1986 Italian Grand Prix

  1986 Italian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 13 of 16 in the 1986 Formula One season
Date	September 7, 1986
Official name	L Gran Premio d'Italia
Location	Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza
Course	Permanent racing facility 5.800 km (3.60 mi)
Distance	51 laps, 295.800 km (183.600 mi)
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Teo Fabi	Benetton-BMW
Time	1:24.078
Fastest lap
Driver	Teo Fabi	Benetton-BMW
Time	1:28.099 on lap 35
Podium
First	Nelson Piquet	Williams-Honda
Second	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda
Third	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari

The 1986 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on September 7, 1986.

Qualifying

During the 2nd Qualifying session at Monza, Gerhard Berger's Benetton B186-BMW was speed trapped fastest of all cars at 352.22 km/h (219 mph), while team mate Teo Fabi was second having been clocked at 349.85 km/h (217 mph) on the long front straight.^[1] Interestingly, Berger's speed wasn't recorded on his fastest lap. The top 5 cars through the speed trap, the two Benettons, the two Brabhams (Derek Warwick and Riccardo Patrese), and the Arrows of Thierry Boutsen, were all powered by BMW. The fastest non-BMW powered car was the Williams-Honda of Nigel Mansell who was 10 km/h (6 mph) slower than Berger (as was Boutsen).

The speed of the Brabhams surprised some in the paddock as Gordon Murray's lowline design had been seen as somewhat of a failure after dismal results. However, as Murray pointed out, the problems with the BT55 were engine and gearbox related (the normally upright engine was tilted 18° from horizontal) and not because of the car's design. The top speed achieved by Warwick (347 km/h (216 mph)) showed that the lowline concept worked as it created downforce but did not increase drag and hinder top speed. For once the Brabhams were relatively high up on the grid with Warwick 7th and Patrese 10th.

Fabi scored his second pole position in succession when he lapped the 5.8 km circuit in 1:24.078 giving Benetton their first back-to-back pole positions. In a surprising 2nd on the grid at the noted power circuit was the McLaren-TAG Porsche of World Champion Alain Prost, despite being almost 20 km/h (12 mph) slower than the Benettons on Monza's long straights. Prost's lap of 1:25.014 showed that even at a power circuit such as Monza, a well set up car was still a crucial factor. Third was World Championship leader Nigel Mansell in his Williams-Honda with Berger's Benetton in 4th place. Brazilian pair Ayrton Senna (Lotus-Renault) and Nelson Piquet (Williams-Honda) rounded out the top six qualifiers. Michele Alboreto, after missing the first day of qualifying because of an injured arm (either through falling in his hotel bathroom or falling off his motorbike, whichever story you believed) was the fastest of the Ferraris in 9th place, 1.417 seconds slower than Fabi.

Race

Following problems at the start of the parade lap, pole position man Teo Fabi was forced to start from the back of the grid and Alain Prost, alongside him on the front row, had to start from the pit lane in the spare car. At the green light, Gerhard Berger took the lead, but on lap 8 lost positions to first Mansell, Piquet and an on-form Alboreto in the Ferrari. Ayrton Senna was out with a broken gearbox at the start. Alboreto looked to be in challenging the Williams duo for the lead having overtaken Rosberg, Arnoux and Berger before spinning at the exit of the first chicane. The race was then an in-house battle between Mansell and Piquet. The Brazilian managed to pass Mansell at the Curva Grande to go on and claim his fourth win of the season. Behind, Fabi and Prost had charged from the rear and by lap 12 were running 8th and 9th. Prost was disqualified for changing cars after the start of the parade lap, but his engine blew a lap after he was flagged anyway. Johansson charged early in the race, passing Rosberg and Arnoux on lap 5 to go on to finish third.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	6	Nelson Piquet	Williams-Honda	51	1:17:42.889	6	9
2	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	51	+ 9.828	3	6
3	28	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	51	+ 22.915	12	4
4	2	Keke Rosberg	McLaren-TAG	51	+ 53.809	8	3
5	20	Gerhard Berger	Benetton-BMW	50	+ 1 Lap	4	2
6	15	Alan Jones	Lola-Ford	49	+ 2 Laps	18	1
7	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	49	+ 2 Laps	13
8	17	Christian Danner	Arrows-BMW	49	+ 2 Laps	16
9	4	Philippe Streiff	Tyrrell-Renault	49	+ 2 Laps	23
10	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Renault	49	+ 2 Laps	20
NC	22	Alex Caffi	Osella-Alfa Romeo	45	Not Classified	27
Ret	19	Teo Fabi	Benetton-BMW	44	Puncture	1
Ret	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	33	Engine	9
Ret	23	Andrea de Cesaris	Minardi-Motori Moderni	33	Engine	21
Ret	31	Ivan Capelli	AGS-Motori Moderni	31	Puncture	25
Ret	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Renault	30	Gearbox	11
Ret	14	Jonathan Palmer	Zakspeed	27	Engine	22
DSQ	1	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	27	Disqualified	2
Ret	26	Philippe Alliot	Ligier-Renault	22	Engine	14
Ret	11	Johnny Dumfries	Lotus-Renault	18	Gearbox	17
Ret	8	Derek Warwick	Brabham-BMW	16	Spun Off	7
Ret	24	Alessandro Nannini	Minardi-Motori Moderni	15	Electrical	19
Ret	21	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	12	Suspension	26
Ret	16	Patrick Tambay	Lola-Ford	2	Accident	15
Ret	7	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW	2	Accident	10
Ret	29	Huub Rothengatter	Zakspeed	1	Engine	24
Ret	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault	0	Transmission	5

Standings after Grand Prix

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Nigel Mansell 61 2 Nelson Piquet 56 3 Alain Prost 53 4 Ayrton Senna 48 5 Keke Rosberg 22

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Honda 117 2 McLaren-TAG 75 3 Lotus-Renault 50 4 Ferrari 30 5 Ligier-Renault 28

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1986 Italian Grand Prix.

Unless otherwise indicated, all race results are taken from "The Official Formula 1 website". Retrieved 2007-06-17.