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The 1988 British Grand Prix, otherwise advertised as the XLI Shell Oils British Grand Prix, was the eighth round of the 1988 FIA Formula One World Championship, staged at the Silverstone Circuit on the 10 July 1988.[1] The race would see Ayrton Senna claim his fourth win of the season ahead of Nigel Mansell, as the Brazilian's major title rival Alain Prost retired.[1]

Qualifying would see arguably the biggest shock of the season to that point, for Ferrari managed to lock-out the front row ahead of McLaren-Honda.[1] Indeed, Gerhard Berger claimed pole ahead of teammate Michele Alboreto in a straight fight between the two, with Senna and Prost half a second off in third and fourth, having claimed pole in all seven of the previous Grand Prix in 1988.[1]

Rain on raceday further unsettled things at the sharp end of the field, with F1 not having had a truly wet race since the 1985 Belgian Grand Prix.[1] Fortunately the rain fell consistently enough to ensure that everyone would start on wet tyres, although that in itself brought its own level on unpredictability.[1]

The start would see the two Ferraris squirm away at the head of the field, with Alboreto briefly getting ahead of Berger before the Austrian seized the lead with the inside line through Copse.[1] Senna went with them but failed to squeeze inside the Italian, while a miserable start from Prost saw him tumble back to ninth.[1]

Senna would elbow his way past Alboreto early on, while Prost fell right to the back of the field complaining of handling issues.[1] Alboreto was left in a healthy third, Alessandro Nannini, Maurício Gugelmin and Nigel Mansell scrapped for fourth amongst themselves, while Senna ducked and weaved behind Berger.[1]

The Brazilian finally pounced on the Austrian on lap fifteen, sending his McLaren skating inside Berger as the pair lapped Prost in the sister car.[1] Senna duly sprinted away with the lead, quickly leaving Berger in a lonely second, while Prost took his lapping as a sign to retire his car.[1]

With Senna clear out front the attention, particularly for the home fans, shifted back to Mansell in the Williams-Judd, with the Brit muscling his way up to third on lap 22.[1] He duly spent the better part of the race hunting down Berger, using wetter parts of the track to cool his tyres as he set a succession of fastest laps.[1]

On lap 50 the Williams duly slithered past the Ferrari, prompting roars from the crowd as the Brit sprinted off after Senna.[1] Unfortunately for him, the Brazilian had built a huge lead at the head of the field, which would remain on the larger side of twenty seconds through to the chequered flag.[1]

Indeed, Senna would cruise home to claim a crucial win for himself and McLaren, which left him six off of teammate Prost in the Championship.[1] Mansell was a delighted second ahead of Nannini, with Berger having to back off massively in the closing stages to avoid running out of fuel, a fate that did befall his teammate Alboreto.[1]

Background[]

Alain Prost had once again managed to extend his Championship lead in France, with his fourth victory of the season moving him onto 54 points after seven races. Ayrton Senna was, unsurprisingly, his closest challenger, with the pair split by a fifteen point gap at the head of the field. Indeed, those two truly were in a class of their own, for third placed Gerhard Berger had slipped eighteen points behind Senna in France, and some 33 behind Prost.

In the Constructors' Championship it had been another incredibly good day for McLaren-Honda in Le Castellet, with their fifth one-two of the campaign leaving them on 93 points. That had translated into a crushing 59 point lead over second placed Ferrari arriving in Silverstone, with the Italian outfit already looking at finishing the season in second. In truth, the Scuderia were a fairly comfortable second leaving France, with a twenty point lead over third placed Lotus-Honda.

Entry list[]

The full entry list for the 1988 British Grand Prix is outlined below:

