The 1988 German Grand Prix, otherwise officially advertised as the L Mobil 1 Großer Preis von Deutschland, was the ninth round of the 1988 FIA Formula One World Championship, staged at the Hockenheimring in Hockenheim, West Germany, on the 24 July 1988.[1] The race, which was the 50th German Grand Prix to be staged, would see Ayrton Senna claim victory on a wet but drying track.[1]
The annual trip to Germany had been heralded with the first news for the 1989 season, with Ferrari announcing that they had signed Nigel Mansell for the upcoming campaign.[2] Williams were quick to find a replacement, hiring Thierry Boutsen from Benetton-Ford Cosworth, while also inching closer to a deal to use Renault V10s for the new season.[2]
Qualifying would be staged in between a number of summer storms, although that was not enough to prevent Senna sweeping to pole, three tenths clear of teammate Alain Prost.[1] The Ferraris were best of the rest, Gerhard Berger ahead of Michele Alboreto, while Nelson Piquet was almost three seconds off the pace in fifth.[1]
Rain greeted the field on race morning, although as the start time approached the rain cleared away to leave a drying circuit.[1] Ultimately, however, it was only Piquet who gambled on starting with slick tyres, everyone else playing safe with wets.[1]
That proved to be a poor move at the start, with Piquet tumbling down the order as Senna sprinted into the lead.[1] Prost would also make a poor get away and dropped behind Berger and a fast starting Alessandro Nannini, leaving him fourth as the field plunged into the forest.[1]
Senna would dance away at the head of the field during the opening laps, leaving Prost to battle his way back up to second by the end of the twelve.[1] The Frenchman would also ease away from the back in a vein attempt to catch his Brazilian teammate, leaving Berger and Nannini to scrap for third.[1]
Indeed, the race soon settled after that point, with the only major changes to the order coming through accident or mishap.[1] Senna was hence left unopposed to claim his fifth win of the season, while teammate Prost survived a late spin to secure second and retain his lead in the Championship.[1]
Third would go to Berger, albeit after Nannini had to make a late stop with a broken throttle bracket.[1] Alboreto hence inherited fourth ahead of Ivan Capelli, while Boutsen secured sixth in his Benetton.[1]
Background
Edit
Victory for Ayrton Senna last time out in Britain had seen 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 the only drivers realistically in the hunt for the crown as the field arrived in Germany, with Gerhard Berger having continued to lose ground in third.
McLaren-Honda had 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 at Silverstone, 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.
Entry listEdit
The full entry list for the 1988 German Grand Prix is outlined below:
Practice OverviewEdit
Pre-QualifyingEdit
ReportEdit
QualifyingEdit
Friday QualifyingEdit
Saturday QualifyingEdit
Qualifying ResultsEdit
The full qualifying results for the 1988 German Grand Prix are outlined below:
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Q2 | |||||
| 1 | 12 |  Ayrton Senna
|  McLaren-Honda
| 1:44.596 | 1:50.002 | — |
| 2 | 11 |  Alain Prost
| McLaren-Honda
| 1:44.873 | 1:45.868 | +0.277s |
| 3 | 28 |  Gerhard Berger
|  Ferrari
| 1:46.115 | 1:46.431 | +1.519s |
| 4 | 27 | Michele Alboreto
| Ferrari
| 1:47.154 | 1:47.418 | +2.558s |
| 5 | 1 | Nelson Piquet
| Lotus-Honda
| 1:47.702 | 1:47.681 | +3.085s |
| 6 | 19 | Alessandro Nannini
| Benetton-Ford Cosworth
| 1:48.223 | 1:48.208 | +3.612s |
| 7 | 16 | Ivan Capelli
| March-Judd
| 1:48.703 | 1:49.750 | +4.107s |
| 8 | 2 |  Satoru Nakajima
| Lotus-Honda
| 1:49.359 | 1:48.781 | +4.185s |
| 9 | 20 |  Thierry Boutsen
| Benetton-Ford Cosworth
| 1:48.837 | 1:49.966 | +4.241s |
