An attempt was made to revive the Argentine Grand Prix at the Buenos Aires Autodrome to be held on 9 March as Round 1, this was unsuccessful due to lack of sponsorship and no Argentinian driver competing in the championship.[1][2]
The Japanese Grand Prix, originally scheduled for 6 April on a provisional calendar was cancelled as rebuilding parts of the Suzuka Circuit were too time consuming.[2] It would last another year for the race to be held at Suzuka.
The British Grand Prix was moved from Silverstone to Brands Hatch, in keeping with the event-sharing arrangement between the two circuits. The 1986 British Grand Prix would be the last at Brands Hatch as from 1987 the British Grand Prix would be permanently held at Silverstone under FISA's one country one circuit rule.
The German Grand Prix returned to the Hockenheimring after using the Nürburgring for 1985, and would be permanently held at Hockenheim under FISA's one country one circuit rule.
The Dutch Grand Prix, originally scheduled for 31 August was dropped after CENAV (Circuit Exploitatie Nederlandse Autorensport Vereniging) who owned the circuit went out of business, this was replaced by the Hungarian Grand Prix.[2]
The Belgian Grand Prix was moved to May, the 1985 race was scheduled for June but was moved to September because of the track surface breaking after a resurfacing with asphalt designed to deal with wet conditions was destroyed by hot, dry weather.[2]
The Mexican Grand Prix returned for the first time in 16 years. The Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City was upgraded to a new layout to improve safety. The race was held on 12 October; the race was originally supposed to return in 1985 but was cancelled due to the 1985 Mexico City earthquake.[3]
The South African Grand Prix, originally scheduled for 26 October was dropped after due to Apartheid. FISA banned all events in South Africa until 1992.[4]
Results and standings[]
Grands Prix[]
The 1986 Formula One World Championship was contested over a sixteen-race series.
Drivers' Championship points were awarded on a 9–6–4–3–2–1 basis to the top six finishers in each round.[5] Only the best eleven results counted towards each driver's championship total; discarded results are displayed within parentheses.[6]
↑Peter Higham, The Guinness Guide To International Motor Racing, 1995, page 6
↑Peter Higham, The Guinness Guide To International Motor Racing, 1995, page 120
↑Only the best 11 results counted towards the Drivers' Championship. Numbers without parentheses are championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored.