1988 German Grand Prix

At the midpoint of the season, the pre-qualifiers were re-evaluated. After a fourth-place finish in the Detroit Grand Prix , the Rial of Andrea de Cesaris was promoted to the top 26 cars automatically entered into the main qualifying sessions. Relegated to pre-qualifying was the Osella of Nicola Larini .

Before the German Grand Prix, Williams announced that Thierry Boutsen would be joining the team in 1989 as the replacement for Nigel Mansell , who was moving to Ferrari .

Although he had qualified on pole in Britain at the ultra fast Silverstone Circuit (the only non-McLaren pole of the season), Gerhard Berger did not expect to be as fast as the McLarens in qualifying and was proven correct. Although Hockenheim had much longer straights than Silverstone, whereas the British circuit was almost all straights and fast, sweeping turns (with only the Woodcote Chicane to break it up), all of the German circuits turns other than turns 1 and 11 were relatively low speed ...

There had been thunderstorms all weekend. The rain stopped on Sunday morning, but there were concerns over which type of tyre to use for the race. In the end, everyone started on wet tyres with the exception of Piquet, who gambled on the track drying out.

At the start, Senna led away while Prost dropped behind Berger and a fast-starting Nannini. Piquet's gamble failed to pay off as he aquaplaned off the track at the Ostkurve chicane and hit the barriers, limping back to the pits to retire (with 1976 World Champion James Hunt calling it "An absolutely stupid decision by Piquet" on the BBC 's live broadcast, claiming that a driver of Piquet's stature and experience should have known better knowing what Hockenheim was like in the rain). Prost re-pas...

Senna and Prost maintained their 1-2 until the chequered flag, despite a late spin by the Frenchman coming out of the Ostkurve. It was Senna's fifth win of the season, as well as the sixth 1-2 for McLaren; the Brazilian thus moved within three points of Prost in the Drivers' Championship.

Berger and Alboreto finished third and fourth respectively. Berger's podium finish was to be the last achieved by the Ferrari team during Enzo Ferrari 's lifetime, as he died three weeks later. Changes to the Ferrari's engine (suggested earlier in the season by team Technical Director John Barnard ) had seen an improvement in the fuel consumption of the Ferrari V6 which had seen both cars run out of fuel in Britain, though it was still a thirstier engine than the Honda. After running in third fo...

Mansell retired from seventh with a spin after a broken bolt had jammed his gearbox. He had tried to retire in the pits the previous lap, but the team could find nothing wrong and sent him back out. Bernd Schneider achieved his first Grand Prix finish in his home race, coming home 12th, which turned out to be the highest finish of the season for the West German Zakspeed team.