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The XL Shell Oils British Grand Prix, otherwise known as the 1987 British Grand Prix, was the seventh round of the 1987 FIA Formula One World Championship, staged on the 12 July 1987 at a revised Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, UK.[1] The race would be one of the most famed of Nigel Mansell's career, with the Brit hunting down teammate Nelson Piquet in the closing stages to claim victory.[1]

Qualifying would see the two Williams-Hondas duel for pole position, with Piquet emerging ahead of Mansell by less than a tenth of a second.[1] Championship leader Ayrton Senna was best of the rest for Lotus-Honda, while Alain Prost claimed fourth for McLaren-TAG Porsche.[1]

Race morning saw confirmation that Piercarlo Ghinzani had been excluded from qualifying and hence unable to start, the result of a series of infringements during the first session.[1] Otherwise, the rest of the 25 strong field would take the start, with no issues during the formation lap.[1]

The start of the race was also clean, although there was a shock when Prost screamed past the two Williams into Copse to claim the lead.[1] Piquet, meanwhile, would remain ahead of Mansell, while Senna was left to fend off Thierry Boutsen and Teo Fabi on the opening lap.[1]

Ultimately Prost's hopes of victory were over midway through the first lap, for he was to be mugged by both Piquet and Mansell at Stowe.[1] With that the Williams-Hondas simply disappeared from the rest of the field, leaving Prost in an increasingly lonely third as he eased away from Senna.[1]

The two Williams would exchange blows for the rest of the afternoon, although a gap did eventually appear between them after the stops.[1] Indeed, it was only the closing stages that Mansell finally got back on terms with Piquet, the Brazilian having to ease off to conserve fuel.[1]

With three laps to go Mansell made his bid for the lead, sending his Williams lunging inside his teammate at the near flat-out Stowe.[1] The pair almost brushed tyres as Mansell slithered ahead, before easing ahead over the final couple of laps amid the roars of his home fans.[1]

Mansell duly came home first, two seconds clear of Piquet, to claim victory, but would run out of fuel on the slowing down lap.[1] Behind, a clutch issue for Prost would promote Senna onto the podium late on, with Satoru Nakajima, Derek Warwick and Fabi claiming the rest of the points.[1]

The results of the race meant that Senna had retained the lead in the Championship, although he now had two drivers within a point of him. Indeed, Mansell and teammate Piquet had moved onto 30 points, the Brit ahead courtesy of his three wins, while Prost slipped to fourth, five off the lead.

Background[]

Ayrton Senna had retained the lead in the Championship hunt after the French Grand Prix, although he had left France just a point ahead of second placed Alain Prost. Nelson Piquet was next, just two further back, while Nigel Mansell's victory had shot him back into contention, six off the leader. Stefan Johansson, meanwhile, appeared to have already fallen out of the fight after just six races, although he held onto his top five status ahead of Gerhard Berger.

In the Constructors' Championship it was advantage Williams-Honda after the battle of Le Castellet, leaving France six ahead of former leaders McLaren-TAG Porsche. The Anglo-German squad had done enough to remain in the fight however, with Lotus-Honda having lost ground in third. Ferrari had also lost ground in their lonely fourth place position, while Benetton-Ford Cosworth had joined Arrows-Megatron and Brabham-BMW on four points in fifth.

Philippe Streiff had moved back within three points of teammate Jonathan Palmer at the head of the Jim Clark Trophy chase in France, and hence moved back ahead of compatriot Pascal Fabre. Philippe Alliot and Ivan Capelli were the only other scorers in the Cup after the opening six races, while Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth continued to dominate the Colin Chapman Trophy after another one-two.

Entry list[]

The full entry list for the 1987 British Grand Prix is outlined below:

