| 1988 Spanish Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 14 of 16 in the1988 Formula One World Championship | |||
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| Race details | |||
| Date | 2 October 1988 | ||
| Official name | XXX Gran Premio Tio Pepe de España | ||
| Location | Circuito Permanente de Jerez,Jerez de la Frontera,Spain | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 4.218 km (2.620 miles) | ||
| Distance | 72 laps, 303.696 km (188.708 miles) | ||
| Weather | Sunny and hot | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Time | 1:24.067 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Alain Prost | McLaren-Honda | |
| Time | 1:27.845 on lap 60 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Second | Williams-Judd | ||
| Third | Benetton-Ford | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1988 Spanish Grand Prix was aFormula One motor race held on 2 October 1988 at theCircuito Permanente de Jerez,Jerez de la Frontera. It was the fourteenth race of the1988 Formula One World Championship.
The 72-lap race was won by FrenchmanAlain Prost, driving aMcLaren-Honda, after he started from second position. British driverNigel Mansell finished second in aWilliams-Judd, with ItalianAlessandro Nannini third in aBenetton-Ford. Prost's teammate and Drivers' Championship rival, BrazilianAyrton Senna, finished fourth having started frompole position.
After weeks of speculation,Benetton announced that BritishFormula 3000 driverJohnny Herbert would be joining the team in1989 to replaceThierry Boutsen who would be joiningWilliams. At the time of the announcement Herbert was still in hospital recovering from his horrifying F3000 crash during theBrands Hatch round of the1988 Championship held just 6 weeks earlier. WithAlessandro Nannini remaining with the team, the Italian who had only been in Formula One since1986, would become the team's #1 driver for 1989. Benetton also announced that they were picking up their option on Nannini and that he would also remain with the team into1990.
During qualifying,Riccardo Patrese was on his hot lap when the slowerJulian Bailey got on the wrong side of the track and Patrese had to slow down considerably to avoid hitting Bailey. A furious Patrese retaliated by getting in front of Bailey and brake testing his Tyrrell, the subsequent collision sending Bailey's car into the air and off the track into the gravel trap.[1] Officials at first blamed Bailey and also called hisTyrrell teammateJonathan Palmer to the hearing for good measure on the premise that the slower Tyrrells were generally a menace and both drivers needed to be told. After a protest byKen Tyrrell however, officials later reviewed the incident again and Patrese was fined $10,000 for his actions, although most in the Formula One paddock argued that Patrese's fine was not enough, and that he should also pay the Tyrrell team to fix the damages on Bailey's car. One unnamed driver was quoted as saying"I hope they fine him his bloody retainer. There are enough accidental shunts in this business without people actually trying to cause them....."
McLaren locked out the front row for the 10th time in 14 races in 1988 withAyrton Senna putting hisHonda poweredMcLaren MP4/4 on pole for the 11th time in 14 races with a motivatedAlain Prost snapping at his team mate's heels only 0.067 behind. On this tight and twisty track it was no surprise to see1987 race winnerNigel Mansell in third place in hisWilliams-Judd only 2/10ths from the pole. In fact, the nature of the circuit sawatmo cars line up from 3rd to 7th on the grid. The next best turbo behind the McLarens being theFerrari ofGerhard Berger in 8th place, though the Austrian was only 1.399 slower than Senna withNelson Piquet (Lotus-Honda) andMichele Alboreto qualifying in 10th and 11th places.
TheArrows cars struggled withDerek Warwick qualifying 17th andEddie Cheever just scrambling onto the back row of the grid in 25th. The Arrows were in fact slower thanNicola Larini'sOsella which qualified 14th.
The twoZakspeeds ofPiercarlo Ghinzani andBernd Schneider failed to qualify, as did Bailey andOscar Larrauri in theEuroBrun.Gabriele Tarquini failed to pre-qualify hisColoni.
From the 10th all-McLaren front row of the year,Alain Prost made a good start, with theWilliams ofNigel Mansell drafting pastAyrton Senna into 2nd.Ivan Capelli andThierry Boutsen tangled, damaging theBenetton's nosecone. On lap 2, Senna passed Mansell but ran wide, allowing the Englishman to retake the lead. On lap 16,Michele Alboreto retired with engine problems on hisFerrari. For the first 28 laps there was no change amongst the top seven: Prost led Mansell by half a second, while Senna had to defend third place fromRiccardo Patrese and Capelli, who in turn was being challenged byAlessandro Nannini andGerhard Berger.
Around lap 30, Nannini, Berger and Piquet all pitted for new tyres. After trailing the Williams for the first hour of the race, and doing so without a clutch since the early laps, Capelli managed to pass Patrese for fourth on lap 36 and then Senna for third on lap 39. However, his engine failed on lap 46.
