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1988 Japanese Grand Prix

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1988 Japanese Grand Prix
Race 15 of 16 in the 1988 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 30 October 1988
Official name XIV Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix
Location Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Japan
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.860 km (3.641[1] miles)
Distance 51 laps, 298.860 km (185.703 miles)
Weather Cool and mainly dry, some rain toward the end
Attendance 233,000[2]
Pole position
Driver McLaren-Honda
Time 1:41.853
Fastest lap
Driver Brazil Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda
Time 1:46.326 on lap 33
Podium
First McLaren-Honda
Second McLaren-Honda
Third Benetton-Ford
Lap leaders

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

Report

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Qualifying

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On Honda's home track, the McLarens of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost filled the front row. Senna's pole time was 1.8 seconds slower than Gerhard Berger's 1987 time.

Berger himself could only manage third on the grid, joined on the second row by Ivan Capelli in the naturally aspirated March-Judd. On the third row were the two Lotus-Hondas of outgoing World Champion Nelson Piquet, who was suffering from a virus, and home town favourite Satoru Nakajima, whose mother had died on the Friday morning. Lotus showed great faith in Nakajima by announcing that they had re-signed him for the 1989 season, despite the fact that they would have to use Judd engines after Honda's decision to supply McLaren exclusively.

French driver Yannick Dalmas was declared medically unfit for the race and was replaced in the Larrousse team by Japan's Aguri Suzuki, who was on his way to winning the 1988 Japanese Formula 3000 Championship. Suzuki qualified 20th on his F1 debut, one place behind temporary teammate 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 Legionnaires' disease later in the year.

Race

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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 Senna stalled on the grid. However, Suzuka had the only sloping grid of the year and so the Brazilian was able to bump start his car into action. He had dropped to 14th place, but immediately made a charge through the field, gaining six places by the end of the first lap and then passing Riccardo Patrese, Thierry Boutsen, Alessandro Nannini and Michele Alboreto to run fourth on lap 4. Meanwhile, Derek Warwick and Nigel Mansell collided and had to pit for a puncture and a new nose cone, respectively, while Capelli not only set the fastest lap but also passed Berger – who was already troubled with fuel consumption problems – on lap 5 to move into second place. Alboreto was nudged off track by Thierry Boutsen in the Benetton-Ford on lap 8 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 Suzuki's Lola 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 three laps later with electrical failure.

Mansell's race lasted until lap 24 when he collided with Piquet's Lotus while trying to lap him. Piquet, still unwell with a virus and complaining of double vision, continued for another ten 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, Nakajima and Maurício Gugelmin, Senna managed to force his way through as Prost was delayed by de Cesaris's Rial. 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 gestured for the race to be stopped. The race ran out its entire distance, however, with Senna finishing 13 seconds ahead of Prost. 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 (1963) and Prost (1984).

Classification

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Pre-qualifying

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Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 36 Italy Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 1:49.099
2 21 Italy Nicola Larini Osella 1:50.288 +1.189
3 32 Argentina Oscar Larrauri EuroBrun-Ford 1:50.942 +1.843
4 33 Italy Stefano Modena EuroBrun-Ford 1:51.141 +2.042
DNPQ 31 Italy Gabriele Tarquini Coloni-Ford 1:52.234 +3.135

Qualifying

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

Race

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

Championship standings after the race

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  • Bold text indicates the World Champions.
  • 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

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  1. ^ "1988 Japanese Grand Prix | Motorsport Database".
  2. ^ "Formula 1 Honda Japanese Grand Prix 2022 – Media Kit" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 5 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  3. ^ "1988 Japanese Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  4. ^ a b "Japan 1988 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.


Previous race:
1988 Spanish Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1988 season
Next race:
1988 Australian Grand Prix
Previous race:
1987 Japanese Grand Prix
Japanese Grand Prix Next race:
1989 Japanese Grand Prix