No. Driver Entrant Constructor Chassis Engine Model Tyre
1 France Alain Prost United Kingdom Marlboro McLaren International McLaren MP4/3 TAG Porsche TTE PO1 1.5 V6t G
2 Sweden Stefan Johansson United Kingdom Marlboro McLaren International McLaren MP4/3 TAG Porsche TTE PO1 1.5 V6t G
3 United Kingdom Jonathan Palmer United Kingdom Data General Team Tyrrell Tyrrell DG016 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 G
4 France Philippe Streiff United Kingdom Data General Team Tyrrell Tyrrell DG016 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 G
5 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell United Kingdom Canon Williams Honda Team Williams FW11B Honda RA167E 1.5 V6t G
6 Brazil Nelson Piquet United Kingdom Canon Williams Honda Team Williams FW11B Honda RA167E 1.5 V6t G
7 Italy Riccardo Patrese United Kingdom Motor Racing Developments Ltd. Brabham BT56 BMW M12/13 1.5 L4t G
8 Italy Andrea de Cesaris United Kingdom Motor Racing Developments Ltd. Brabham BT56 BMW M12/13 1.5 L4t G
9 United Kingdom Martin Brundle West Germany West Zakspeed Racing Zakspeed 871 Zakspeed 1500/4 1.5 L4t G
10 West Germany Christian Danner West Germany West Zakspeed Racing Zakspeed 871 Zakspeed 1500/4 1.5 L4t G
11 Japan Satoru Nakajima United Kingdom Camel Team Lotus Honda Lotus 99T Honda RA166E 1.5 V6t G
12 Brazil Ayrton Senna United Kingdom Camel Team Lotus Honda Lotus 99T Honda RA166E 1.5 V6t G
14 France Pascal Fabre France Team El Charro AGS AGS JH22 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 G
16 Italy Ivan Capelli United Kingdom Leyton House March Racing Team March 871 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 G
17 United Kingdom Derek Warwick United Kingdom USF&G Arrows Megatron Arrows A10 Megatron M12/13 1.5 L4t G
18 United States Eddie Cheever United Kingdom USF&G Arrows Megatron Arrows A10 Megatron M12/13 1.5 L4t G
19 Italy Teo Fabi United Kingdom Benetton Formula Ltd. Benetton B187 Ford Cosworth GBA 1.5 V6t G
20 Belgium Thierry Boutsen United Kingdom Benetton Formula Ltd. Benetton B187 Ford Cosworth GBA 1.5 V6t G
21 Italy Alex Caffi Italy Osella Squadra Corse Osella FA1I Alfa Romeo 890T 1.5 L4t G
23 Spain Adrián Campos Italy Minardi F1 Team Minardi M187 Motori Moderni 615-90 1.5 V6t G
24 Italy Alessandro Nannini Italy Minardi F1 Team Minardi M187 Motori Moderni 615-90 1.5 V6t G
25 France René Arnoux France Ligier Loto Ligier JS29C Megatron M12/13 1.5 L4t G
26 Italy Piercarlo Ghinzani France Ligier Loto Ligier JS29C Megatron M12/13 1.5 L4t G
27 Italy Michele Alboreto Italy Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC Ferrari F186 Ferrari 033D 1.5 V6t G
28 Austria Gerhard Berger Italy Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC Ferrari F187 Ferrari 033D 1.5 V6t G
30 France Philippe Alliot France Larrousse & Camels F1 Lola LC87 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 G
Source:[2]
  • Entries with a white background denote eligibility for the Jim Clark Trophy and Colin Chapman Trophy.

Practice Overview[]

Qualifying[]

Friday Qualifying[]

Saturday Qualifying[]

Qualifying Results[]