Mansell managed to keep Prost within arms length, but with a less powerful engine on the tight Jerez circuit simply could not get past, or truly close enough to the Frenchman to even attempt a passing move (in the post-race press conference, Mansell described following Prost as"Following the master" adding that Prost didn't put a foot wrong all race). On lap 47 Mansell pitted but a sticking wheel nut delayed him and enabled Prost to pull further ahead. Meanwhile, Nannini was going fast on his new tyres and had managed to pass not only the notoriously hard to pass Patrese for fourth place, but also the McLaren-Honda of Ayrton Senna for third place in one lap. Mansell's slow stop allowed Prost to pit (somewhat reluctantly as he correctly believed that his tyres were in good shape) on lap 50 without losing his lead, though he accidentally selected second gear instead of first and was slow getting away from his pit, while a lap later Senna also pitted for new tyres and actually dropped out of the points to seventh. On his new tyres, but while still keeping an eye on his fuel readout, he passed Gugelmin and Berger before finally overtaking Patrese, who drove the entire race on one set of tyres, for fourth place on lap 65.
Prost sealed his 34th career victory with a fastest lap record and Mansell gaining his 2nd second-place of the year from just two finishes. Nannini collected another podium finish ahead of Senna (troubled with fuel readout problems again, crossing the line with his readout telling him he had almost no fuel left),[2] Patrese and Berger (almost out of fuel) in 6th.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 36 |  Alex Caffi | Dallara-Ford | 1:28.378 | |
| 2 | 21 | Nicola Larini | Osella | 1:29.293 | +0.915 |
| 3 | 32 |  Oscar Larrauri | EuroBrun-Ford | 1:30.003 | +1.625 |
| 4 | 33 | Stefano Modena | EuroBrun-Ford | 1:30.419 | +2.041 |
| DNPQ | 31 | Gabriele Tarquini | Coloni-Ford | 1:30.459 | +2.081 |
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 |  Ayrton Senna | McLaren-Honda | 1:24.775 | 1:24.067 | |
| 2 | 11 | Alain Prost | McLaren-Honda | 1:26.735 | 1:24.134 | +0.067 |
| 3 | 5 |  Nigel Mansell | Williams-Judd | 1:25.898 | 1:24.269 | +0.202 |
| 4 | 20 |  Thierry Boutsen | Benetton-Ford | EX | 1:24.904 | +0.837 |
| 5 | 19 | Alessandro Nannini | Benetton-Ford | 1:26.673 | 1:25.032 | +0.965 |
| 6 | 16 | Ivan Capelli | March-Judd | 1:26.221 | 1:25.115 | +1.048 |
| 7 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese | Williams-Judd | 1:27.504 | 1:25.217 | +1.150 |
| 8 | 28 |  Gerhard Berger | Ferrari | 1:27.796 | 1:25.466 | +1.399 |
| 9 | 1 | Nelson Piquet | Lotus-Honda | 1:28.015 | 1:25.648 | +1.581 |
| 10 | 27 | Michele Alboreto | Ferrari | 1:29.034 | 1:26.447 | +2.380 |
| 11 | 15 | Maurício Gugelmin | March-Judd | 1:27.414 | 1:26.578 | +2.511 |
| 12 | 30 | Philippe Alliot | Lola-Ford | 1:27.927 | 1:26.832 | +2.765 |
| 13 | 14 | Philippe Streiff | AGS-Ford | 1:28.099 | 1:26.971 | +2.904 |
| 14 | 21 | Nicola Larini | Osella | 1:28.417 | 1:27.012 | +2.945 |
| 15 | 2 |  Satoru Nakajima | Lotus-Honda | 1:28.840 | 1:27.171 | +3.104 |
| 16 | 29 | Yannick Dalmas | Lola-Ford | 1:29.688 | 1:27.187 | +3.120 |
| 17 | 17 | Derek Warwick | Arrows-Megatron | 1:28.473 | 1:27.240 | +3.173 |
| 18 | 36 | Alex Caffi | Dallara-Ford | 1:27.907 | 1:27.350 | +3.283 |
| 19 | 25 | René Arnoux | Ligier-Judd | 1:29.157 | 1:27.351 | +3.284 |
| 20 | 23 | Pierluigi Martini | Minardi-Ford | 1:27.826 | 1:27.407 | +3.340 |
| 21 | 26 |  Stefan Johansson | Ligier-Judd | 1:28.009 | 1:27.474 | +3.407 |
| 22 | 3 | Jonathan Palmer | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:27.582 | 1:27.548 | +3.481 |
| 23 | 22 | Andrea de Cesaris | Rial-Ford | 1:28.315 | 1:27.798 | +3.731 |
| 24 | 24 |  Luis Pérez-Sala | Minardi-Ford | 1:28.694 | 1:27.833 | +3.816 |
| 25 | 18 |  Eddie Cheever | Arrows-Megatron | 1:29.305 | 1:27.859 | +3.792 |
| 26 | 33 | Stefano Modena | EuroBrun-Ford | 1:30.759 | 1:27.977 | +3.910 |
| DNQ | 10 |  Bernd Schneider | Zakspeed | 1:31.144 | 1:28.194 | +4.127 |
| DNQ | 32 | Oscar Larrauri | EuroBrun-Ford | 1:31.366 | 1:28.664 | +4.597 |
| DNQ | 4 | Julian Bailey | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:30.125 | 1:29.066 | +4.999 |
| DNQ | 9 | Piercarlo Ghinzani | Zakspeed | 1:29.824 | 1:29.503 | +5.436 |
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| Previous race: 1988 Portuguese Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1988 season | Next race: 1988 Japanese Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1987 Spanish Grand Prix | Spanish Grand Prix | Next race: 1989 Spanish Grand Prix |
