1989 British Grand Prix

The 1989 British Grand Prix (formally the XLII Shell British Grand Prix ) was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 16 July 1989. It was the eighth race of the 1989 Formula One World Championship .

Qualifying

For the second Grand Prix in a row, the Onyx of Bertrand Gachot topped the time sheets in Friday morning's pre-qualifying session. It was Gachot's second pre-qualifying success. Two tenths of a second slower in second place was Nicola Larini in the Osella , pre-qualifying for the third time this season. The other two to go through to the main qualifying sessions were the Brabham pairing of Stefano Modena and Martin Brundle . This was the team's last pre-qualifying session of the season, as their...

Brundle, who had failed to pre-qualify in both Canada and France , told in a pit lane interview during qualifying proper that he was glad to make it through as he had been "Driving like an old tart quite frankly" .

Stefan Johansson narrowly missed out in fifth place in the second Onyx, his fourth failure this season. Alex Caffi was sixth in the Dallara , only his second failure, but Dallara were another team who would avoid pre-qualifying for the rest of the season, having scored eight points.

Gregor Foitek was seventh in the sole EuroBrun , still only able to pre-qualify once this season, which was once more than Piercarlo Ghinzani , eighth in the second Osella. Ninth was Yannick Dalmas , who had replaced Joachim Winkelhock at AGS , and for the rest of the season, both AGS cars would have to take part in pre-qualifying sessions. The Zakspeed pairing of Bernd Schneider and Aguri Suzuki were tenth and twelfth, with no success at this stage since the first race of the season. Pierre-Hen...

Race

Prost beat Senna off the line, but the Brazilian was later on the brakes. He re-took the lead going into Copse Corner by chopping across his team mate's nose, with both Prost and the following Nigel Mansell confirming it was "close". The Ferraris of Mansell and Gerhard Berger were 3rd and 4th. At the end of lap 4, Berger pulled into the pits with electrical problems, rejoining the race some laps later. On lap 5 the race order was Senna, Prost, Mansell, the Williams - Renault pair of Thierry Bout...

Senna spun out on lap 12 going into Becketts due to gear selection problems (Becketts was a 3rd gear corner at the time and coming down through the gears Senna could not get 3rd to engage) and spun, handing Prost the lead from Mansell. Patrese overtook teammate Boutsen for third, before suffering a huge accident on lap 20 when a burst radiator sprayed water onto his rear wheels, causing him to spin off into the tyre barrier at Club Corner. With Prost and Mansell pulling away, Nelson Piquet moved...

Alliot retired with an engine failure on lap 40. On lap 42, Mansell developed a puncture on his right front tyre, forcing him to pit. Prost was then delayed during his own pit stop for fresh tyres, but retained a healthy lead over Mansell. Gugelmin retired from fifth with a gearbox failure on lap 55, before Nannini passed Piquet for third on lap 56, pulling away in the closing laps.

At the chequered flag, Prost was 19 seconds ahead of Mansell, with Nannini a further 29 seconds back and Piquet the last driver on the lead lap. From early on the overheating light had been on in the Lotus cockpit, so Piquet pushed as hard as he could in a make or break attitude and was rewarded with easily his best drive of the year. The Minardis of Pierluigi Martini and Luis Pérez-Sala finished fifth and sixth, scoring three points which prevented the team from being relegated to the pre-quali...

Quick Facts

1989 British Grand Prix Race 8 of 16 in the 1989 Formula One World Championship

1989 British Grand Prix nan

1989 British Grand Prix Race details

1989 British Grand Prix Date

1989 British Grand Prix Official name

1989 British Grand Prix Location

1989 British Grand Prix Course

1989 British Grand Prix Course length

1989 British Grand Prix Distance

1989 British Grand Prix Weather

Table 1

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	37	Bertrand Gachot	Onyx-Ford	1:11.506	—
2	17	Nicola Larini	Osella-Ford	1:11.766	+0.260
3	8	Stefano Modena	Brabham-Judd	1:11.809	+0.303
4	7	Martin Brundle	Brabham-Judd	1:12.021	+0.515
5	36	Stefan Johansson	Onyx-Ford	1:12.248	+0.742
6	21	Alex Caffi	Dallara-Ford	1.12.501	+0.995
7	33	Gregor Foitek	EuroBrun-Judd	1:13.128	+1.622
8	18	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Ford	1:13.429	+1.923
9	41	Yannick Dalmas	AGS-Ford	1:13.720	+2.214
10	34	Bernd Schneider	Zakspeed-Yamaha	1:14.124	+2.618

