1987 Monaco Grand Prix

Coordinates: 43°44′4.74″N 7°25′16.8″E / 43.7346500°N 7.421333°E / 43.7346500; 7.421333

Monaco  1987 Monaco Grand Prix
Race details
Race 4 of 16 in the 1987 Formula One season
Date May 31, 1987
Official name 45e Grand Prix de Monaco
Location Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monaco
Course Street circuit
Course length 3.328 km (2.068 mi)
Distance 78 laps, 259.584 km (161.298 mi)
Weather Sunny and warm
Pole position
Driver Williams-Honda
Time 1:23.039
Fastest lap
Driver Brazil Ayrton Senna Lotus-Honda
Time 1:27.685 on lap 72
Podium
First Lotus-Honda
Second Williams-Honda
Third Ferrari

The 1987 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on May 31, 1987 at the Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo. It was the fourth race of the 1987 Formula One season. It was the 45th Monaco Grand Prix. The course car was the newly introduced Chrysler TC by Maserati.

The race was won by Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna driving a Lotus 99T, the first of his six wins at the street circuit and the fifth Grand Prix victory of his career. Senna won by 33 second over fellow Brazilian Nelson Piquet driving a Williams FW11B with Italian Michele Alboreto scoring the first podium of the year for Ferrari in his Ferrari F1/87 in third place.

The win improved Senna's championship position to second, three points behind McLaren driver Alain Prost.

Race summary

Traditionally the number of competitors permitted for this Grand Prix was lower than all other circuits, due to the tight twisty nature of the track. Originally 16, it was later increased to 20; in 1987 it was increased to a full grid of 26. According to FISA this was to bring it into line with other Grands Prix but there were cynical views that this was done in order to reduce the number of non-qualifiers to appease the team sponsors. There was widespread concern about the results of overcrowding on the track and the speed difference of various cars.

During the practice session, Christian Danner (Zakspeed 871) and Michele Alboreto tangled, resulting in a severe accident: the Ferrari F1/87 was thrown in the air and caught fire, but landed back on the track. FISA took the decision to disqualify Danner from the weekend, the first such event in the history of the Formula 1 World Championship. There were widespread objections throughout the paddock, particularly as there were several other practice accidents and it was felt that Danner had no more to blame than any other driver involved in these accidents.[1] Alboreto himself believed that Danner was not to blame for the accident, which happened on the uphill Beau Rivage section after St Devote. Danner had been travelling slowly when the Ferrari came through at speed. Both drivers agreed that the Zakspeed had no room to move at that point of the circuit and the Ferrari had no room to pass, but Danner was excluded anyway leaving Martin Brundle as the German team's only representative.

The pole position was claimed by Nigel Mansell in the Williams FW11B, second was Ayrton Senna in his Lotus 99T, and third was the other Williams of Nelson Piquet. The top three were in the same order after the start. On lap three, Philippe Streiff, still recovering from the huge accident he suffered at the previous race in Belgium, crashed his Tyrrell DG016 heavily again. Mansell's lead built up until lap 30, when he retired with a loss of turbo boost. This gave first place to Senna, who dominated the rest of the race, making a pit stop for tyre change without losing the lead, and set the fastest lap of the race.

Arrows drivers Derek Warwick and Eddie Cheever were both competitive, but retired with gearbox and engine failure respectively. Alain Prost retired his McLaren MP4/3 from third place with an engine failure with just two laps to go. Piquet (having a quiet race on a street circuit he did not particularly enjoy) came home second from Alboreto in third and Gerhard Berger in fourth. Jonathan Palmer finished fifth for his first World Championship points in the Tyrrell DG016 (and winning the Jim Clark Trophy for drivers of normally aspirated cars), while Ivan Capelli grabbed the last point in his March 871.

Senna's victory was the first for a car with active suspension.

Classification

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

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 12 Brazil Ayrton Senna Lotus-Honda 78 1:57:54.085 2 9
2 6 Brazil Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 78 + 33.212 3 6
3 27 Italy Michele Alboreto Ferrari 78 + 1:12.839 5 4
4 28 Austria Gerhard Berger Ferrari 77 + 1 Lap 8 3
5 (1) 3 United Kingdom Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 76 + 2 Laps 15 2
6 (2) 16 Italy Ivan Capelli March-Ford 76 + 2 Laps 19 1
7 9 United Kingdom Martin Brundle Zakspeed 76 + 2 Laps 14  
8 19 Italy Teo Fabi Benetton-Ford 76 + 2 Laps 12  
9 1 France Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 75 Engine 4  
10 11 Japan Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 75 + 3 Laps 17  
11 25 France René Arnoux Ligier-Megatron 74 + 4 Laps 22  
12 26 Italy Piercarlo Ghinzani Ligier-Megatron 74 + 4 Laps 20  
13 (3) 14 France Pascal Fabre AGS-Ford 71 + 7 Laps 24  
Ret 18 United States Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 59 Overheating 6  
Ret 17 United Kingdom Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 58 Gearbox 11  
Ret 2 Sweden Stefan Johansson McLaren-TAG 57 Engine 7  
Ret 30 France Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 42 Engine 18  
Ret 7 Italy Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 41 Electrical 10  
Ret 21 Italy Alex Caffi Osella-Alfa Romeo 39 Electrical 16  
Ret 8 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Brabham-BMW 38 Suspension 21  
Ret 5 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 29 Exhaust 1  
Ret 24 Italy Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 21 Electrical 13  
Ret 4 France Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Ford 9 Accident 23  
Ret 20 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford 5 Transmission 9  
DNS 23 Spain Adrián Campos Minardi-Motori Moderni 0 Non Starter 0  
EX 10 Germany Christian Danner Zakspeed   Excluded  
Source:[2]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 France Alain Prost 18
2 Brazil Ayrton Senna 15
3 Sweden Stefan Johansson 13
4 Brazil Nelson Piquet 12
5 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell 10

Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 United Kingdom McLaren-TAG 31
2 United Kingdom Williams-Honda 22
3 United Kingdom Lotus-Honda 18
4 Italy Ferrari 14
5 United Kingdom Brabham-BMW 4

Jim Clark Trophy standings
Pos Driver Points
1 France Philippe Streiff 21
2 United Kingdom Jonathan Palmer 18
3 France Pascal Fabre 16
4 France Philippe Alliot 15
5 Italy Ivan Capelli 6

Colin Chapman trophy standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford 39
2 France AGS-Ford 16
3 France Lola-Ford 15
4 United Kingdom March-Ford 6

References

  1. Walker, Murray (1987). Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year. Hazleton Publishing. p. 144. ISBN 1-870066-04-9.
  2. "1987 Monaco Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
Previous race:
1987 Belgian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1987 season
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1987 Detroit Grand Prix
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1986 Monaco Grand Prix
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1988 Monaco Grand Prix
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