| 1989 Mexican Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 4 of 16 in the1989 Formula One World Championship | |||
 | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 28 May 1989 | ||
| Official name | XIIIGran Premio de México | ||
| Location | Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Magdalena Mixhuca,Mexico City | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 4.421 km (2.747 miles) | ||
| Distance | 69 laps, 305.049 km (189.549 miles) | ||
| Weather | Hot, dry, partly sunny 25°C/79°F, 40% Humidity, wind NW-10mph | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Time | 1:17.876 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Nigel Mansell | Ferrari | |
| Time | 1:20.420 on lap 41 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Second | Williams-Renault | ||
| Third | Tyrrell-Ford | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1989 Mexican Grand Prix was aFormula One motor race held at theAutódromo Hermanos Rodríguez,Mexico City on 28 May 1989. The race, contested over 69 laps, was the fourth race of the1989 Formula One season and was won from pole position byAyrton Senna, driving aMcLaren-Honda, withRiccardo Patrese second in aWilliams-Renault andMichele Alboreto third in aTyrrell-Ford.
The Friday morning pre-qualifying session produced another 1–2 for theBrabham team, their third of the four Grands Prix so far. This timeMartin Brundle was fastest ahead ofStefano Modena, with theDallara ofAlex Caffi pre-qualifying in third. The fourth-placed driver wasStefan Johansson in theOnyx, who went through to the main qualifying sessions for the first time this season, at the expense of his team-mateBertrand Gachot, who was fifth fastest.
Although failing to pre-qualify,Gregor Foitek had one of his better sessions, finishing sixth fastest in the soleEuroBrun, ahead of theOsella ofNicola Larini, who suffered a fuel pump issue. Larini had been lined up to replaceGerhard Berger atFerrari had the Austrian not been fit to return to the cockpit after hisImola accident.[1]Volker Weidler was eighth in theRial, also one of his better performances of the season despite having gearing problems. Next were the twoZakspeeds ofBernd Schneider andAguri Suzuki, and the other Osella, driven byPiercarlo Ghinzani. Ghinzani was excluded anyway after ignoring a weight check signal.[1][2] At the bottom of the time sheets wereJoachim Winkelhock in theAGS, and lastlyPierre-Henri Raphanel, who did not post a representative lap time in theColoni FC188B after his strong performance in the last race atMonaco. Coloni had only brought three mechanics and one car for both Raphanel andRoberto Moreno, while waiting for their newC3 to be built, making a token effort to qualify in order to comply with the regulations and avoid a fine.[1]
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Martin Brundle | Brabham-Judd | 1:21.770 | — |
| 2 | 8 |  Stefano Modena | Brabham-Judd | 1:22.211 | +0.441 |
| 3 | 21 | Alex Caffi | Dallara-Ford | 1:22.876 | +1.106 |
| 4 | 36 |  Stefan Johansson | Onyx-Ford | 1:23.288 | +1.518 |
| 5 | 37 |  Bertrand Gachot | Onyx-Ford | 1:23.752 | +1.982 |
| 6 | 33 |  Gregor Foitek | EuroBrun-Judd | 1.24.351 | +2.581 |
| 7 | 17 | Nicola Larini | Osella-Ford | 1:24.392 | +2.622 |
| 8 | 39 |  Volker Weidler | Rial-Ford | 1:24.966 | +3.196 |
| 9 | 34 | Bernd Schneider | Zakspeed-Yamaha | 1:25.418 | +3.648 |
| 10 | 35 |  Aguri Suzuki | Zakspeed-Yamaha | 1:25.658 | +3.888 |
| 11 | 18 | Piercarlo Ghinzani | Osella-Ford | 1:26.065 | +4.295 |
| 12 | 41 | Joachim Winkelhock | AGS-Ford | 1:26.754 | +4.984 |
| 13 | 32 |  Pierre-Henri Raphanel | Coloni-Ford | 1:34.357 | +12.587 |
In qualifying proper, World ChampionAyrton Senna scored his 33rd career pole position, equalling the long-standing record held byJim Clark. Senna's pole time in hisMcLaren-Honda was 0.408 slower than his pole time in1988 in the turbochargedMcLaren MP4/4. HisMcLaren teammateAlain Prost was second fastest with theFerrari 640 ofNigel Mansell third. Mansell's teammateGerhard Berger, returning to action in Mexico after his crash atSan Marino, was sixth, theFerraris split by theMarch-Judd ofIvan Capelli and theWilliams-Renault ofRiccardo Patrese. Surprisingly, Capelli's teammateMaurício Gugelmin failed to qualify. The 26 year old Brazilian had been 15th after Friday's qualifying and although improving his time by over 6/10ths of a second on Saturday, others improving by more saw him drop to 28th and not qualifying.
Berger, still suffering the effects of his crash, admitted that if not for Ferrari's innovativesemi-automatic transmission (which meant he did not have to change gears as with a normal stick shift), he would not have been able to race.