No. Driver Entrant Constructor Chassis Engine Model Tyre
1 Brazil Nelson Piquet United Kingdom Camel Team Lotus Honda Lotus 100T Honda RA168E 1.5 V6t G
2 Japan Satoru Nakajima United Kingdom Camel Team Lotus Honda Lotus 100T Honda RA168E 1.5 V6t G
3 United Kingdom Jonathan Palmer United Kingdom Tyrrell Racing Organisation Tyrrell 017 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 G
4 United Kingdom Julian Bailey United Kingdom Tyrrell Racing Organisation Tyrrell 017 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 G
5 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell United Kingdom Canon Williams Team Williams FW12 Judd CV 3.5 V8 G
6 Italy Riccardo Patrese United Kingdom Canon Williams Team Williams FW12 Judd CV 3.5 V8 G
9 Italy Piercarlo Ghinzani West Germany West Zakspeed Racing Zakspeed 881 Zakspeed 1500/4 1.5 L4t G
10 West Germany Bernd Schneider West Germany West Zakspeed Racing Zakspeed 881 Zakspeed 1500/4 1.5 L4t G
11 France Alain Prost United Kingdom Honda Marlboro McLaren McLaren MP4/4 Honda RA168E 1.5 V6t G
12 Brazil Ayrton Senna United Kingdom Honda Marlboro McLaren McLaren MP4/4 Honda RA168E 1.5 V6t G
14 France Philippe Streiff France Team El Charro AGS AGS JH23 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 G
15 Brazil Maurício Gugelmin United Kingdom Leyton House March Racing Team March 881 Judd CV 3.5 V8 G
16 Italy Ivan Capelli United Kingdom Leyton House March Racing Team March 881 Judd CV 3.5 V8 G
17 United Kingdom Derek Warwick United Kingdom USF&G Arrows Megatron Arrows A10B Megatron M12/13 1.5 L4t G
18 United States Eddie Cheever United Kingdom USF&G Arrows Megatron Arrows A10B Megatron M12/13 1.5 L4t G
19 Italy Alessandro Nannini United Kingdom Benetton Formula Ltd. Benetton B188 Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8 G
20 Belgium Thierry Boutsen United Kingdom Benetton Formula Ltd. Benetton B188 Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 V8 G
21 Italy Nicola Larini Italy Osella Squadra Corse Osella FA1L Osella 890T 1.5 V8t G
22 Italy Andrea de Cesaris West Germany Rial Racing Rial ARC1 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 G
23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Italy Lois Minardi Team Minardi M188 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 G
24 Spain Luis Pérez-Sala Italy Lois Minardi Team Minardi M188 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 G
25 France René Arnoux France Equipe Ligier Ligier JS31 Judd CV 3.5 V8 G
26 Sweden Stefan Johansson France Equipe Ligier Ligier JS31 Judd CV 3.5 V8 G
27 Italy Michele Alboreto Italy Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC Ferrari F187/88C Ferrari 033E 1.5 V6t G
28 Austria Gerhard Berger Italy Scuderia Ferrari SpA SEFAC Ferrari F187/88C Ferrari 033E 1.5 V6t G
29 France Yannick Dalmas France Larrousse & Camels F1 Lola LC88 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 G
30 France Philippe Alliot France Larrousse & Camels F1 Lola LC88 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 G
31 Italy Gabriele Tarquini Italy Coloni SpA Coloni FC188 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 G
32 Argentina Oscar Larrauri Italy EuroBrun Racing EuroBrun ER188 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 G
33 Italy Stefano Modena Italy EuroBrun Racing EuroBrun ER188 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 G
36 Italy Alex Caffi Italy BMS Scuderia Italia Dallara 188 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 G
Source:[2]

Practice Overview[]

Qualifying[]

Friday Qualifying[]

Saturday Qualifying[]

Qualifying Results[]

