1988 Formula One season

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1988 FIA Formula One World Championship season
Previous: 1987	Next: 1989
Index: Races by country \| Races by season

The 1988 Formula One season was the 39th FIA Formula One World Championship season. It commenced on April 3, 1988, and ended on November 13 after sixteen races.

1 Season summary
2 Season review
3 1988 Constructors Championship final standings
4 1988 Drivers Championship final standings

[edit] Season summary

The pre-season was a very contentious time, with many theories of the championship flying around. Would the Honda engines prove successful with McLaren? Would Ferrari be able to continue the trend set by the last two rounds of 1987 where Gerhard Berger took successive victories? Would Williams be able to continue their success without Honda and Nelson Piquet? Could World Champion Piquet succeed in defending his title with the Honda powered Lotus?

The Jim Clark and Colin Chapman cups had been withdrawn as the "atmospheric", naturally aspirated engines were making a return as the sole engine for 1989, with severe restrictions on turbos for this season. Many teams took the gamble of using Judd or Cosworth V8 engines, to get an extra year in to get used to the new regulations, whilst other teams like Ferrari and McLaren decided to make the most of their turbo experience and made one last turbo car to hopefully bring the most of the cars despite the regulations.

With Ferrari being the only completely stable option, many agreed that Gerhard Berger would be in serious contention, and this was supported in his second place behind Alain Prost's McLaren as well as securing the fastest lap for the Scuderia. Remarkable, also, was Nigel Mansell's recovery from his accident in Japan to score a front row position for his non-turbo Judd-powered Williams on his first race back. Ayrton Senna suffered from a failure at the races beginning, eventually being disqualified after switching to a second car. At the time he had risen up to second place after starting from the pits.

At Imola, however, it was plain to see what all the teams had feared. Gordon Murray's MP4/4, combined with the championship winning Honda Turbo, made a mockery of the rest of the grid. Even the Lotus-Hondas of Piquet and Nakajima were left a lap behind race winner Senna, with team-mate Prost less than five seconds behind him. At the front of the grid, things were as tight as ever, however for everyone else it had become a race for third.

Despite what many expected, the championship would hardly be considered boring with the McLaren onslaught peaking with the drivers fighting in several feuds. At Monaco, after Alain Prost set the fastest lap, Ayrton refused to accept that his team-mate could be driving faster than he was, especially after Senna out qualified Prost by over a second. Senna pushed and after scoring the fastest lap, he had a lapse in concentration and hit the wall. Berger picked up second place behind Prost.

In Mexico, it was nearly a repeat of San Marino. McLaren 1-2, with this time only one driver on the lead lap. Gerhard Berger had picked up his third podium in four races, giving him the edge on Piquet and Alboreto for the title of "Best of the Rest" - The race for third.

Canada again proved a repeat of the McLaren onslaught, this time Boutsen's Benetton being the only car only other car on the lead lap, and 50 seconds behind. This was repeated in Detroit, however this time Boutsen failed to stay on the lead lap as Senna took his second victory in a row, making it six out of six for McLaren and Honda.

The following race at Paul Ricard saw another 1-2 for McLaren, this time with Prost at the helm for his home Grands Prix, followed by the Ferraris of Alboreto and Berger, with only the former on the lead lap. Piquet raced a brilliant race, despite lacking second gear, to come through for a fifth place.

At the wet British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Nigel Mansell surprised all by scoring a second place for an atmos car for his first finish of the season after seven races of DNF's, a result which definitely pleased the hordes of British fans who were still gripped in Mansell-mania despite the driver's (or rather, the car's) lack lustre performance through the year. The podium was rounded off by Nannini, proving that Silverstone's long straights, although showcasing the high speed of the turbos, was not a good race for the to-be-banned cars, with the efficiency of the atmos cars proving a much better deal, albeit Senna still dominating in his McLaren, proving once again his skill as a wet weather driver.

Germany proved a return to the year's trend, with again long straights of Hockenheim showcasing the brute strength of the turbos, with the only atmos car on the lead lap behind both McLaren and Ferraris respectively being Capelli's March. Senna took the win to Prost, with Berger taking the bottom step of the rostrum. At the following grand prix at Hungary, Senna secured his 24th pole position, securing the third highest total after legendary champions Jim Clark and Fangio, backing his qualifying effort up with a victory, less than a second in front of team-mate Prost. This was Senna's six race of the season, and third on the trot, with Prost on just four wins.

