| 1987 Japanese Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 15 of 16 in the1987 Formula One World Championship | |||
.svg) | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 1 November 1987 | ||
| Official name | XIII Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix | ||
| Location | Suzuka Circuit,Suzuka,Japan | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 5.860 km (3.641[1] miles) | ||
| Distance | 51 laps, 298.860 km (185.703 miles) | ||
| Weather | Dry | ||
| Attendance | 247,000[2] | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Ferrari | ||
| Time | 1:40.042 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Alain Prost | McLaren-TAG | |
| Time | 1:43.844 on lap 35 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Ferrari | ||
| Second | Lotus-Honda | ||
| Third | McLaren-TAG | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1987 Japanese Grand Prix was aFormula One motor race held atSuzuka on 1 November 1987. It was the fifteenth and penultimate race of the1987 Formula One World Championship.
The race was won by Austrian driverGerhard Berger driving aFerrari F1/87. It was the end of a 38-race losing streak for Formula One's most famous team and Berger's second Grand Prix victory having won theMexican Grand Prix the previous year driving forBenetton. Berger won by 17 seconds over Brazilian driverAyrton Senna driving aLotus 99T. Third was theMcLaren MP4/3 of Swedish driverStefan Johansson. This would turn out to be Team Lotus's last second place finish.
The 1987 Japanese Grand Prix was the first race to be held in Japan sinceJames Hunt won in his McLaren atFuji, in1977. This time, the Grand Prix circus utilised the Honda-ownedSuzuka Circuit, which originated as a test track for Honda motorcycles and automobiles.
Soichiro Honda was extremely enthusiastic about this race, and told his racing engineers "We have to win. And we have to keep winning..."[3] aiming for a hometown victory at Honda's home track in its native Japan. Soichiro Honda had reason for optimism as four of the entrants were powered byHonda-made engines. TheLotus 99Ts ofAyrton Senna, who had won races earlier in the season and was joined on Team Lotus with national favouriteSatoru Nakajima, along with the dominatingWilliams FW11Bs driven byNigel Mansell andNelson Piquet, who were both vying for the overall championship.
The scene was set for a tense championship-deciding race between the Williams-Honda teammates, bitter rivalsNelson Piquet andNigel Mansell. However, Mansell suffered a huge crash during Friday qualifying while trying to better Piquet's time, which put him out of action for both the Japanese race and the subsequentAustralian Grand Prix. As a consequence, Piquet won his third World Championship before the race even began.
Qualifying once again demonstrated the return to form of Ferrari, asGerhard Berger obtained his second pole position of the season, with theF1/87 being perfectly suited to the Suzuka circuit.Alain Prost qualified 2nd in hisMcLaren-TAG withThierry Boutsen 3rd in hisBenetton-Ford. Following Mansell's Friday crash, the three remaining Honda-powered cars of Piquet, Senna, and local favouriteSatoru Nakajima, could only qualify in 5th, 7th and 11th places respectively. All drivers from 8th position and below moved up one position on the grid due to Mansell being unable to start. This also meant Roberto Moreno was permitted to race the AGS despite having the 27th fastest qualifying time.
