1988 Japanese Grand Prix

  1988 Japanese Grand Prix

Race details
Race 15 of 16 in the 1988 Formula One season
Date	October 30, 1988
Official name	XIV Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix
Location	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Japan
Course	Permanent racing facility 5.859 km (3.641 mi)
Distance	51 laps, 298.829 km (185.670 mi)
Weather	Cool and mainly dry, some rain toward the end
Pole position
Driver	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Time	1:41.853
Fastest lap
Driver	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Time	1:46.326 on lap 33
Podium
First	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Second	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda
Third	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton-Ford

The 1988 Japanese Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Suzuka Circuit, Japan, on October 30, 1988. It was the fifteenth and penultimate race of the 1988 season.

Qualifying Summary

As expected at the Japanese track where engine power can make up for a lot, it was no surprise to see the McLarens of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost on the front row on this, Honda's home track (the company in fact owns the Suzuka Circuit and McLaren's test driver Emanuele Pirro was based there almost full-time). At times in 1988 the turbos had been qualifying (and often racing) faster than they had in previous seasons despite the restricted 2.5 bar of turbo boost available. At Suzuka the situation was reversed, Senna's pole time was 1.8 seconds slower than Gerhard Berger's 1987 time. Berger himself could only manage 3rd on the grid with a time that was 3.3 seconds slower than his 1987 time in an updated version of his Ferrari, though with about 300 bhp (224 kW; 304 PS) less.

He was joined on the 2nd row by the sensational Ivan Capelli in the naturally aspirated March-Judd. The March team's late season showing made their sponsor (Japanese real estate company Leyton House) very happy. Capelli qualified in front of the two Lotus-Hondas of outgoing World Champion Nelson Piquet who was suffering from a virus, and home town favourite Satoru Nakajima.

Nakajima, not normally the best of qualifiers or racers despite having equipment superior to most, including the same all-powerful Honda V6 turbo engine as the McLarens, could have easily been excused for performing poorly this meeting and indeed from actually taking part at all. Only 30 minutes before the start of Friday morning's practice session he was informed that his mother had died that morning. In the circumstances his effort in Saturday qualifying to equal his more illustrious team mate's time right down to the thousandth of a second was exceptional. Piquet and Nakajima qualified 5th and 6th respectively, Piquet in front only for having set his time earlier in the last qualifying session. Nakajima had actually been faster than the triple World Champion on Friday, an effort that won the much-maligned Japanese driver new fans and much praise in the F1 paddock considering his personal circumstances.

Lotus showed great faith in Nakajima by announcing they had re-signed him for the 1989 season. This was despite the team having to use Judd V8 engines after Honda's announcement a few races earlier that they would not be supplying their engines to the team after 1988.

French driver Yannick Dalmas was declared medically unfit for the race and was replaced in the Larrousse team by Japan's Aguri Suzuki who had been competing in and would win the 1988 Japanese Formula 3000 championship. Suzuki qualified 20th on his F1 debut, one place behind temporary team mate Philippe Alliot. Dalmas, originally thought to have an ear infection that kept him out of both Japan and the final race in Australia, was diagnosed with Legionaire's Disease later in the year.

Race summary

The all-McLaren front row was the 11th of the year, but its drivers had contrasting fortunes. Prost led away from Berger and Capelli, while Ayrton Senna stalled on the grid. However, Suzuka Circuit had the only sloping grid of the year and he was able to bump start his car into action, albeit in 14th place by then. Derek Warwick and Nigel Mansell collided and had to pit for a puncture and a new nosecone, respectively. Senna was trying very hard to make up for the lost positions, and had gained six places by the start of lap two. He then passed Riccardo Patrese, Thierry Boutsen, Alessandro Nannini and Michele Alboreto to take fourth place on lap four. Meanwhile Capelli had not only set the fastest lap but also passed Berger – who was troubled with fuel consumption problems – on lap five to take second place. Alboreto spun out while he was in sixth place.

