1987
SEASON

Regulation changes

It had already been determined that turbocharged engines would be banned from 1989 on. The FIA tried to make an early switch to naturally aspirated engines appealing: The FIA banned super-soft (and sticky) qualifying tyres to eliminate the unpopular practice of having to find a clear lap on tyres which were good for two flying laps at best. [ citation needed ]

Race 1: Brazil

The first race in April at the fast, rough and abrasive Jacarepagua Riocentro Autodrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil resulted in a dominant showing from Williams-Honda with Mansell ahead of Piquet. Then came Senna, Fabi, Prost, Boutsen, Berger, Warwick, Alboreto and Johansson. The March team suffered a setback on race morning when it ran out of engines, and so the field was down to 22. At the start, Piquet took the lead from the fast-starting Senna while Mansell made a bad start and had to fight his way back to third. On lap seven Piquet suddenly went into the pits, his car having picked up paper in its radiators. He rejoined back in 11th position, leaving Senna to lead Mansell although the British driver was soon in the pits as well to have his radiators cleared. He ...

Race 2: San Marino (Imola, Italy)

After the season-opening race in Brazil there was a three-week gap during which March finished building the first 871 chassis for Capelli. Osella expanded to two cars with the second being run by a youngster called Gabriele Tarquini, while Brundle had the first of Zakspeed's new 871 chassis. Ligier was back in action with Megatron-engined cars for Rene Arnoux and Piercarlo Ghinzani. In addition there was another new team in the form of Gerard Larrousse's Lola-Ford/Cosworth team which had employe... But come the San Marino Grand Prix held at the fast Autodromo Dino Ferrari in Italy, Nelson Piquet had a huge accident at the flat out Tamburello corner when he suffered a tire failure during qualifying and was forbidden from racing by F1 doctor Sid Watkins. Goodyear decided that in the interests of safety it would fly in new tyres overnight for Saturday qualifying. On Saturday afternoon Ayrton Senna took pole position in his Lotus-Honda with Nigel Mansell second quickest in his Williams-Honda. ...

Race 3: Belgium

The high-speed circuit tour kept coming, and next was the Belgian Grand Prix at the magnificent and fast Spa-Francorchamps public road circuit near Liege. The field was much as it had been at the San Marino GP a fortnight earlier, although Osella was back to one car again. Nelson Piquet was back in action after his huge crash at Imola while Zakspeed had two 871 chassis for Martin Brundle and Christian Danner, the German having used an older car in the two previous races. Qualifying saw the two W...

Race 4: Monaco

There were no changes in the entry after the Belgian GP and so it was business as usual at Monaco where the three leading Honda-engined cars were at the front as usual with Nigel Mansell taking pole in his Williams, Ayrton Senna second in the Lotus and Nelson Piquet third in the second Williams. Alain Prost was fourth for the McLaren-TAG team with Michele Alboreto fifth in his Ferrari. Sixth place was a surprise in the form of Eddie Cheever's Arrows-Megatron while the top 10 was completed by Ste...

Race 5: Detroit (USA)

The Canadian Grand Prix had been cancelled due to a dispute over local sponsors Molson and Labatt's; so Detroit was the only North American round in the middle of the European season. This race, on the slowest circuit of the season was generally considered to be the toughest and most demanding race of the season, due to the tight and extremely bumpy downtown Detroit city streets lined with concrete walls. The entry was unchanged from the field that had raced at Monaco three weeks earlier and as ...

Race 6: France

At the French Grand Prix held at the Paul Ricard circuit near the French Riviera city of Le Castellet, the battle of the Honda powered cars was interrupted in France by a good performance from Alain Prost's McLaren-TAG which qualified second to Nigel Mansell's Williams. The second row featured Ayrton Senna's Lotus-Honda and Nelson Piquet in the second Williams while fifth place went to Thierry Boutsen (Benetton) with Gerhard Berger (Ferrari), Teo Fabi (Benetton) and Michele Alboreto (Ferrari) fo...

Race 7: Britain

The Mansell-Piquet intra-team battle continued at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone with victory in qualifying going to Nelson Piquet who beat his Williams teammate Nigel Mansell to pole by less than a tenth of a second. Third was Ayrton Senna in his Lotus while Alain Prost was fourth fastest in his McLaren-TAG. The third row of the grid was shared by the two Benetton-Fords of Thierry Boutsen and Teo Fabi while row four was an all-Ferrari affair with Michele Alboreto just ahead of Gerhard Be...