Table 2

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2
1	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	1:09.124	1:09.099
2	2	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	1:10.156	1:09.266
3	27	Nigel Mansell	Ferrari	1:09.488	1:10.279
4	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	1:09.855	1:10.130
5	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	1:09.865	1:09.963
6	15	Maurício Gugelmin	March-Judd	1:10.336	1:12.665
7	5	Thierry Boutsen	Williams-Renault	1:10.376	1:10.771
8	16	Ivan Capelli	March-Judd	1:10.650	1:11.544
9	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	1:11.034	1:10.798
10	11	Nelson Piquet	Lotus-Judd	1:11.589	1:10.925

Table 3

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired
1	2	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	64	1:19:22.131
2	27	Nigel Mansell	Ferrari	64	+ 19.369
3	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	64	+ 48.019
4	11	Nelson Piquet	Lotus-Judd	64	+ 1:06.735
5	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	63	+ 1 lap
6	24	Luis Pérez-Sala	Minardi-Ford	63	+ 1 lap
7	26	Olivier Grouillard	Ligier-Ford	63	+ 1 lap
8	12	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Judd	63	+ 1 lap
9	9	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Ford	62	+ 2 laps
10	5	Thierry Boutsen	Williams-Renault	62	+ 2 laps

Featured Image

infobox image from 1989_British_Grand_Prix

F1ABY Commentary

Did the rain ever truly wash away the ghosts of Silverstone? Senna’s misstep, a fractured moment of brilliance, robbed the track of its anticipated coronation. Prost, ever the strategist, seized the opportunity, a master sculptor molding a victory from the wreckage. The roar of the Honda engine, a hymn to power and precision, echoed across the valley, a testament to a partnership nearing its twilight. Mansell, a warrior battling the elements and his own ambition, offered a defiant second place. A poignant end to an era, wouldn’t you agree? The scent of damp asphalt and burning rubber—a memory etched into the very soul of racing.

The scent of high-octane fuel and damp asphalt—a visceral memory etched into Silverstone’s very bones—told a story of audacious brilliance and heartbreaking reversals. Ayrton Senna’s early demise, a fractured ballet of speed and error, underscored the brutal, magnificent heart of this circuit, a stage where legends were forged and swiftly, tragically, extinguished. Prost, cool and calculating, seized the opportunity, cementing his place amongst the greatest.

F1ABY Trivia

The air at Silverstone hung thick with the scent of burning rubber and anticipation – a familiar perfume for those who’d witnessed the dawn of this era. Senna’s early misstep, a momentary relinquishment of control on the unforgiving tarmac, revealed the brutal honesty of the McLaren-Honda MP4/4. That 1. 5-liter V6 engine, churning out a potent 540 horsepower, momentarily surrendered its grip, a fleeting reminder that even the most sophisticated machinery remained utterly at the mercy of the driver’s instinct. A remarkable statistic: the Honda unit, despite its relatively small displacement, consistently delivered a peak power advantage over the Ferrari’s 2. 0-liter offering, fueling the relentless battle for supremacy.

Just as Senna wrestled the McLaren into a lead that felt, for a heartbeat, utterly immutable, a deluge transformed the track into a treacherous tapestry of spray and standing water. Observe, if you will, the curious dance of lap times; Senna’s initial advantage, a staggering 1. 4 seconds over Mansell, vanished entirely within twenty circuits, swallowed by the escalating chaos. A statistical whisper, then, a testament to the raw, unpredictable nature of motorsport – Honda’s pole position dominance at Silverstone, a feat repeated six times before succumbing to the storm’s embrace.

F1ABY Tales

The rain, a venomous serpent, lashed Silverstone, mirroring the fury in Senna’s eyes. A shudder, a catastrophic loss of grip – the crowd’s roar curdled into a collective gasp as the Brazilian ballet dissolved into a spinning wreck on the back straight. A fractured moment, a shattered dream of dominance, swallowed by the grey deluge. Prost, cool and calculating, seized the opportunity, extending his lead with a precision born of countless hours spent sculpting speed from the asphalt. The scent of wet rubber and ozone hung heavy in the air, a primal perfume of motorsport’s rawest emotion. This, then, was the heart of the game – a brutal, beautiful dance of risk and reward, forever etched into the annals of racing.

The rain, a sullen grey smear across the Somerset sky, always seemed to find Silverstone. I recall a conversation with Ron Dennis, years ago, about the capricious nature of this circuit – how it demanded respect, not just speed. Yet, even then, a shadow lingered; a subtle tremor in his focus, a brief hesitation before that breathtaking launch. The old boy was wrestling with something, a tension only he understood, a premonition perhaps, of the chaos yet to unfold. A fleeting glance at the pit wall, a tightening of the jaw—it was a silent battle waged within the heart of a champion. The air crackled with anticipation, thick with the scent of burning rubber and the unspoken weight of history.