The full qualifying results for the 1988 British Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Time Gap
Q1 Q2
1 28 Austria Gerhard Berger Italy Ferrari 1:10.746 1:10.133
2 27 Italy Michele Alboreto Italy Ferrari 1:10.669 1:10.332 +0.199s
3 12 Brazil Ayrton Senna United Kingdom McLaren-Honda 1:10.787 1:10.616 +0.483s
4 11 France Alain Prost United Kingdom McLaren-Honda 1:11.550 1:10.736 +0.603s
5 15 Brazil Maurício Gugelmin United Kingdom March-Judd 1:11.766 1:11.745 +1.612s
6 16 Italy Ivan Capelli United Kingdom March-Judd 1:13.030 1:12.006 +1.873s
7 1 Brazil Nelson Piquet United Kingdom Lotus-Honda 1:13.166 1:12.040 +1.907s
8 19 Italy Alessandro Nannini United Kingdom Benetton-Ford Cosworth 1:13.400 1:12.737 +2.604s
9 17 United Kingdom Derek Warwick United Kingdom Arrows-Megatron 1:12.843 1:13.287 +2.710s
10 2 Japan Satoru Nakajima United Kingdom Lotus-Honda 1:13.192 1:12.862 +2.729s
11 5 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell United Kingdom Williams-Judd 1:14.192 1:12.865 +2.732s
12 20 Belgium Thierry Boutsen United Kingdom Benetton-Ford Cosworth 1:12.960 1:13.287 +2.827s
13 18 United States Eddie Cheever United Kingdom Arrows-Megatron 1:14.247 1:12.984 +2.851s
14 22 Italy Andrea de Cesaris West Germany Rial-Ford Cosworth 1:13.910 1:13.438 +3.305s
15 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese United Kingdom Williams-Judd 1:31.541 1:13.677 +3.544s
16 14 France Philippe Streiff France AGS-Ford Cosworth 1:15.272 1:14.260 +4.127s
17 3 United Kingdom Jonathan Palmer United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 1:16.607 1:14.451 +4.318s
18 24 Spain Luis Pérez-Sala Italy Minardi-Ford Cosworth 1:15.590 1:14.643 +4.510s
19 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Italy Minardi-Ford Cosworth 1:14.732 1:14.832 +4.599s
20 33 Italy Stefano Modena Italy EuroBrun-Ford Cosworth 1:17.889 1:14.888 +4.755s
21 36 Italy Alex Caffi Italy Dallara-Ford Cosworth 1:15.779 1:14.924 +4.791s
22 30 France Philippe Alliot France Lola-Ford Cosworth 1:15.635 1:14.992 +4.859s
23 29 France Philippe Streiff France Lola-Ford Cosworth 1:16.014 1:15.004 +4.871s
24 4 United Kingdom Julian Bailey United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 1:16.249 1:15.135 +5.002s
25 25 France René Arnoux France Ligier-Judd 1:16.859 1:15.374 +5.241s
26 21 Italy Nicola Larini Italy Osella 1:16.780 1:15.527 +5.394s
DNQ 32 Argentina Oscar Larrauri Italy EuroBrun-Ford Cosworth 1:16.691 1:16.026 +5.893s
DNQ 9 Italy Piercarlo Ghinzani West Germany Zakspeed 1:18.359 1:16.043 +5.910s
DNQ 26 Sweden Stefan Johansson France Ligier-Judd 1:17.438 1:16.110 +5.977s
DNQ 10 West Germany Bernd Schneider West Germany Zakspeed 1:19.078 1:18.010 +7.877s
DNPQ 31 Italy Gabriele Tarquini Italy Coloni-Ford Cosworth 1:17.028
Source:[3][4][5]
  • 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.

Grid[]

Pos. Pos.
Driver Driver
______________
Row 1 ______________ 1
2 Gerhard Berger
Michele Alboreto ______________
Row 2 ______________ 3
4 Ayrton Senna
Alain Prost ______________
Row 3 ______________ 5
6 Maurício Gugelmin
Ivan Capelli ______________
Row 4 ______________ 7
8 Nelson Piquet
Alessandro Nannini ______________
Row 5 ______________ 9
10 Derek Warwick
Satoru Nakajima ______________
Row 6 ______________ 11
12 Nigel Mansell
Thierry Boutsen ______________
Row 7 ______________ 13
14 Eddie Cheever
Andrea de Cesaris ______________
Row 8 ______________ 15
16 Riccardo Patrese
Philippe Streiff ______________
Row 9 ______________ 17
18 Jonathan Palmer*
Luis Pérez-Sala ______________
Row 10 ______________ 19
20 Pierluigi Martini
Stefano Modena ______________
Row 11 ______________ 21
22 Alex Caffi
Philippe Alliot ______________
Row 12 ______________ 23
24 Yannick Dalmas
Julian Bailey ______________
Row 13 ______________ 25
26 René Arnoux
Nicola Larini ______________
  • * Palmer would start the race from the pit lane.[6]

Race[]

Report[]

Results[]

The full results for the 1988 British Grand Prix are outlined below:

Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 12 Brazil Ayrton Senna United Kingdom McLaren-Honda 65 1:33:16.367 3 9
2 5 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell United Kingdom Williams-Judd 65 +23.344s 11 6
3 19 Italy Alessandro Nannini United Kingdom Benetton-Ford Cosworth 65 +51.214s 8 4
4 15 Brazil Maurício Gugelmin United Kingdom March-Judd 65 +1:11.378 5 3
5 1 Brazil Nelson Piquet United Kingdom Lotus-Honda 65 +1:20.835 7 2
6 17 United Kingdom Derek Warwick United Kingdom Arrows-Megatron 64 +1 Lap 9 1
7 18 United States Eddie Cheever United Kingdom Arrows-Megatron 64 +1 Lap 13
8 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese United Kingdom Williams-Judd 64 +1 Lap 15
9 28 Austria Gerhard Berger Italy Ferrari 64 +1 Lap 1
10 2 Japan Satoru Nakajima United Kingdom Lotus-Honda 64 +1 Lap 10
11 36 Italy Alex Caffi Italy Dallara-Ford Cosworth 64 +1 Lap 21
12 33 Italy Stefano Modena Italy EuroBrun-Ford Cosworth 64 +1 Lap 20
13 29 France Yannick Dalmas France Lola-Ford Cosworth 63 +2 Laps 23
14 30 France Philippe Alliot France Lola-Ford Cosworth 63 +2 Laps 22
15 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Italy Minardi-Ford Cosworth 63 +2 Laps 19
16 4 United Kingdom Julian Bailey United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 63 +2 Laps 24
17* 27 Italy Michele Alboreto Italy Ferrari 62 Out of fuel 2
18 25 France René Arnoux France Ligier-Judd 62 +3 Laps 25
19* 21 Italy Nicola Larini Italy Osella 60 Out of fuel 26
Ret 20 Belgium Thierry Boutsen United Kingdom Benetton-Ford Cosworth 38 Transmission 12
Ret 16 Italy Ivan Capelli United Kingdom March-Judd 34 Alternator 6
Ret 11 France Alain Prost United Kingdom McLaren-Honda 24 Handling 4
Ret 3 United Kingdom Jonathan Palmer United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 14 Engine 17
Ret 22 Italy Andrea de Cesaris West Germany Rial-Ford Cosworth 9 Clutch 14
Ret 14 France Philippe Streiff France AGS-Ford Cosworth 8 Wing 16
Ret 24 Spain Luis Pérez-Sala Italy Minardi-Ford Cosworth 0 Suspension 18
DNQ 32 Argentina Oscar Larrauri Italy EuroBrun-Ford Cosworth
DNQ 9 Italy Piercarlo Ghinzani West Germany Zakspeed
DNQ 26 Sweden Stefan Johansson France Ligier-Judd
EXC 10 West Germany Bernd Schneider West Germany Zakspeed
DNPQ 31 Italy Gabriele Tarquini Italy Coloni-Ford Cosworth
Source:[6]
  • T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car.
  • * Alboreto and Larinin were still classified despite retiring as they had completed 90% of the race distance.[6]

Milestones[]

Standings[]

Victory for Ayrton Senna saw the Brazilian close the gap to Championship leading teammate Alain Prost, with the Frenchman having failed to score for the first time all season. Indeed, Senna had moved onto 48 points with his fourth win of the season, leaving him six off of Prost's tally at the halfway point of the season. Those two were now the only drivers realistically in the hunt for the crown, with Gerhard Berger having lost even more ground in third.

McLaren-Honda ended the first half of the season having passed the century mark in the Constructors' Championship, leaving the UK with 102 points. Ferrari were still their closest "challengers", although they had slipped 68 points behind, the equivalent of four and a half races worth of points. Benetton-Ford Cosworth were even further back in third, a point ahead of Lotus-Honda in fourth.

