founder, Alboreto and Berger were allowed to be the first cars to take to the track for Friday morning's first practice session.
Showing the difference in horsepower between1987 and 1988, Senna's pole time of 1:25.974 was 2.514 seconds slower thanNelson Piquet's1987 time of 1:23.460. For the most part, qualifying times in 1988 had either matched or actually beaten the times from the previous year showing advances in engine response, aerodynamics, tyres and suspension. However, on a power circuit such as Monza, the loss of some 300 hp (220 kW) was very noticeable.
The third row of the grid was a surprise, even at this power circuit. Ever since the item was made compulsory for turbo powered cars at the start of the1987 season, theArrows team had been experiencing problems with theFIA pop-off valve on theirMegatronturbo engines, the problem being that the valve was cutting in too early and the drivers weren't able to exploit the full available power. In 1987 this meant that driversDerek Warwick andEddie Cheever struggled to keep up with their turbocharged rivals. In 1988 it meant they were often only as fast as the leadingatmos, and often they were in fact slower, even on noted power circuits such asSilverstone andHockenheim which should have suited their turbo power. Along with some new turbos, the team's engine guru Heini Mader had finally solved the pop-off valve problem (which turned out to be the pop-off valve being located too high above the engine, a problem Honda and Ferrari had long since solved), and suddenly with an extra 30–50 hp (22–37 kW) at their disposal theArrows A10Bs were actually 5 km/h (3 mph) faster than theHonda-poweredMcLarens across the start line and by the time they reached the speed trap before the Rettifilo, Cheever was reported to be the only car to hit 200 mph (322 km/h) while the McLarens andFerraris were timed at around 192 mph (309 km/h), though even Cheever's speed was some 30 km/h (19 mph) slower than had been achieved by Piquet in aWilliams-Honda at the circuit in 1987. This newfound power allowed Cheever and Warwick to line up 5th and 6th respectively, one place in front of reigning World Champion Piquet in his Lotus Honda. This also meant that turbos filled the first seven places on the grid.[1] Piquet's Lotus teammateSatoru Nakajima qualified 10th, with the Lotuses split by the fastest non-turbos, theBenetton-Fords ofThierry Boutsen andAlessandro Nannini in 8th and 9th places on the grid.
Defending World Champion Piquet, the race winner in1986 and1987 when driving forWilliams, never looked at ease during qualifying at a track where the Honda poweredLotus 100T should have been a long way ahead of at least the 'atmo' cars. Only late on in qualifying was it discovered that the team had inadvertently set up both Piquet and Nakajima's cars with the settings for theImola circuit and not for Monza (the major differences being higher wing settings for Imola, and almost reversed tyre camber, steering caster and weight distribution with Monza being a clockwise run circuit while Imola runs anti-clockwise).[2]
The 1988 Italian Grand Prix was the last race of the first turbo era in Formula One in which all cars powered by turbocharged engines that entered actually qualified for the race. The McLarens, Ferraris, Arrows, Lotuses,Zakspeeds and the singleOsella ofNicola Larini all qualified in the top 20 with the slowest, Larini, being a somewhat creditable (for the time) 4.5 seconds behind Senna and an improvement as the Osella with its ancientAlfa Romeo basedV8 turbo had been some +7.572 slower at Hockenheim.
With emotions running high so soon after the death of Enzo Ferrari, thetifosi had been praying for a Ferrari victory at Monza. However, with McLaren having won all eleven races of the 1988 season up to this point, hopes for a home victory seemed bleak.
Nigel Mansell was still affected by chicken pox and forced to sit out.Martin Brundle, his replacement inBelgium, was asked to race again but hisJaguarSportscar team bossTom Walkinshaw vetoed the move, so the secondWilliams seat went to team test driver (and Brundle's chief rival for the1988 World Sportscar Championship)Jean-Louis Schlesser.
Prost managed to jump Senna at the start, but as he changed from second to third on the run to the Rettifilo his engine began to misfire and would not run properly again. This allowed Senna to power past into the lead before the chicane. Berger followed Prost with Alboreto, Cheever, Boutsen, Patrese and Piquet running in line. Senna built up a two-second lead after the first lap and Prost, realising after the first lap that the misfire was not going away, decided to turn his boost up to full and give chase to his teammate.
