1988 Australian Grand Prix
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| Race details | ||
|---|---|---|
| Race 16 of 16 in the 1988 Formula One season. | ||
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| Date | November 13, 1988 | |
| Official name | LIII Foster's Australian Grand Prix | |
| Location | Adelaide Street Circuit,Adelaide, Australia | |
| Course | Temporary street circuit 2.347 mi / 3.770 km |
|
| Distance | 82 laps, 192.600 mi / 309.960 km | |
| Weather | Cloudy and hot | |
| Pole position | ||
| Driver |  Ayrton Senna |
McLaren-Honda |
| Time | 1:17.748 | |
| Fastest lap | ||
| Driver |  Alain Prost |
McLaren-Honda |
| Time | 1:21.216 on lap 59 | |
| Podium | ||
| First | Alain Prost |
McLaren-Honda |
| Second | Ayrton Senna |
McLaren-Honda |
| Third | Nelson Piquet |
Lotus-Honda |
The 1988 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at the Adelaide Street Circuit, Adelaide, on November 13, 1988. It was the last race of the 1988 Formula One season, as well as the last race for turbo engines.
Contents |
[edit] Race summary
McLaren notched up the last front row of the season, with Ayrton Senna taking his 13th pole of the season after a great qualifying duel. Alain Prost led off the start from Senna, Gerhard Berger, Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell, and by lap 4 the lead had grown to 5.5 seconds. Michele Alboreto's Ferrari was an early retirement after being hit by Alex Caffi's Dallara.
Berger passed Senna on that lap at the second-gear Racetrack Hairpin and began a determined drive, passing Prost at the same place on lap 14. By lap 23 he had a 3 second lead coming up to lap Stefano Modena and René Arnoux. The Ligier turned in and took both drivers off in a violent collision. This left the McLarens in their usual 1-2 position although Senna was battling a faulty gearbox. Piquet was maintaining 3rd ahead of the Williams of Riccardo Patrese and Mansell. The Italian made several attempts to pass Piquet, but was hampered by a lack of power on the straights.
On lap 53 Patrese spun, letting Mansell past, but he was equally unsuccessful in passing Piquet and eventually retired when his brakes failed and he hit the wall on lap 66. By lap 59 Prost was putting in a succession of fast laps, gaining a lead of over 30 seconds and lapping the whole field up to 5th placed Andrea de Cesaris' Rial who had driven up from 15th in an underpowered car.
The circuit's demanding nature was obvious: Satoru Nakajima and Mauricio Gugelmin collided, Alessandro Nannini spun, Jonathan Palmer retired with transmission problems, whilst engine problems claimed Derek Warwick and Eddie Cheever and driveshaft failures accounted for Stefano Modena and Oscar Larrauri. Alex Caffi succumbed to clutch failure and Philippe Alliot ran out of fuel.
At the finish, only 11 cars were classified of which just 7 were running. Prost led home Senna in yet another McLaren 1-2, Piquet claimed 3rd and Patrese 4th. De Cesaris' Rial - which had the smallest fuel tank in the field - ran dry just four laps from home, handing 5th place to Thierry Boutsen despite a spin and a stuttering engine, whilst Ivan Capelli came home 6th despite a puncture.
This was the last race in which turbocharged cars, introduced in 1977, would be permitted to compete as new regulations for 1989 allowed only normally aspirated engines to race, due to increasing concerns in safery.
There was also some criticism of the scoring system. Prost scored 105 points during the season and finished 1st or 2nd in each race he completed. However, Senna won the World Championship scoring only 94 points, including a 4th and a 6th. This was because of the "discard rule", which counted only the best 11 results of the year toward the Championship total; this meant that Prost ended the season with 87 and Senna with 90. Senna become only the second champion after John Surtees to win the Championship without having scored the largest number of points.
[edit] Classification
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[edit] Notes
- This was the 176th race for Riccardo Patrese, who set the new record for races started.
[edit] References
- Unless otherwise indicated, all race results are taken from The Official Formula 1 website. Retrieved on 2007-07-12.
| Previous race: 1988 Japanese Grand Prix |
FIA Formula One World Championship 1988 season |
Next race: 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1987 Australian Grand Prix |
Australian Grand Prix | Next race: 1989 Australian Grand Prix |
