The 1988 French Grand Prix, otherwise officially advertised as the 74e Rhône-Poulenc Grand Prix de France, was the seventh round of the 1988 FIA Formula One World Championship, staged at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France, on the 3 July 1988.[1] The race would see Alain Prost claim a dominant home victory for McLaren-Honda, half a minute clear of teammate Ayrton Senna.[1]
Qualifying once again proved to be a McLaren-Honda benefit, although Prost cause something of an upset by beating Senna to pole, with almost half a second between them.[1] Best of the rest was Gerhard Berger in the #28 Ferrari, two tenths off of Senna, while Michele Alboreto was over a second slower than his teammate in fourth.[1]
Prost duly beat Senna off the line to claim the lead at the start, while Nelson Piquet charged through from seventh to challenge the Ferraris.[1] The defending Champion ultimately had to slot his Lotus in behind Alboreto, however, a shuffle which allowed both Prost and Senna to ease clear during the opening lap.[1]
Indeed, in a repeat of their performance from Canada the two McLarens worked together during the early stages, pulling out a sizeable lead. Behind, Berger would be forced to concede third to his teammate Alboreto by making an early stop, with the pair still being harassed by Piquet.
Senna would make his mid-race stop for tyres three laps earlier than Prost, and duly managed to take the lead as the Frenchman lost time with a sticking wheel.[1] The Brazilian subsequently established a small lead, although a gearbox issue for Senna saw his pace gradually drop off.[1]
Yet, Prost was still unable to make a move on his teammate, and would have to wait until the pair came to lap a stubborn Piquet to retake the lead.[1] Prost subsequently eased ahead as Senna's gearbox issues worsened, opening out a thirty second advantage before the end of the race.[1]
Indeed, there were no further changes to the order after Prost's pass, with the Frenchman extending his Championship lead with his fourth win of the season. Senna limped home in second, still half a minute ahead of Alboreto, with Berger, Piquet and Alessandro Nannini claiming the remaining points.
Background[]
Alain Prost had seen his lead reduced by teammate Ayrton Senna in Detroit last time out, although the Frenchman still held a healthy twelve point advantage. Those two were in a class of their own at the head of the field, with Senna fifteen clear of third placed Gerhard Berger, already making the Austrian an outsider for the Championship. Elsewhere, Thierry Boutsen had moved ahead of Nelson Piquet to claim fifth in Detroit, with fifteen drivers on the score board.
It was also pure domination in the Constructors' Championship, with McLaren-Honda having moved onto 78 points after their fourth one-two of the season in the US. They hence left Detroit with a 51 point lead, more than three races worth of points, with Ferrari still their largest threat in second. Elsewhere, Benetton-Ford Cosworth had moved ahead of Lotus-Honda on count-back, and hence claimed third, while Arrows-Megatron retained their spot in the top five.
Entry list[]
The full entry list for the 1988 French Grand Prix is outlined below:
Practice Overview[]
Qualifying[]
Friday Qualifying[]
Saturday Qualifying[]
Qualifying Results[]
The full qualifying results for the 1988 French Grand Prix are outlined below:
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Q2 | |||||
| 1 | 11 |  Alain Prost
|
 McLaren-Honda
|
1:08.171 | 1:07.589 | — |
| 2 | 12 |  Ayrton Senna
|
McLaren-Honda
|
1:08.456 | 1:08.067 | +0.478s |
| 3 | 28 |  Gerhard Berger
|
 Ferrari
|
1:09.032 | 1:08.282 | +0.693s |
| 4 | 27 | Michele Alboreto
|
Ferrari
|
1:09.624 | 1:09.422 | +1.833s |
| 5 | 20 |  Thierry Boutsen
|
Benetton-Ford Cosworth
|
1:11.170 | 1:09.587 | +1.998s |
| 6 | 19 | Alessandro Nannini
|
Benetton-Ford Cosworth
|
1:10.743 | 1:09.718 | +2.129s |
| 7 | 1 | Nelson Piquet
|
Lotus-Honda
|
1:09.734 | 1:09.900 | +2.145s |
| 8 | 2 |  Satoru Nakajima
|
Lotus-Honda
|
1:11.394 | 1:10.250 | +2.661s |
| 9 | 5 | Nigel Mansell
|
Williams-Judd
|
1:11.112 | 1:10.337 | +2.748d |
| 10 | 16 | Ivan Capelli
|
March-Judd
|
1:11.779 | 1:10.496 | +2.907s |
| 11 | 17 | Derek Warwick
|
Arrows-Megatron
|
1:11.339 | 1:10.634 | +3.045s |
| 12 | 22 | Andrea de Cesaris
|
 Rial-Ford Cosworth
|
1:11.854 | 1:10.861 | +3.272s |
| 13 | 18 |  Eddie Cheever
|
Arrows-Megatron
|
1:11.567 | 1:10.979 | +3.390s |
| 14 | 36 | Alex Caffi
|
Dallara-Ford Cosworth
|
1:13.144 | 1:11.211 | +3.622s |
| 15 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese
|
Williams-Judd
|
1:11.671 | 1:11.286 | +3.697s |
| 16 | 15 | Maurício Gugelmin
|
March-Judd
|
1:11.315 | 1:11.404 | +3.726s |
| 17 | 14 | Philippe Streiff
|
AGS-Ford Cosworth
|
1:12.004 | 1:11.466 | +3.877s |
| 18 | 30 | Philippe Alliot
|
Lola-Ford Cosworth
|
1:12.286 | 1:11.511 | +3.922s |
| 19 | 29 | Yannick Dalmas
|
Lola-Ford Cosworth
|
1:12.547 | 1:11.747 | +4.158s |
| 20 | 33 | Stefano Modena
|
EuroBrun-Ford Cosworth
|
1:12.997 | 1:12.007 | +4.418s |
| 21 | 10 | Bernd Schneider
|
Zakspeed
|
1:13.527 | 1:12.026 | +4.437s |
| 22 | 23 | Pierluigi Martini
|
Minardi-Ford Cosworth
|
1:13.039 | 1:12.268 | +4.679s |
| 23 | 3 | Jonathan Palmer
|
Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth
|
1:13.063 | 1:12.316 | +4.727s |
| 24 | 21 | Nicola Larini
|
Osella
|
1:13.037 | 1:12.406 | +4.817s |
| 25 | 24 |  Luis Pérez-Sala
|
Minardi-Ford Cosworth
|
1:12.938 | 1:12.525 | +4.936s |
| 26 | 32 |  Oscar Larrauri
|
EuroBrun-Ford Cosworth
|
1:13.888 | 1:12.538 | +4.949s |
| DNQ | 25 | René Arnoux
|
Ligier-Judd
|
1:12.654 | 1:12.736 | +5.065s |
| DNQ | 4 | Julian Bailey
|
Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth
|
1:13.839 | 1:12.697 | +5.108s |
| DNQ | 26 |  Stefan Johansson
|
Ligier-Judd
|
1:13.629 | 1:12.801 | +5.212s |
| EXC* | 9 | Piercarlo Ghinzani
|
Zakspeed
|
1:14.797 | 1:12.121 | +4.332s |
| DNPQ | 31 | Gabriele Tarquini
|
Coloni-Ford Cosworth
|
1:14.214 | ||
| 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.