Berger had initially given chase and stayed within a couple of seconds of Prost, but before lap 10 had started to drop back in order to save fuel. By lap 30 the Frenchman had reduced Senna's lead to only two seconds, but as he went by the pits at the end of lap 30 the misfire suddenly got worse and by lap 35 had been passed by Berger and Alboreto and was heading for the pits and his first mechanical retirement of the season (and the only time in 1988 that a McLaren would retire due to engine failure). While this was happening Alboreto, troubled by gear selection problems early in the race, had dropped back from Berger to allow his gearbox oil to cool hoping it would come good. It did and the Italian in the All-Italian car began to charge at the Italian Grand Prix, and was catching his teammate.
Later in the race Berger and Alboreto began closing on Senna rapidly, though it was assumed that Senna was merely pacing himself to the finish, and Senna himself later said that he had things well in hand. With two laps remaining, Senna attempted to lap theWilliams of Schlesser at the Rettifilo. Senna headed to the left to pass the Frenchman on the inside of the first chicane, but Schlesser locked his brakes and the Williams slid forward towards the gravel trap. Using his rallying skills, Schlesser managed to collect the car and turned left to avoid going off. Senna, who had taken his normal line and had not counted on Schlesser regaining control, was struck in the right rear by the Williams, breaking the McLaren's rear suspension and causing the car to spin and beach itself on a kerb, putting the Brazilian out of the race. BBC commentator James Hunt placed the blame squarely on Schlesser, although many felt that Senna had not given any allowance for Schlesser to come back on the track. Senna's compatriot and close friendMaurício Gugelmin, whose March-Judd had also been about to lap Schlesser and was behind the McLaren after being lapped on the run past the pits, saw the collision in its entirety."I think he'd felt that Schlesser would go straight off, and in that situation you have to keep going. It's a difficult situation, but I don't think Ayrton took a risk."[3]
It was generally thought that Senna had used too much fuel in the first half of the race in his bid to keep in front of Prost and that was why the Ferraris were rapidly catching him towards the end of the race, with Berger reducing what was a 26-second gap when Prost retired, to be only five seconds behind when Senna and Schlesser collided 14 laps later. Senna's former Lotus team bossPeter Warr commented after the race that he felt Prost, knowing he wouldn't finish the race, had suckered his teammate into using too much fuel in the hope that it would keep his championship hopes alive. He also added that if Senna had thought about it he'd have realised that to stay close to him, Prost must have also been using too much fuel and that was not something the dual World Champion usually did. Prost's tactics may have contributed to McLaren missing out on a perfect season, but they had the desired effect as Senna scored no points (after four straight wins includingBritain where Prost failed to finish) and he was still in with a good chance of winning his third World Championship.
Thetifosi were overjoyed as Berger inherited the win, with Alboreto taking second place only half a second behind in the first Italian Grand Prix since the death of the great Enzo Ferrari. Alboreto was actually the fastest driver on the track in the last laps and gained over four seconds on his teammate in the final three laps. American Eddie Cheever (who actually grew up inRome) finished in third place for Arrows, 35 seconds behind the Ferraris and only half a second in front of his teammate Derek Warwick in a great race for the Arrows team. Warwick had actually got a bad start and had fallen outside of the top ten. However, with the Megatron engine now producing full power the Englishman began to charge and ran the last ten laps challenging his teammate. The remaining points went toItalianIvan Capelli, a considerable achievement by the atmosphericMarch-Judd on a circuit which requires powerful engines (Capelli spent the first half of the race locked in a battle for sixth place with the Williams ofRiccardo Patrese and Warwick's Arrows). Capelli's high place also showed just how aerodynamic theAdrian Newey designedMarch 881 was. Sixth place went to theBenetton-Ford ofThierry Boutsen.
Motor racing journalistNigel Roebuck later reported that after the race an overjoyed member of thetifosi had approached Schlesser, shook his hand and said"Thank you, from Italy".
Another hard luck story wasAlessandro Nannini who was forced to start his home Grand Prix from the pits due to a failed throttle on the warm up lap. By the time theBenetton team fixed the problem, Senna was coming through the Parabolica on his first lap meaning the Italian, who was to start ninth, was last and almost a lap down within the first lap of the race. For the rest of the afternoon Nannini charged, setting the fastest lap of the race for atmospheric cars and finishing in 9th place.
