1987 Japanese Grand Prix

Race

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 ...

Johansson's third place was the 54th and last podium finish for the Porsche -designed TAG turbo V6 engine which had been first used in Formula One by McLaren at the 1983 Dutch Grand Prix .

Race

* Numbers in brackets refer to positions of normally aspirated entrants competing for the Jim Clark Trophy .

Quick Facts

1987 Japanese Grand Prix Race 15 of 16 in the 1987 Formula One World Championship

1987 Japanese Grand Prix nan

1987 Japanese Grand Prix Race details

1987 Japanese Grand Prix Date

1987 Japanese Grand Prix Official name

1987 Japanese Grand Prix Location

1987 Japanese Grand Prix Course

1987 Japanese Grand Prix Course length

1987 Japanese Grand Prix Distance

1987 Japanese Grand Prix Weather

Table 1

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2
1	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	1:42.160	1:40.042
2	1	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	1:42.496	1:40.652
3	20	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton-Ford	1:43.130	1:40.850
4	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	1:42.416	1:40.984
5	6	Nelson Piquet	Williams-Honda	1:41.423	1:41.144
6	19	Teo Fabi	Benetton-Ford	1:43.351	1:41.679
7	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	1:42.616	no time
8	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Honda	1:44.026	1:42.723
9	7	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW	1:44.767	1:43.304
10	2	Stefan Johansson	McLaren-TAG	1:43.612	1:43.371

Table 2

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired
1	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	51	1:32:58.072
2	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Honda	51	+ 17.384
3	2	Stefan Johansson	McLaren-TAG	51	+ 17.694
4	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	51	+ 1:20.441
5	20	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton-Ford	51	+ 1:25.576
6	11	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Honda	51	+ 1:36.479
7	1	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	50	+ 1 lap
8 (1)	3	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	50	+ 1 lap
9	18	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Megatron	50	Out of fuel
10	17	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Megatron	50	+ 1 lap

Table 3

Pos	Driver	Points	Unnamed: 3
1	Nelson Piquet	73 (76)	nan
2	Nigel Mansell	61	nan
3	Ayrton Senna	57	nan
4	Alain Prost	46	nan
5	Stefan Johansson	30	nan
Source:[9]	Source:[9]	Source:[9]	Source:[9]

F1ABY Commentary

Did the humid air of Suzuka hold a different kind of pressure than the roar of the engines? Berger, a man sculpted by Alpine winters, seemed to absorb it, a quiet determination radiating from his stance as he wrestled the Ferrari into the first corner. Senna, of course, burned with a familiar urgency, a volcanic need to dominate, yet something felt… restrained. Perhaps the weight of expectation, the history of this circuit, or the unspoken knowledge that Lotus’s future hung precariously in the balance. Johansson, stoic as ever, navigated the McLaren with the precision of a seasoned craftsman, a subtle counterpoint to the raw power on display. This wasn't merely a race; it was a reckoning, a subtle shift in the tectonic plates of motorsport.

The soul of motorsport resides not merely in the combustion of engines, but in the desperate, beautiful yearning of a man to conquer the track. Gerhard Berger, a sculptor of speed, carved out victory at Suzuka today, a triumph born of relentless focus and a quiet, devastating talent—a victory that echoed the ghosts of Fuji and promised a new chapter for Ferrari. The rain, a capricious sculptor itself, seemed to favor the man who understood its language.

F1ABY Trivia

The rain hadn’t truly arrived until the second stint, a sullen grey clinging to Suzuka’s asphalt, yet it seemed to amplify the tension, a damp cloth pressed against the simmering ambition of Berger and Senna. The Ferrari’s 2. 0-liter Ford Cosworth, a beast straining against the track’s limits, delivered 660 horsepower – a significant advantage over the Lotus’s 580, a difference that translated directly into a 17-second gap. Senna, however, wrestled with the Honda engine’s notoriously unpredictable turbocharger, a familiar frustration echoing through the Lotus garage. This was the final, heartbreaking chapter for Lotus’s championship hopes, a ghost of Fuji’s victory haunting their final podium appearance.

A deluge, instantly erasing the meticulous calculations of the morning and throwing the entire weekend into a fever pitch of frantic adjustments. Thirty-eight seconds. That’s all it took—thirty-eight seconds separating Gerhard Berger’s Ferrari from the relentless Ayrton Senna. A curious statistic, considering Senna had dominated the previous six races, a streak that, at the time, threatened to swallow the championship whole.

F1ABY Tales

The rain hadn’t relented, a sullen grey curtain drawn across Suzuka’s already fraught atmosphere. Senna wrestled with the Lotus, a frustrated snarl etched onto his face as he bled off precious milliseconds in the braking zones. Berger, meanwhile, moved with a deceptive calm, the Ferrari’s prodigious power a silent promise. Thirty-eight years. Thirty-eight years of waiting for Ferrari to taste victory here, a lineage of disappointment clinging to the tarmac. The tension was a palpable thing, thick with the ghosts of past failures and the desperate hope of a new dawn. Berger knew, instinctively, that this wasn’t merely a race; it was a reckoning.

The rain hadn’t bothered Berger, not really. He’d felt it in his bones, a cold, insistent pressure mirroring the tension coiled around him as he navigated the slick Suzuka asphalt. A memory surfaced – his father, a carpenter, patiently explaining the grain of wood, the way it resisted, yielded, demanded respect. Berger adjusted his helmet, a silent acknowledgement of that lesson, a subtle shift in his gaze toward Senna’s increasingly frustrated movements. The Ferrari, a beast of steel and ambition, responded to his touch, carving a path through the mist. It was a victory not just for the team, but for a man learning to master not just a machine, but himself. The scent of wet earth and burning rubber filled the air, a primal symphony to this singular moment.