- * Ghinzani was excluded from the results of qualifying after missing a weight-check.[6]
Grid[]
| Pos. | Pos. | |
|---|---|---|
| Driver | Driver | |
| ______________ | ||
| Row 1 | ______________ | 1 |
| 2 | Alain Prost | |
| Ayrton Senna | ______________ | |
| Row 2 | ______________ | 3 |
| 4 | Gerhard Berger | |
| Michele Alboreto | ______________ | |
| Row 3 | ______________ | 5 |
| 6 | Thierry Boutsen | |
| Alessandro Nannini | ______________ | |
| Row 4 | ______________ | 7 |
| 8 | Nelson Piquet | |
| Satoru Nakajima | ______________ | |
| Row 5 | ______________ | 9 |
| 10 | Nigel Mansell | |
| Ivan Capelli | ______________ | |
| Row 6 | ______________ | 11 |
| 12 | Derek Warwick | |
| Andrea de Cesaris | ______________ | |
| Row 7 | ______________ | 13 |
| 14 | Eddie Cheever | |
| Alex Caffi | ______________ | |
| Row 8 | ______________ | 15 |
| 16 | Riccardo Patrese | |
| Maurício Gugelmin | ______________ | |
| Row 9 | ______________ | 17 |
| 18 | Philippe Streiff | |
| Philippe Alliot | ______________ | |
| Row 10 | ______________ | 19 |
| 20 | Yannick Dalmas | |
| Stefano Modena | ______________ | |
| Row 11 | ______________ | 21 |
| 22 | Bernd Schneider | |
| Pierluigi Martini | ______________ | |
| Row 12 | ______________ | 23 |
| 24 | Jonathan Palmer | |
| Nicola Larini | ______________ | |
| Row 13 | ______________ | 25 |
| 26 | Luis Pérez-Sala | |
| Oscar Larrauri | ______________ |
Race[]
Report[]
Results[]
The full results for the 1988 French Grand Prix are outlined below:
- T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car.
- * Pérez-Sala was unable to be classified as he failed to complete 90% of the race distance.[6]
Milestones[]
- AGS entered their 25th Grand Prix as a constructor.[7]
- Tenth entry for Yannick Dalmas.[7]
- 250th entry for a car using #19 as its race number.[7]
- Alain Prost recorded the 200th pole position for a car using Goodyear tyres.[7]
- Prost claimed his 32nd victory.[8]
- McLaren secured their 62nd win as a constructor.[8]
- 30th podium finish for Ayrton Senna.[8]
Standings[]
Alain Prost 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, and some 33 behind Prost.
In the Constructors' Championship it had been another incredibly good day for McLaren-Honda, with their fifth one-two of the campaign putting them onto 93 points. That translated into a crushing 59 point lead over second placed Ferrari, 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.
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Only point scoring drivers and constructors are shown.
References[]
Images and Videos:
References:
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 'French GP, 1987', grandprix.com, (Inside F1 Inc., 2014), http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr459.html, (Accessed 10/04/2019)
- ↑ 'France 1988: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1988/france/engages.aspx, (Accessed 10/04/2019)
- ↑ 'French Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 1', formula1.com, (Formula One World Championship Ltd., 2019), https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1988/races/533/france/qualifying-1.html, (Accessed 10/04/2019)
- ↑ 'French Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 2', formula1.com, (Formula One World Championship Ltd., 2019), https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1988/races/533/france/qualifying-1.html, (Accessed 10/04/2019)
- ↑ 'France 1988: Qualifications', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2016), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1988/france/qualification.aspx, (Accessed 10/04/2019)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 'France 1988: Result', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2016), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1988/france/classement.aspx, (Accessed 10/04/2019)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 '1988 French GP', chicanef1.com, (Chicane F1, 2014), http://www.chicanef1.com/racetit.pl?year=1988&gp=French%20GP&r=1, (Accessed 10/04/2019)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 '7. France 1988', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2014), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1988/france.aspx, (Accessed 10/04/2019)
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