In the scrutineering bay, Berger's Ferrari's fuel capacity was checked four times. The first time, FISA officials were able to refill the tank with 151.5 litres of fuel, exceeding the limit of 150 litres. A second refill and then a third were undertaken, and still the Ferrari took too much. Eventually they succeeded in adding just 149.5 litres at the fourth time of asking.[3] Eddie Cheever'sArrows had the same problem as Berger's Ferrari when his fuel tank was at first found to be 151 litres, but further checking found it to be under the limit at 149.5 litres.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 36 | Alex Caffi | Dallara-Ford | 1:30.877 | — |
| 2 | 31 | Gabriele Tarquini | Coloni-Ford | 1:32.860 | +1.983 |
| 3 | 33 | Stefano Modena | EuroBrun-Ford | 1:33.292 | +2.415 |
| 4 | 21 | Nicola Larini | Osella | 1:33.738 | +2.861 |
| DNPQ | 32 |  Oscar Larrauri | EuroBrun-Ford | 1:34.044 | +3.167 |
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 |  Ayrton Senna | McLaren-Honda | 1:26.160 | 1:25.974 | — |
| 2 | 11 |  Alain Prost | McLaren-Honda | 1:26.277 | 1:26.428 | +0.303 |
| 3 | 28 |  Gerhard Berger | Ferrari | 1:28.082 | 1:26.654 | +0.680 |
| 4 | 27 | Michele Alboreto | Ferrari | 1:27.618 | 1:26.988 | +1.014 |
| 5 | 18 |  Eddie Cheever | Arrows-Megatron | 1:28.101 | 1:27.660 | +1.686 |
| 6 | 17 |  Derek Warwick | Arrows-Megatron | 1:28.258 | 1:27.815 | +1.841 |
| 7 | 1 | Nelson Piquet | Lotus-Honda | 1:28.440 | 1:28.044 | +2.070 |
| 8 | 20 |  Thierry Boutsen | Benetton-Ford | 1:29.607 | 1:28.870 | +2.896 |
| 9 | 19 | Alessandro Nannini | Benetton-Ford | 1:28.969 | 1:28.958 | +2.984 |
| 10 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese | Williams-Judd | 1:30.124 | 1:29.435 | +3.461 |
| 11 | 16 | Ivan Capelli | March-Judd | 1:29.513 | 1:29.696 | +3.539 |
| 12 | 2 |  Satoru Nakajima | Lotus-Honda | 1:29.541 | 1:30.570 | +3.567 |
| 13 | 15 | Maurício Gugelmin | March-Judd | 1:30.145 | 1:30.035 | +4.061 |
| 14 | 23 | Pierluigi Martini | Minardi-Ford | 1:30.734 | 1:30.125 | +4.151 |
| 15 | 10 |  Bernd Schneider | Zakspeed | 1:30.773 | 1:30.161 | +4.187 |
| 16 | 9 | Piercarlo Ghinzani | Zakspeed | 1:31.182 | 1:30.035 | +4.061 |
| 17 | 21 | Nicola Larini | Osella | 1:31.721 | 1:30.481 | +4.507 |
| 18 | 22 | Andrea de Cesaris | Rial-Ford | 1:31.263 | 1:30.560 | +4.586 |
| 19 | 24 |  Luis Pérez-Sala | Minardi-Ford | 1:30.944 | 1:30.698 | +4.724 |
| 20 | 30 | Philippe Alliot | Lola-Ford | 1:31.168 | 1:30.962 | +4.988 |
| 21 | 36 | Alex Caffi | Dallara-Ford | 1:30.989 | 1:31.009 | +5.015 |
| 22 | 5 | Jean-Louis Schlesser | Williams-Judd | 1:31.548 | 1:31.620 | +5.574 |
| 23 | 14 | Philippe Streiff | AGS-Ford | 1:31.676 | 1:31.687 | +5.702 |
| 24 | 25 | René Arnoux | Ligier-Judd | 1:32.049 | 1:32.316 | +6.075 |
| 25 | 29 | Yannick Dalmas | Lola-Ford | 1:32.164 | 1:32.686 | +6.190 |
| 26 | 4 | Julian Bailey | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:32.573 | 1:32.290 | +6.316 |
| DNQ | 3 | Jonathan Palmer | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:32.405 | 1:33.067 | +6.431 |
| DNQ | 26 |  Stefan Johansson | Ligier-Judd | 1:33.272 | 1:32.438 | +6.464 |
| DNQ | 31 | Gabriele Tarquini | Coloni-Ford | 1:32.829 | 1:35.805 | +6.855 |
| DNQ | 33 | Stefano Modena | EuroBrun-Ford | 1:34.727 | 1:33.226 | +7.252 |
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| Previous race: 1988 Belgian Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1988 season | Next race: 1988 Portuguese Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1987 Italian Grand Prix | Italian Grand Prix | Next race: 1989 Italian Grand Prix |