World Championship for Drivers
Pos. Driver Pts. +/-
1 France Alain Prost 54
2 Brazil Ayrton Senna 48
3 Austria Gerhard Berger 21
4 Brazil Nelson Piquet 15 ▲1
5 Italy Michele Alboreto 13 ▼1
6 Belgium Thierry Boutsen 11
7 United Kingdom Derek Warwick 9
8 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell 6 ▲22
9 Italy Alessandro Nannini 6 ▲2
10 United Kingdom Jonathan Palmer 5 ▼2
11 Brazil Maurício Gugelmin 3 ▲7
12 Italy Andrea de Cesaris 3 ▼3
13 Italy Ivan Capelli 2 ▼3
14 United States Eddie Cheever 1 ▼2
15 Japan Satoru Nakajima 1 ▼2
16 Italy Riccardo Patrese 1 ▼2
17 Italy Pierluigi Martini 1 ▼2
World Championship for Constructors
Pos. Team Pts. +/-
1 United Kingdom McLaren-Honda 102
2 Italy Ferrari 34
3 United Kingdom Benetton-Ford Cosworth 17 ▲1
4 United Kingdom Lotus-Honda 16 ▼1
5 United Kingdom Arrows-Megatron 10
6 United Kingdom Williams-Judd 7 ▲2
7 United Kingdom March-Judd 5 ▲1
8 United Kingdom Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth 5 ▼2
9 West Germany Rial-Ford Cosworth 3 ▼2
10 Italy Minardi-Ford Cosworth 1 ▼1

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 1.16 1.17 'British GP, 1988', grandprix.com, (Inside F1 Inc., 2015), http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr460.html, (Accessed 10/04/2019)
  2. 'Britain 1988: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1988/grande-bretagne/engages.aspx, (Accessed 10/04/2019)
  3. 'Shell Oils British Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 1', formula1.com, (Formula One World Championship Ltd., 2019), https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1988/races/534/great-britain/qualifying-1.html, (Accessed 10/04/2019)
  4. 'Shell Oils British Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 2', formula1.com, (Formula One World Championship Ltd., 2019), https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1988/races/534/great-britain/qualifying-2.html, (Accessed 10/04/2019)
  5. 'Britain 1988: Qualifications', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1988/grande-bretagne/qualification.aspx, (Accessed 10/04/2019)
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 'Britain 1988: Result', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2016), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1988/grande-bretagne/classement.aspx, (Accessed 10/04/2019)
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 '1988 British GP', chicanef1.com, (Chicane F1, 2015), http://www.chicanef1.com/racetit.pl?year=1988&gp=British%20GP&r=1, (Accessed 10/04/2019)
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8 8.9 '8. Britain 1988', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2014), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1988/grande-bretagne.aspx, (Accessed 10/04/2019)
V T E 1988 Formula One Season
Teams Lotus • Tyrrell • Williams • Zakspeed • McLaren • AGS • March • Arrows • Benetton • Osella • Rial • Minardi • Ligier • Ferrari • Lola • Coloni • EuroBrun • Dallara
Engines Ferrari • Ford • Honda • Judd • Megatron • Osella • Zakspeed
Drivers Piquet • 2 Nakajima • 3 Palmer • 4 Bailey • 5 Mansell • 5 Brundle • 5 Schlesser • 6 Patrese • 9 Ghinzani • 10 Schneider • 11 Prost • 12 Senna • 14 Streiff • 15 Gugelmin • 16 Capelli • 17 Warwick • 18 Cheever • 19 Nannini • 20 Boutsen • 21 Larini • 22 De Cesaris • 23 Campos • 23 Martini • 24 Pérez-Sala • 25 Arnoux • 26 Johansson • 27 Alboreto • 28 Berger • 29 Dalmas • 29 Suzuki • 29 Raphanel • 30 Alliot • 31 Tarquini • 32 Larrauri • 33 Modena • 36 Caffi
Other Drivers Brabham • Donnelly • Dumfries
Cars McLaren MP4/4 • Ferrari F1/87/88C • Benetton B188 • Lotus 100T • Arrows A10B • March 881 • Williams FW12 • Tyrrell 017 • Rial ARC1 • Minardi M188 • Lola LC88 • Dallara 3087 • Dallara F188 • AGS JH22 • AGS JH23 • Coloni FC188 • Ligier JS31 • Osella FA1I • Osella FA1L • EuroBrun ER188 • Zakspeed 881
Tyres Goodyear
Races Brazil • San Marino • Monaco • Mexico • Canada • Detroit • France • Britain • Germany • Hungary • Belgium • Italy • Portugal • Spain • Japan • Australia
See also 1987 Formula One Season • 1989 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
V T E Promotional Trophy
Races 197519761977197819791980198119821983198419851986198719881989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
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