On lap 14 the weather started to come into contention as rain began on parts of the circuit, benefiting Senna. On lap 16 Capelli seized his chance to pass Prost for the lead, the first time a non-turbo car had led a Grand Prix since 1983. Prost had been slowed when the Lola of the debuting Aguri Suzuki had spun at the chicane and got going again just as Prost and Capelli were braking for the tight right-left complex. He then missed a gear coming out of the chicane thanks to a troublesome gearbox and was passed by the March, but Capelli's lead only lasted for a few hundred metres as the extra power of the Honda turbo engine allowed Prost to regain the lead going into the first turn. Capelli made several further attempts to overtake Prost before ultimately retiring 3 laps later with electrical failure.

Nigel Mansell's race lasted until lap 24 when he had a coming together with the Lotus of Nelson Piquet whom he was trying to lap (Piquet had spun his Lotus into the gravel trap outside of turn 1 and had been pushed back onto the circuit by the marshals, as had Alboreto a few laps earlier). At the chicane Mansell tried to go on the inside of Piquet but the cars touched with the Williams taking flight and almost going over. Mansell was out on the spot while Piquet, still unwell with a virus and complaining of double vision, would continue for another 10 laps before retiring through fatigue.

By then Senna was catching Prost rapidly, and with traffic, Prost's malfunctioning gearbox, and a tricky wet and dry surface, conditions were favourable to the Brazilian. On lap 27, as they attempted to lap Andrea de Cesaris, Satoru Nakajima and Maurício Gugelmin, Senna managed to force his way through as Prost was delayed by the de Cesaris' Rial. BBC commentator James Hunt famously called de Cesaris a "disgrace" for blocking Prost and publicly lambasted him during the commentary for his driving (it wasn't the first or last time Hunt would criticise de Cesaris' driving during his commentary).^[1] Senna then put in a succession of fast laps, breaking the former lap record and building a lead of over three seconds, despite being delayed while lapping Nakajima.

With slick tyres on a track that was now wet, Senna was gesturing for the race to be stopped but this was not to be. The race ran out its entire distance and Senna led home from Prost; Honda was delighted with a 1-2 in their homeland. Boutsen took third place, whilst Berger recovered to fourth place after Alboreto held up Nannini, who had to settle for fifth. Patrese finished in sixth, and Nakajima was 7th.

With victory in the race, Senna clinched the World Championship. Due to the scoring system in 1988, Prost could only add three more points to his total even if he won in Australia, which would give him 87 points in total. If Senna then failed to score they would be equal on points, but Senna would still win the title, having taken more wins (8 to 7). Victory in Japan was also Senna's eighth win of the season, which beat the record for total wins in a single season, previously held by Jim Clark and Prost.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	12	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	1:42.157	1:41.853	—
2	11	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	1:43.806	1:42.177	+0.324
3	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	1:43.548	1:43.353	+1.500
4	16	Ivan Capelli	March-Judd	1:44.583	1:43.605	+1.752
5	1	Nelson Piquet	Lotus-Honda	1:45.171	1:43.693	+1.840
6	2	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Honda	1:45.156	1:43.693	+1.840
7	17	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Megatron	1:46.915	1:43.816	+1.963
8	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Judd	1:44.448	1:43.893	+2.040
9	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	1:44.909	1:43.972	+2.119
10	20	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton-Ford	1:44.882	1:44.499	+2.686
11	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Judd	1:45.510	1:44.555	+2.702
12	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	1:45.047	1:44.611	+2.758
13	15	Mauricio Gugelmin	March-Judd	1:45.138	1:45.156	+3.285
14	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Rial-Ford	1:48.393	1:45.558	+3.705
15	18	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Megatron	1:45.845	1:46.189	+3.992
16	3	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	1:47.828	1:45.916	+4.063
17	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	1:47.638	1:46.449	+4.596
18	14	Philippe Streiff	AGS-Ford	1:47.583	1:46.486	+4.633
19	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Ford	1:47.057	1:46.521	+4.668
20	29	Aguri Suzuki	Lola-Ford	1:48.448	1:46.920	+5.067
21	36	Alex Caffi	Dallara-Ford	1:47.813	1:46.982	+5.129
22	24	Luis Pérez-Sala	Minardi-Ford	1:48.769	1:47.134	+5.281
23	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Judd	1:49.165	1:47.193	+5.340
24	21	Nicola Larini	Osella	1:48.706	1:47.547	+5.694
25	10	Bernd Schneider	Zakspeed	1:49.897	1:47.599	+5.746
26	4	Julian Bailey	Tyrrell-Ford	1:49.420	1:48.589	+6.736
DNQ	26	Stefan Johansson	Ligier-Judd	1:49.127	1:48.716	+6.863
DNQ	32	Oscar Larrauri	EuroBrun-Ford	1:50.224	1:49.265	+7.412
DNQ	9	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Zakspeed	1:49.706	1:50.550	+7.853
DNQ	33	Stefano Modena	EuroBrun-Ford	1:49.812	1:50.047	+7.959
DNPQ	31	Gabriele Tarquini	Coloni-Ford	1:52.234