The 1988 Belgian Grand Prix showed Prost one thing: to not change his set-up at the last minute. All through the year, Prost's better feel at setting up a car was not only noticed by his team-mate, but mimicked. Senna had used Prost's set-ups for every race thusfar, and the race at Spa was no different. This annoyed Prost, and he changed his aero-settings at the last minute, hoping to give himself an edge over the pole-sitting Senna. At the the start, Prost took the lead after Senna suffered wheel spin but was caught and passed half way around the track.

Senna went on to secure the victory to Prost, a distant second. Third and forth was filled by the two Benettons, however their places were stricken long after the season had ended, giving Capelli his first podium of the year. The 1-2 for McLaren signified the end of any statistical hope of Ferrari catching them in constructors championship, securing McLaren one of the earliest recorded constructors victories.

Before the Italian Grand Prix, Prost was quoted as saying that, as it was very possible that McLaren would take out a perfect sixteen out of sixteen victories, the winner would be determined between which McLaren driver would take the most wins, and on the change they both took eight, it would be determined on their second places, which at the time Prost had more off despite having less wins. This meant Prost could only let Senna win one more time.

Monza, being another high speed circuit, would prove to be another McLaren dominated race, with both sitting on the front row, again with both Ferraris behind. The race fell into regular routine as Senna lead from the start and Prost close behind. However, on lap 35 of 51, Prost's championship hopes seemed to evaporate in a cloud of smoke, leaking from his engine. The tifosi cheered as their drivers were shifted to second and third, and Honda were livid in their engine expiring on a track that was being dominated by the turbo cars.

Senna looked set to secure another victory, and albeit seal his championship hopes, when lapping Schlesser, filling in for the still ill Mansell, decided it was wise to do so on one of the track's corners, instead of waiting for the long straight that would follow. Senna accidentally hit Schlesser and was livid, whilst the tifosi erupted; Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto sat first and second. They went on to finish that, unfortunately it was only weeks after Enzo Ferrari's death, with both drivers and team dedicating the victory to him. This race would prove to be the only chink in the McLaren's perfect year and their only double retirement.

The following grands prix at Portugal proved to be an exciting affair, for all but Ayrton Senna who suffered race long with fuel troubles. He ended sixth while Prost kept his championship hopes alive to secure his fifth race of the year. Then at Spain, he secured his sixth, again in an attempt to delay an almost inevitable eighth race for Senna - a race that would secure his first of three championships. Senna suffered from similar problems and was lucky to secure fourth whilst Mansell doubled his British Grand Prix efforts and scored another six points.

The penultimate round in Japan proved, once again, to be the home of where the title was decided. This time it was the end of the weekend, and not the beginning. Prost made a superb start to the lead, whilst Senna stalled, lucky in the fact that Suzuka had a sloping grid, helping to start his car. Senna knew he had nothing to lose and everything to gain in this race, and knew he could seal the championship here. By the end of the lap he had already made up six positions, and by the fourth lap he was sitting in fourth position. The top six cars were all sitting very close and when the rain started to fall, so did Prost. Capelli took this chance to become the first naturally aspirated car to lead a Grands Prix in over 4 years, thrilling the March team. Unfortunately, this was not to last as his electronics would eventually fail.

By then, Senna was hot on the tail of Prost. Prost hated the wet, as much as he hated to lose, and his failing gearbox only added to the Brazilian's chances. When the pair came round to lap some back-markers, as Prost was caught up with de Cesaris, Ayrton went past to take the lead, and set three consecutive fastest laps and setting a new lap record. As he was now out on a wet track with dry tires, as many other drivers were, he signaled to stop the race. However, the race ran its full distance and Honda were reveling in their 1-2 finish, whilst Prost was bitter. He would go on to win in Adelaide, and score eleven more points in total than Senna, but only the eleven highest scores counted, with Senna's eight wins and three seconds giving him a total of 90 points to Prost's 87. He went on to be a proponent of essentially the 90's scoring system - all results counting to the final results with the winner scoring 10, not 9, points.