Out of the 26 drivers who qualified for the race, onlyRiccardo Patrese had ever driven in a Japanese Grand Prix prior to 1987, having taken part of the 1977 race at Fuji.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28 |  Gerhard Berger | Ferrari | 1:42.160 | 1:40.042 | 1 | |
| 2 | 1 | Alain Prost | McLaren-TAG | 1:42.496 | 1:40.652 | +0.610 | 2 |
| 3 | 20 |  Thierry Boutsen | Benetton-Ford | 1:43.130 | 1:40.850 | +0.808 | 3 |
| 4 | 27 |  Michele Alboreto | Ferrari | 1:42.416 | 1:40.984 | +0.942 | 4 |
| 5 | 6 |  Nelson Piquet | Williams-Honda | 1:41.423 | 1:41.144 | +1.099 | 5 |
| 6 | 19 | Teo Fabi | Benetton-Ford | 1:43.351 | 1:41.679 | +1.673 | 6 |
| 7 | 5 |  Nigel Mansell | Williams-Honda | 1:42.616 | no time | +2.573 | DNS |
| 8 | 12 | Ayrton Senna | Lotus-Honda | 1:44.026 | 1:42.723 | +2.681 | 7 |
| 9 | 7 | Riccardo Patrese | Brabham-BMW | 1:44.767 | 1:43.304 | +3.262 | 8 |
| 10 | 2 |  Stefan Johansson | McLaren-TAG | 1:43.612 | 1:43.371 | +3.329 | 9 |
| 11 | 8 | Andrea de Cesaris | Brabham-BMW | 1:46.399 | 1:43.618 | +3.576 | 10 |
| 12 | 11 |  Satoru Nakajima | Lotus-Honda | 1:45.898 | 1:43.685 | +3.643 | 11 |
| 13 | 18 |  Eddie Cheever | Arrows-Megatron | 1:45.427 | 1:44.277 | +4.385 | 12 |
| 14 | 17 | Derek Warwick | Arrows-Megatron | 1:44.768 | 1:44.626 | +4.584 | 13 |
| 15 | 24 | Alessandro Nannini | Minardi-Motori Moderni | 1:48.948 | 1:45.612 | +5.570 | 14 |
| 16 | 9 | Martin Brundle | Zakspeed | 1:46.715 | 1:46.023 | +5.981 | 15 |
| 17 | 10 |  Christian Danner | Zakspeed | 1:49.337 | 1:46.116 | +6.074 | 16 |
| 18 | 25 | René Arnoux | Ligier-Megatron | 1:50.542 | 1:46.200 | +6.158 | 17 |
| 19 | 30 | Philippe Alliot | Lola-Ford | 1:49.470 | 1:47.395 | +7.353 | 18 |
| 20 | 3 | Jonathan Palmer | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:48.902 | 1:47.775 | +7.733 | 19 |
| 21 | 16 | Ivan Capelli | March-Ford | 1:49.814 | 1:48.212 | +8.170 | 20 |
| 22 | 23 |  Adrián Campos | Minardi-Motori Moderni | 1:53.455 | 1:48.337 | +8.295 | 21 |
| 23 | 29 | Yannick Dalmas | Lola-Ford | 1:51.230 | 1:48.887 | +8.845 | 22 |
| 24 | 21 | Alex Caffi | Osella-Alfa Romeo | 1:49.017 | 1:50.902 | +8.975 | 23 |
| 25 | 26 | Piercarlo Ghinzani | Ligier-Megatron | 1:51.554 | 1:49.641 | +9.599 | 24 |
| 26 | 4 | Philippe Streiff | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:50.896 | 1:49.741 | +9.699 | 25 |
| 27 | 14 | Roberto Moreno | AGS-Ford | 1:51.835 | 1:50.212 | +10.170 | 26 |
| Source:[4][5][6][7] | |||||||
At the start Berger immediately imposed his authority by building a cushion. Prost, in his McLaren, perhaps the only driver capable of challenging Berger for the victory, suffered a puncture on the first lap and, therefore, was out of contention. Prost, however, drove a superb race to climb up through the field finishing just outside the points with the consolation of having the fastest lap. Boutsen's Benetton ran second early on but could not live with the pace set by Berger, ultimately fading to fifth. Piquet spent much of the race behind Senna's Lotus but was unable to find a way past his countryman. The new world champion eventually retired in the pits with oil pouring from the rear of his Williams. At one stageStefan Johansson in the McLaren closed on Berger, but the Austrian driver responded and eventually romped to a seemingly effortless victory, the first Ferrari's victory since the1985 German Grand Prix. Ayrton Senna dramatically passed Johansson on the last lap to take second place.Michele Alboreto, in the second Ferrari, got away very slowly at the green lights leaving him towards the rear of the field. However, the Italian drove an aggressive race to climb his way back up the order to finish an excellent fourth despite suffering from a dragging undertray causing a huge amount of sparks. Boutsen and Nakajima rounded out the points.
Johansson's third place was the 54th and last podium finish for thePorsche-designed TAG turboV6 engine which had been first used in Formula One by McLaren at the1983 Dutch Grand Prix.
* Numbers in brackets refer to positions ofnormally aspirated entrants competing for theJim Clark Trophy.
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| Previous race: 1987 Mexican Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1987 season | Next race: 1987 Australian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1977 Japanese Grand Prix | Japanese Grand Prix | Next race: 1988 Japanese Grand Prix |
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by 1986 Mexican Grand Prix | Formula One Promotional Trophy for Race Promoter 1987 | Succeeded by 1988 British Grand Prix |