The full qualifying results for the 1987 British Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Time Gap
Q1 Q2
1 6 Brazil Nelson Piquet United Kingdom Williams-Honda 1:07.596 1:07.110
2 5 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell United Kingdom Williams-Honda 1:07.725 1:07.180 +0.070s
3 12 Brazil Ayrton Senna United Kingdom Lotus-Honda 1:09.255 1:08.181 +1.071s
4 1 France Alain Prost United Kingdom McLaren-TAG Porsche 1:08.577 1:09.492 +1.467s
5 20 Belgium Thierry Boutsen United Kingdom Benetton-Ford Cosworth 1:09.724 1:08.972 +1.862s
6 19 Italy Teo Fabi United Kingdom Benetton-Ford Cosworth 1:10.264 1:09.246 +2.136s
7 27 Italy Michele Alboreto Italy Ferrari 1:10.441 1:09.274 +2.164s
8 28 Austria Gerhard Berger Italy Ferrari 1:10.328 1:09.408 +2.298s
9 8 Italy Andrea de Cesaris United Kingdom Brabham-BMW 1:10.787 1:09.475 +2.365s
10 2 Sweden Stefan Johansson United Kingdom McLaren-TAG Porsche 1:10.242 1:09.541 +2.431s
11 7 Italy Riccardo Patrese United Kingdom Brabham-BMW 1:10.012 1:10.020 +2.902s
12 11 Japan Satoru Nakajima United Kingdom Lotus-Honda 1:10.619 1:10.998 +3.509s
13 17 United Kingdom Derek Warwick United Kingdom Arrows-Megatron 1:10.654 1:10.781 +3.544s
14 18 United States Eddie Cheever United Kingdom Arrows-Megatron 1:11.053 1:11.310 +3.943s
15 24 Italy Alessandro Nannini Italy Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:13.737 1:12.293 +5.183s
16 25 France René Arnoux France Ligier-Megatron 1:12.503 1:12.402 +5.292s
17 9 United Kingdom Martin Brundle West Germany Zakspeed 1:12.852 1:12.632 +5.522s
18 10 West Germany Christian Danner West Germany Zakspeed 1:15.833 1:13.337 +6.227s
19* 26 Italy Piercarlo Ghinzani France Ligier-Megatron 1:13.381 +6.271s
20 23 Spain Adrián Campos Italy Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:15.719 1:13.793 +6.683s
21 21 Italy Alex Caffi Italy Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:18.495 1:15.558 +8.448s
22 30 France Philippe Alliot France Lola-Ford Cosworth 1:16.770 1:15.868 +8.758s
23 4 France Philippe Streiff United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 1:17.208 1:16.524 +9.414s
24 3 United Kingdom Jonathan Palmer United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 1:16.644 1:17.105 +9.534s
25 16 Italy Ivan Capelli United Kingdom March-Ford Cosworth 1:17.122 1:16.692 +9.582s
26 14 France Pascal Fabre France AGS-Ford Cosworth 1:19.163 1:18.237 +11.127s
Source:[3][4][5]
  • A white background indicates an entrant in the Jim Clark Trophy.
  • T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car to set their best time in that session.
  • Bold indicates a driver's best/qualifying time.
  • * Ghinzani was excluded from the rest of the weekend after illegally refuelling on the circuit.[6]

Grid[]

Pos. Pos.
Driver Driver
______________
Row 1 ______________ 1
2 Nelson Piquet
Nigel Mansell ______________
Row 2 ______________ 3
4 Ayrton Senna
Alain Prost ______________
Row 3 ______________ 5
6 Thierry Boutsen
Teo Fabi ______________
Row 4 ______________ 7
8 Michele Alboreto
Gerhard Berger ______________
Row 5 ______________ 9
10 Andrea de Cesaris
Stefan Johansson ______________
Row 6 ______________ 11
12 Riccardo Patrese
Satoru Nakajima ______________
Row 7 ______________ 13
14 Derek Warwick
Eddie Cheever ______________
Row 8 ______________ 15
16 Alessandro Nannini
René Arnoux ______________
Row 9 ______________ 17
18 Martin Brundle
Christian Danner ______________
Row 10 ______________ 19
20 Adrián Campos
Alex Caffi ______________
Row 11 ______________ 21
22 Philippe Alliot
Philippe Streiff ______________
Row 12 ______________ 23
24 Jonathan Palmer
Ivan Capelli ______________
Row 13 ______________ 25
26 Pascal Fabre
______________

Race[]

Report[]

Results[]

