1988 Japanese Grand Prix
1988 Japanese Grand Prix
Race summary
The McLaren front row was the 11th of the year, but its drivers had contrasting fortunes. Alain Prost led away from Gerhard Berger and Ivan Capelli. Ayrton Senna stalled on the grid, but was somehow lucky: Suzuka had the only sloping grid of the year and he was able to bumpstart his car into action, albeit in 14th place by then. Derek Warwick and Nigel Mansell collided and had to pit for a puncture and a new nosecone respectively. Senna was trying very hard to make up for the lost positions, and had gained 6 places by the start of lap 2 and then passed Riccardo Patrese, Thierry Boutsen, Alessandro Nannini and Michele Alboreto to be in 4th place on lap 4. Capelli had not only set the fastest lap but passed Berger, who was troubled once again with fuel consumption problems, on lap 5 to take an incredible 2nd place. Alboreto spun out whe he was in sixth place. A classic duel between the non-turbo cars of Capelli, Boutsen and Nannini and the turbo cars of Prost, Berger and Senna was about to begin.On lap 11 Piquet spun into the sand and was forced to retire. On lap 14 the weather started to come into contention as rain began on parts of the circuit, benefitting Senna, who is particularly skilled in wet conditions. Ivan Capelli seized his historic chance on the following lap as he overtook Prost to take the lead, the first time a nonturbo car had led a Grand Prix for over 4 years. His lead only lasted for a few hundred metres, as the extra power of the Honda engine allowed Prost to regain the lead going into the next corner. Capelli made several further attempts to overtake Prost, who was struggling with a faulty gearbox, before retireing with an electrical failure, to the dismay of the Italian.
By then Senna was catching Prost rapidly, and with traffic, a malfunctioning car and a tricky wet/dry surface, conditions were favourable to the Brazilian. On lap 27, as they attempted to lap Andrea de Cesaris, Satoru Nakajima and Mauricio Gugelmin, Senna managed to force his way through as Prost was delayed by the Italian's Rial. Senna then put in a succession of fastl laps, breaking the former lap record and building a lead of over 3 seconds, despite being delayed while lapping Nakajima, which allowed Prost to catch back up.
With slick tyres on a track that was now wet, Senna was gesturing for the race to be stopped but this was not the case. The race ran out its entire course and Senna led home from Prost; Honda was delighted with a 1-2 in their homeland. Boutsen took another 3rd place, whilst Berger recovered his 4th place after Alboreto held up Nannini who had to settle for 5th, and Patrese collected 6th. Nakajima was 7th.
With the victory on this race, Senna clinched the World Championship. His 8th win of the season beat the record held by Jim Clark and Prost.
Classification
References
- ''Unless otherwise indicated, all race results are taken from The Official Formula 1 website. Retrieved on 2007-07-12..
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Last updated on Sunday August 24, 2008 at 18:14:08 PDT (GMT -0700)
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