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	12	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	51	1:33:26.173	1	9
2	11	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	51	+ 13.363	2	6
3	20	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton-Ford	51	+ 36.109	10	4
4	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	51	+ 1:26.714	3	3
5	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	51	+ 1:30.603	12	2
6	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Judd	51	+ 1:37.615	11	1
7	2	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Honda	50	+ 1 Lap	6
8	14	Philippe Streiff	AGS-Ford	50	+ 1 Lap	18
9	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Ford	50	+ 1 Lap	19
10	15	Maurício Gugelmin	March-Judd	50	+ 1 Lap	13
11	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	50	+ 1 Lap	9
12	3	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	50	+ 1 Lap	16
13	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	49	+ 2 Laps	17
14	4	Julian Bailey	Tyrrell-Ford	49	+ 2 Laps	26
15	24	Luis Pérez-Sala	Minardi-Ford	49	+ 2 Laps	22
16	29	Aguri Suzuki	Lola-Ford	48	+ 3 Laps	20
17	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Judd	48	+ 3 Laps	23
Ret	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Rial-Ford	36	Overheating	14
Ret	18	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Megatron	35	Ignition	15
Ret	21	Nicola Larini	Osella	34	Brakes	24
Ret	1	Nelson Piquet	Lotus-Honda	34	Driver ill	5
Ret	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Judd	24	Collision	8
Ret	36	Alex Caffi	Dallara-Ford	22	Spun Off	21
Ret	16	Ivan Capelli	March-Judd	19	Electrical	4
Ret	17	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Megatron	16	Spun Off	7
Ret	10	Bernd Schneider	Zakspeed	14	Driver unfit	25
DNQ	26	Stefan Johansson	Ligier-Judd
DNQ	32	Oscar Larrauri	EuroBrun-Ford
DNQ	9	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Zakspeed
DNQ	33	Stefano Modena	EuroBrun-Ford
DNPQ	31	Gabriele Tarquini	Coloni-Ford

Notes

• Lap leaders: Alain Prost 26 (1-15, 17-27), Ivan Capelli 1 (16), Ayrton Senna 24 (28-51).

Standings after the race

• Bold Text indicates World Champions.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Ayrton Senna 87 (88) 2 Alain Prost 84 (96) 3 Gerhard Berger 41 4 Thierry Boutsen 29 5 Michele Alboreto 24

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Honda 184 2 Ferrari 65 3 Benetton-Ford 44 4 Arrows-Megatron 20 5 March-Judd 19

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Drivers could only count their best 11 results; numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored. Points accurate at final declaration of results. The Benettons were subsequently disqualified from the Belgian Grand Prix and their points reallocated.

References

• Unless otherwise indicated, all race results are taken from "The Official Formula 1 website". Retrieved 2007-07-12.