The back row of the grid was arguably the best credentialed and most experienced in Grand Prix history, consisting of seven-time winnerRené Arnoux in theLigier-Ford and triple World ChampionNelson Piquet in theLotus-Judd. Piquet had scraped onto the grid just 0.104 seconds ahead of theMinardi-Ford ofSpainardLuis Pérez-Sala.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |  Ayrton Senna | McLaren-Honda | 1:19.112 | 1:17.876 | — |
| 2 | 2 | Alain Prost | McLaren-Honda | 1:20.401 | 1:18.773 | +0.897 |
| 3 | 27 | Nigel Mansell | Ferrari | 1:21.170 | 1:19.137 | +1.261 |
| 4 | 16 | Ivan Capelli | March-Judd | 1:24.720 | 1:19.337 | +1.461 |
| 5 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese | Williams-Renault | 1:21.763 | 1:19.656 | +1.780 |
| 6 | 28 |  Gerhard Berger | Ferrari | 1:21.564 | 1:19.835 | +1.959 |
| 7 | 4 | Michele Alboreto | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:22.150 | 1:20.066 | +2.190 |
| 8 | 5 | Thierry Boutsen | Williams-Renault | 1:21.456 | 1:20.234 | +2.358 |
| 9 | 8 | Stefano Modena | Brabham-Judd | 1:22.640 | 1:20.505 | +2.629 |
| 10 | 9 | Derek Warwick | Arrows-Ford | 1:23.245 | 1:20.601 | +2.725 |
| 11 | 26 | Olivier Grouillard | Ligier-Ford | 1:23.053 | 1:20.859 | +2.983 |
| 12 | 22 | Andrea de Cesaris | Dallara-Ford | 1:23.066 | 1:20.873 | +2.997 |
| 13 | 19 | Alessandro Nannini | Benetton-Ford | 1:21.791 | 1:20.888 | +3.012 |
| 14 | 3 | Jonathan Palmer | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:21.561 | 1:20.888 | +3.012 |
| 15 | 12 | Satoru Nakajima | Lotus-Judd | 1:22.438 | 1:20.943 | +3.067 |
| 16 | 30 | Philippe Alliot | Lola-Lamborghini | 1:22.014 | 1:21.031 | +3.155 |
| 17 | 40 | Gabriele Tarquini | AGS-Ford | 1:23.004 | 1:21.031 | +3.155 |
| 18 | 20 | Johnny Herbert | Benetton-Ford | 1:22.553 | 1:21.105 | +3.229 |
| 19 | 21 | Alex Caffi | Dallara-Ford | 1:22.705 | 1:21.139 | +3.263 |
| 20 | 7 | Martin Brundle | Brabham-Judd | 1:23.375 | 1:21.217 | +3.341 |
| 21 | 36 | Stefan Johansson | Onyx-Ford | 1:23.746 | 1:21.358 | +3.482 |
| 22 | 23 | Pierluigi Martini | Minardi-Ford | 1:24.181 | 1:21.471 | +3.595 |
| 23 | 38 | Christian Danner | Rial-Ford | 1:22.931 | 1:21.696 | +3.820 |
| 24 | 10 |  Eddie Cheever | Arrows-Ford | 1:23.427 | 1:21.716 | +3.840 |
| 25 | 25 | René Arnoux | Ligier-Ford | 1:24.890 | 1:21.830 | +3.954 |
| 26 | 11 | Nelson Piquet | Lotus-Judd | 1:23.090 | 1:21.831 | +3.955 |
| 27 | 24 |  Luis Pérez-Sala | Minardi-Ford | 1:26.567 | 1:21.935 | +4.059 |
| 28 | 15 | Maurício Gugelmin | March-Judd | 1:22.712 | 1:22.081 | +4.205 |
| 29 | 29 | Yannick Dalmas | Lola-Lamborghini | 1:25.651 | 9:27.789 | +7.775 |
| 30 | 31 | Roberto Moreno | Coloni-Ford | no time | 3:34.095 | +2:16.219 |
Senna chose medium compoundGoodyear "B" tyres for the race while Prost went for the softer C-compound tyres in the hopes of gaining a speed advantage. Despite the pole being on the dirty side of the track in Mexico, Senna made a better start and was able to lead into the first turn from Mansell, Prost, Berger, Patrese and theTyrrell-Ford ofMichele Alboreto. However, it all meant nothing as Modena spun hisBrabham into the Peraltada on the first lap and was tapped by the Ligier ofOlivier Grouillard and finished against the tyre wall. Despite the car not being in a dangerous position, the red flag was shown and the race had to be restarted.
Senna won the restart and led Prost, a fast starting Berger, Mansell and theWilliams pair of Patrese andThierry Boutsen. Prost, with his softer tyres giving him better grip, soon moved onto the back of his teammate's car. However, Mexico would be where Prost started questioning the power of his Honda V10 compared to the ones used by Senna. For a number of laps Prost, clearly faster through the final Peraltada curve coming onto the main straight, could not make an impression on Senna despite being in his aerodynamic tow on the 1.2 km long main straight. Indeed, the #1 McLaren was seen to pull away from the #2 car on the straight. Running close to his teammate eventually had a detrimental effect on Prost's tyres and he was soon into the pits for a change of rubber. The McLaren team then mistakenly gave the Frenchman another set of "C" tyres rather than the "B"s he had come in for. Prost was soon back in for another tyre change and went back into the race only seconds in front of Senna who now had nearly a lap lead over his closest championship rival. Despite being on far fresher tyres than his teammate, Prost still lost ground to Senna and was eventually lapped when the Brazilian swept past on the main straight, fuelling Prost's claims that his engines were down on power compared to Senna's. McLaren team bossRon Dennis later publicly apologised to Prost for the error in his pit stop.
Both Ferraris ran well until Berger's race ended on lap 16 with transmission failure while Mansell's gearbox lasted until lap 43. This left the Williams of Patrese in second place with Alboreto a surprising third. This was how the top three finished withAlessandro Nannini fourth in hisBenetton B188. The Benetton team had hoped to have their newB189 available in Mexico, but ongoing problems with the new Ford HB engine meant the team had to continue using their 1988 car and engines. Prost, having unlapped himself, finished fifth to be the last car on the lead lap, while ItalianGabriele Tarquini scored the final point for sixth in hisAGS-Ford, which proved to be his only point in Formula One, as well as the last for the AGS team.[3]
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| Previous race: 1989 Monaco Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1989 season | Next race: 1989 United States Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1988 Mexican Grand Prix | Mexican Grand Prix | Next race: 1990 Mexican Grand Prix |