The full results for the 1987 British Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell United Kingdom Williams-Honda 65 1:19:11.780 2 9
2 6 Brazil Nelson Piquet United Kingdom Williams-Honda 65 +1.918s 1 6
3 12 Brazil Ayrton Senna United Kingdom Lotus-Honda 64 +1 Lap 3 4
4 11 Japan Satoru Nakajima United Kingdom Lotus-Honda 63 +2 Laps 12 3
5 17 United Kingdom Derek Warwick United Kingdom Arrows-Megatron 63 +2 Laps 13 2
6 19 Italy Teo Fabi United Kingdom Benetton-Ford Cosworth 63 +2 Laps 6 1
7 20 Belgium Thierry Boutsen United Kingdom Benetton-Ford Cosworth 62 +3 Laps 5
8 (1) 3 United Kingdom Jonathan Palmer United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 60 +5 Laps 23
9 (2) 14 France Pascal Fabre France AGS-Ford Cosworth 59 +6 Laps 25
Ret 4 France Philippe Streiff United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 57 Engine 22
NC* 9 United Kingdom Martin Brundle West Germany Zakspeed 54 +11 Laps 17
Ret 1 France Alain Prost United Kingdom McLaren-TAG Porsche 53 Engine 4
Ret 27 Italy Michele Alboreto Italy Ferrari 52 Suspension 7
Ret 18 United States Eddie Cheever United Kingdom Arrows-Megatron 45 Engine 14
Ret 23 Spain Adrián Campos Italy Minardi-Motori Moderni 34 Fuel system 19
Ret 21 Italy Alex Caffi Italy Osella-Alfa Romeo 32 Engine 20
Ret 10 West Germany Christian Danner West Germany Zakspeed 32 Gearbox 18
Ret 7 Italy Riccardo Patrese United Kingdom Brabham-BMW 28 Turbo 11
Ret 2 Sweden Stefan Johansson United Kingdom McLaren-TAG Porsche 18 Engine 10
Ret 24 Italy Alessandro Nannini Italy Minardi-Motori Moderni 10 Engine 15
Ret 8 Italy Andrea de Cesaris United Kingdom Brabham-BMW 8 Turbo 9
Ret 28 Austria Gerhard Berger Italy Ferrari 7 Accident 8
Ret 30 France Philippe Alliot France Lola-Ford Cosworth 7 Gearbox 21
Ret 25 France René Arnoux France Ligier-Megatron 3 Electrical 16
Ret 16 Italy Ivan Capelli United Kingdom March-Ford Cosworth 3 Accident 24
EXC 26 Italy Piercarlo Ghinzani France Ligier-Megatron
Source:[6]
  • A white background indicates an entrant in the Jim Clark Trophy with numbers in brackets indicating their finishing position in that class.
  • T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car.
  • * Brundle was unable to be classified as he failed to complete 90% of the race distance.[6]
  • Ghinzani was excluded from the weekend after being illegally refuelled during qualifying.[6]

Milestones[]

Standings[]

Ayrton Senna retained the lead in the Championship with his podium finish, although he now had two, rather than one, driver within a point of him. Indeed, Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet were level on 30 points to the Brazilian's 31, with Mansell ahead of his teammate courtesy of his three wins. Alain Prost, meanwhile, had lost ground as he dropped to fourth, although he was still within five points of Senna.

Williams-Honda, meanwhile, extended their lead in the Constructors' Championship, having scored their second consecutive one-two. McLaren-TAG Porsche were still their closest challengers, although their failure to score meant that Lotus-Honda were just two behind them in third. Indeed, with 39 points to Lotus' 37, it seemed likely that the Anglo-German squad were in a fight for second, with Williams-Honda out of immediate reach on 60.

World Championship for Drivers
Pos. Driver Pts. +/-
1 Brazil Ayrton Senna 31
2 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell 30 ▲2
3 Brazil Nelson Piquet 30
4 France Alain Prost 26 ▼2
5 Sweden Stefan Johansson 13
6 Austria Gerhard Berger 9
7 Italy Michele Alboreto 8
8 Japan Satoru Nakajima 6 ▲2
9 Italy Andrea de Cesaris 4 ▼1
10 United States Eddie Cheever 4 ▼1
11 Italy Teo Fabi 3 ▲2
12 United Kingdom Martin Brundle 2 ▼1
13 United Kingdom Jonathan Palmer 2
14 Belgium Thierry Boutsen 2
15 United Kingdom Derek Warwick 2 ▲7
16 France Philippe Streiff 1 ▼1
17 France René Arnoux 1 ▼1
18 Italy Ivan Capelli 1 ▼1
World Championship for Constructors
Pos. Team Pts. +/-
1 United Kingdom Williams-Honda 60
2 United Kingdom McLaren-TAG Porsche 39
3 United Kingdom Lotus-Honda 37
4 Italy Ferrari 17
5 United Kingdom Arrows-Megatron 6 ▲1
6 United Kingdom Benetton-Ford Cosworth 5 ▲1
7 United Kingdom Brabham-BMW 4 ▼2
8 United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 3
9 West Germany Zakspeed 2
10 France Ligier-Megatron 1
11 United Kingdom March-Ford Cosworth 1

Only point scoring drivers and constructors are shown.