[edit] Season review

Round	Race	Date	Location	Winning driver	Constructor	Report
1	Brazilian Grand Prix	April 3	Jacarepaguá	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	Report
2	San Marino Grand Prix	May 1	Imola	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	Report
3	Monaco Grand Prix	May 15	Monaco	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	Report
4	Mexican Grand Prix	May 29	Hermanos Rodriguez	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	Report
5	Canadian Grand Prix	June 12	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	Report
6	United States Grand Prix East	June 19	Detroit	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	Report
7	French Grand Prix	July 3	Paul Ricard	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	Report
8	British Grand Prix	July 10	Silverstone	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	Report
9	German Grand Prix	July 24	Hockenheimring	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	Report
10	Hungarian Grand Prix	August 7	Hungaroring	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	Report
11	Belgian Grand Prix	August 28	Spa-Francorchamps	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	Report
12	Italian Grand Prix	September 11	Monza	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	Report
13	Portuguese Grand Prix	September 25	Estoril	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	Report
14	Spanish Grand Prix	October 2	Jerez	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	Report
15	Japanese Grand Prix	October 30	Suzuka	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	Report
16	Australian Grand Prix	November 13	Adelaide	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	Report

[edit] 1988 Constructors Championship final standings

Place	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Tyre	Points	Wins	Podiums	Poles
1	McLaren-Honda	MP4/4	Honda RA186E	G	199	15	25	15
2	Ferrari	F1-87/88C	Ferrari 033E	G	65	1	8	1
3	Benetton-Ford	B188	Ford DFR	G	39		7
4	Arrows-Megatron	A10B	(BMW) Megatron M12/13	G	23		1
5	Lotus-Honda	100T	Honda RA186E	G	23		3
6	March-Judd	881	Judd CV	G	22		2
7	Williams-Judd	FW12	Judd CV	G	20		2
8	Tyrrell-Ford	017	Ford DFZ	G	5
9	Rial-Ford	ARC1	Ford DFZ	G	3
10	Minardi-Ford	M188	Ford DFZ	G	1
11	Zakspeed	881 881B	Zakspeed 1500/4	G
12	Coloni-Ford	FC188 FC188B	Ford DFZ	G
13	Ligier-Judd	JS31	Judd CV	G
14	Osella	FA1I FA1L	Alfa Romeo 890T	G
15	Lola-Ford	LC88	Ford DFZ	G
16	Dallara-Ford	3087 F188	Ford DFV Ford DFZ	G
17	AGS-Ford	JH23	Ford DFZ	G
18	Euro Brun-Ford	ER188	Ford DFZ	G

[edit] 1988 Drivers Championship final standings

Pos	Driver	BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	SPA	JAP	AUS	Points
1	Ayrton Senna	DSQ	1	Ret	2	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	10	6	4	1	2	90 (94)*
2	Alain Prost	1	2	1	1	2	2	1	Ret	2	2	2	Ret	1	1	2	1	87 (105)*
3	Gerhard Berger	2	5	2	3	Ret	Ret	4	9	3	4	Ret	1	Ret	6	4	Ret	41
4	Thierry Boutsen	7	4	8	8	3	3	Ret	Ret	6	3	DSQ	6	3	9	3	5	27
5	Michele Alboreto	5	18	3	4	Ret	Ret	3	17	4	Ret	Ret	2	5	Ret	11	Ret	24
6	Nelson Piquet	3	3	Ret	Ret	4	Ret	5	5	Ret	8	4	Ret	Ret	8	Ret	3	22
7	Ivan Capelli	Ret	Ret	10	16	5	DNS	9	Ret	5	Ret	3	5	2	Ret	Ret	6	17
8	Derek Warwick	4	9	4	5	7	Ret	Ret	6	7	Ret	5	4	4	Ret	Ret	Ret	17
9	Nigel Mansell	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	2	Ret	Ret			Ret	2	Ret	Ret	12
10	Alessandro Nannini	Ret	6	Ret	7	Ret	Ret	6	3	18	Ret	DSQ	9	Ret	3	5	Ret	12
11	Riccardo Patrese	Ret	13	6	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	Ret	6	Ret	7	Ret	5	6	4	8
12	Eddie Cheever	8	7	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	11	7	10	Ret	6	3	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	6
13	Mauricio Gugelmin	Ret	15	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	4	8	5	Ret	8	Ret	7	10	Ret	5
14	Jonathan Palmer	Ret	14	5	DNQ	6	5	Ret	Ret	11	Ret	12	DNQ	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	5
15	Andrea de Cesaris	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	9	4	10	Ret	13	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	8	3
16	Satoru Nakajima	6	8	DNQ	Ret	11	DNQ	7	10	9	7	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	1
17	Pierluigi Martini						6	15	15	DNQ	Ret	DNQ	Ret	Ret	Ret	13	7	1
18	Yannick Dalmas	Ret	12	7	9	DNQ	7	13	13	19	9	Ret	Ret	Ret	11			0
19	Alex Caffi	DNPQ	Ret	Ret	Ret		8	12	11	15	Ret	8	Ret	7	10	Ret	Ret	0
20	Martin Brundle											7						0
21	Philippe Streiff	Ret	10	Ret	12	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	10	Ret	9	Ret	8	11	0
22	Luis Perez-Sala	Ret	11	Ret	11	13	Ret	NC	Ret	DNQ	10	DNQ	Ret	8	12	15	Ret	0
23	Gabriele Tarquini	Ret	Ret	Ret	14	8	DNQ				13	Ret	DNQ	11			DNQ	0
24	Philippe Alliot	Ret	17	Ret	Ret	10	Ret	Ret	14	Ret	12	9	Ret	Ret	14	9	10	0
25	Stefan Johansson	9	DNQ	Ret	10	Ret	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	11	DNQ	Ret	Ret	DNQ	9	0
26	Julian Bailey	DNQ	Ret		DNQ	Ret	9	DNQ	16	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	12	DNQ	DNQ	14	DNQ	0
27	Nicola Larini	DNQ	DSQ	9	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	Ret	19	Ret		Ret	Ret	12	Ret	Ret	DNPQ	0
28	René Arnoux	Ret	DNQ	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNQ	18	17	Ret	Ret	13	10	Ret	17	Ret	0
29	Stefano Modena	Ret	NC	DSQ	DSQ	12	Ret	14	12	Ret	11	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	13	DNQ	Ret	0
30	Jean-Louis Schlesser												11					0
31	Bernd Schneider	DNQ		DNQ	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	DNQ	12	DNQ	13	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	DNQ	0
32	Oscar Larrauri	Ret	DNQ	Ret	13	Ret	Ret	Ret	DNQ	16	DNQ				DNQ	DNQ	Ret	0
33	Piercarlo Ghinzani	DNQ	Ret	Ret	15	14	DNQ	DSQ	DNQ	14	DNQ	Ret	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	Ret	0
34	Adrian Campos	Ret	16	DNQ		DNQ												0
35	Aguri Suzuki															16		0
—	Pierre-Henri Raphanel																DNQ	0
Pos	Driver	BRA	SMR	MON	MEX	CAN	USA	FRA	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA	POR	SPA	JAP	AUS	Points