Jim Clark/Colin Chapman Trophy[]

Jonathan Palmer extended his lead in the Jim Clark Trophy on home soil, with his tally of 42 leaving him ten clear of his nearest challenger. That challenger appeared in the form of Pascal Fabre, while Palmer's teammate Philippe Streiff slipped to third. In the Colin Chapman Trophy, meanwhile, Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth had again extended their lead, leaving the home race 40 clear of AGS-Ford Cosworth.

Jim Clark Trophy
Pos. Driver Pts. +/-
1 United Kingdom Jonathan Palmer 42
2 France Pascal Fabre 32 ▲1
3 France Philippe Streiff 30 ▼1
4 France Philippe Alliot 15
5 Italy Ivan Capelli 6
Colin Chapman Trophy
Pos. Team Pts. +/-
1 United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 72
2 France AGS-Ford Cosworth 32
3 France Lola-Ford Cosworth 15
4 United Kingdom March-Ford Cosworth 6

Only point scoring drivers and constructors are shown.

References[]

Images and Videos:

References:

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 'British GP, 1987', grandprix.com, (Inside F1 Inc., 2015), http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr443.html, (Accessed 02/04/2019)
  2. 'Britain 1987: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1987/grande-bretagne/engages.aspx, (Accessed 03/04/2019)
  3. 'Shell Oils British Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 1', formula1.com, (Formula One World Championship Ltd., 2019), https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1987/races/517/great-britain/qualifying-1.html, (Accessed 03/04/2019)
  4. 'Shell Oils British Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 2', formula1.com, (Formula One World Championship Ltd., 2019), https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1987/races/517/great-britain/qualifying-2.html, (Accessed 03/04/2019)
  5. 'Britain 1987: Qualifications', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1987/grande-bretagne/qualification.aspx, (Accessed 03/04/2019)
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 'Britain 1987: Result', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2016), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1987/grande-bretagne/classement.aspx, (Accessed 03/04/2019)
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 '1987 British GP', chicanef1.com, (Chicane F1, 2015), http://www.chicanef1.com/racetit.pl?year=1987&gp=British%20GP&r=1, (Accessed 03/04/2019)
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 '7. Britain 1987', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2014), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1987/grande-bretagne.aspx, (Accessed 03/04/2019)
V T E 1987 Formula One Season
Teams McLaren • Tyrrell • Williams • Brabham • Zakspeed • Lotus • AGS • March • Arrows • Benetton • Osella • Minardi • Ligier • Ferrari • Lola • Coloni
Engines Alfa Romeo • BMW • Ferrari • Ford • Honda • Megatron • Motori Moderni • TAG • Zakspeed
Drivers Prost • 2 Johansson • 3 Palmer • 4 Streiff • 5 Mansell • 5 Patrese • 6 Piquet • 7 Patrese • 7 Modena • 8 De Cesaris • 9 Brundle • 10 Danner • 11 Nakajima • 12 Senna • 14 Fabre • 14 Moreno • 16 Capelli • 17 Warwick • 18 Cheever • 19 Fabi • 20 Boutsen • 21 Caffi • 22 Tarquini • 22 Forini • 23 Campos • 24 Nannini • 25 Arnoux • 26 Ghinzani • 27 Alboreto • 28 Berger • 29 Dalmas • 30 Alliot • 32 Larini
Other Drivers Dumfries • Hoshino • Schlesser
Cars Williams FW11B • McLaren MP4/3 • Lotus 99T • Ferrari F1/87 • Benetton B187 • Tyrrell DG016 • Arrows A10 • Brabham BT56 • Lola LC87 • Zakspeed 861 • Zakspeed 871 • Ligier JS29 • AGS JH22 • March 87P • March 871 • Minardi M187 • Osella FA1I • Coloni FC187
Tyres Goodyear
Races Brazil • San Marino • Belgium • Monaco • Detroit • France • Britain • Germany • Hungary • Austria • Italy • Portugal • Spain • Mexico • Japan • Australia
See also 1986 Formula One Season • 1988 Formula One Season • Category
V T E United Kingdom British Grand Prix
Circuits Brooklands (1926 - 1927), Silverstone (1948 - Present), Aintree (1955 - 1962), Brands Hatch (1963 - 1986)
SilverstoneArena2010
Races 19501951195219531954195519561957195819591960196119621963196419651966196719681969197019711972197319741975197619771978197919801981198219831984198519861987198819891990199119921993199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023
Non-Championship Races 1926192719481949
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