Colour	Result
Gold	Winner
Silver	2nd place
Bronze	3rd place
Green	Finished, in points
Blue	Finished, no points
Purple	Did not finish (Ret)
Red	Did not qualify (DNQ)
Black	Disqualified (DSQ)
White	Did not start (DNS)
Blank	Did not participate
	Injured (INJ)
	Excluded (EX)

Only best 11 results counted toward the championship. Prost scored 104 points during the year, but only 87 points were counted toward the championship. Senna scored 94 points, with 90 points counted toward the championship. Thus, Senna became the World Champion, although he did not score most points over the course of the year.

Place	Driver	Number	Country	Points	Wins	Podiums	Poles
1	Alain Prost	11	France	105	7	14	2
2	Ayrton Senna	12	Brazil	94	8	11	13
3	Gerhard Berger	28	Austria	41	1	5	1
4	Thierry Boutsen	20	Belgium	27		5
5	Michele Alboreto	27	Italy	24		3
6	Nelson Piquet	1	Brazil	22		3
7	Ivan Capelli	16	Italy	17		2
8	Derek Warwick	17	Britain	17
9	Nigel Mansell	5	Britain	12		2
10	Alessandro Nannini	19	Italy	12		2
11	Riccardo Patrese	6	Italy	8
12	Eddie Cheever	18	USA	6		1
13	Mauricio Gugelmin	15	Brazil	5
14	Jonathan Palmer	3	Britain	5
15	Andrea de Cesaris	22	Italy	3
16	Satoru Nakajima	2	Japan	1
17	Pierluigi Martini	23	Italy	1
18	Yannick Dalmas	29	France	0
19	Alex Caffi	36	Italy	0
20	Martin Brundle	5	Britain	0
21	Philippe Streiff	14	France	0
22	Luis Perez-Sala	24	Spain	0
23	Gabriele Tarquini	31	Italy	0
24	Philippe Alliot	30	France	0
25	Stefan Johansson	26	Sweden	0
26	Julian Bailey	4	Britain	0
27	Nicola Larini	21	Italy	0
28	René Arnoux	25	France	0
29	Stefano Modena	33	Italy	0
30	Jean-Louis Schlesser	5	France	0
31	Bernd Schneider	10	Germany	0
32	Oscar Larrauri	32	Argentina	0
33	Piercarlo Ghinzani	9	Italy	0
34	Adrian Campos	23	Spain	0
35	Aguri Suzuki	29	Japan	0
—	Pierre-Henri Raphanel	29	France	0