| 10 | 15 | Maurício Gugelmin
| March-Judd
| 1:49.511 | 1:49.645 | +4.915s |
| 11 | 5 | Nigel Mansell
| Williams-Judd
| 1:49.850 | 1:50.673 | +5.254s |
| 12 | 17 | Derek Warwick
| Arrows-Megatron
| 1:50.459 | 1:50.770 | +5.863s |
| 13 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese
| Williams-Judd
| 1:51.105 | 1:50.719 | +6.213s |
| 14 | 22 | Andrea de Cesaris
|  Rial-Ford Cosworth
| 1:51.004 | 1:51.859 | +6.408s |
| 15 | 18 |  Eddie Cheever
| Arrows-Megatron
| 1:51.385 | 1:51.171 | +6.575s |
| 16 | 14 | Philippe Streiff
| AGS-Cosworth
| 1:52.348 | 1:51.642 | +7.046s |
| 17 | 25 | René Arnoux
| Ligier-Judd
| 1:54.139 | 1:52.080 | +7.484s |
| 18 | 21 | Nicola Larini
| Osella
| 1:52.203 | 1:52.168 | +7.572s |
| 19 | 36 | Alex Caffi
| Dallara-Ford Cosworth
| 1:52.469 | 1:52.277 | +7.681s |
| 20 | 30 | Philippe Alliot
| Lola-Ford Cosworth
| 1:52.293 | 1:52.629 | +7.697s |
| 21 | 29 | Yannick Dalmas
| Lola-Ford Cosworth
| 1:52.795 | 1:52.436 | +7.840s |
| 22 | 10 | Bernd Schneider
| Zakspeed
| 1:52.696 | 1:52.664 | +8.068s |
| 23 | 9 | Piercarlo Ghinzani
| Zakspeed
| 1:52.674 | 1:57.241 | +8.078s |
| 24 | 3 | Jonathan Palmer
| Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth
| 1:53.238 | 1:52.908 | +8.312s |
| 25 | 33 | Stefano Modena
| EuroBrun-Ford Cosworth
| 1:52.998 | 1:53.904 | +8.312s |
| 26 | 32 |  Oscar Larrauri
| EuroBrun-Ford Cosworth
| 1:53.832 | 1:53.043 | +8.447s |
| DNQ | 24 |  Luis Pérez-Sala
| Minardi-Ford Cosworth
| 1:53.356 | 1:53.673 | +8.760s |
| DNQ | 26 |  Stefan Johansson
| Ligier-Judd
| 1:54.717 | 1:53.507 | +8.911s |
| DNQ | 4 | Julian Bailey
| Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth
| 1:53.674 | 1:53.576 | +8.980s |
| DNQ | 23 | Pierluigi Martini
| Minardi-Ford Cosworth
| 1:53.720 | 1:53.596 | +9.000s |
| DNPQ | 31 | Gabriele Tarquini
| Coloni-Ford Cosworth
| 1:54.717 | ||
| Source:[4][5][6] | ||||||
GridEdit
The full starting grid for the 1988 German Grand Prix is outlined below:
| Pos | Pos | |
|---|---|---|
| Driver | Driver | |
| ______________ | ||
| Row 1 | 1 | ______________ |
| Ayrton Senna | 2 | |
| ______________ | Alain Prost | |
| Row 2 | 3 | ______________ |
| Gerhard Berger | 4 | |
| ______________ | Michele Alboreto | |
| Row 3 | 5 | ______________ |
| Nelson Piquet | 6 | |
| ______________ | Alessandro Nannini | |
| Row 4 | 7 | ______________ |
| Ivan Capelli | 8 | |
| ______________ | Satoru Nakajima | |
| Row 5 | 9 | ______________ |
| Thierry Boutsen | 10 | |
| ______________ | Maurício Gugelmin | |
| Row 6 | 11 | ______________ |
| Nigel Mansell | 12 | |
| ______________ | Derek Warwick | |
| Row 7 | 13 | ______________ |
| Riccardo Patrese | 14 | |
| ______________ | Andrea de Cesaris | |
| Row 8 | 15 | ______________ |
| Eddie Cheever | 16 | |
| ______________ | Philippe Streiff | |
| Row 9 | 17 | ______________ |
| René Arnoux | 18 | |
| ______________ | Nicola Larini | |
| Row 10 | 19 | ______________ |
| Alex Caffi | 20 | |
| ______________ | Philippe Alliot | |
| Row 11 | 21 | ______________ |
| Yannick Dalmas | 22 | |
| ______________ | Bernd Schneider | |
| Row 12 | 23 | ______________ |
| Piercarlo Ghinzani | 24 | |
| ______________ | Jonathan Palmer | |
| Row 13 | 25 | ______________ |
| Stefano Modena | 26 | |
| ______________ | Oscar Larrauri |
RaceEdit
ReportEdit
ResultsEdit
The full results for the 1988 German Grand Prix are outlined below:
- * Dalmas was still classified despite retiring as he had complete 90% of the race distance.
MilestonesEdit
- 500th entry for a March chassis.[8]
- Honda registered their 250th individual entry as an engine supplier.[8]
- Nelson Piquet made his 150th Grand Prix start.[2]
- Satoru Nakajima registered his 25th race entry.[8]
- Tenth entries for Gabriele Tarquini and Stefano Modena.[8]
- Eleventh victory for Ayrton Senna.[2]
- 64th win for McLaren as a constructor.[2]
- Alessandro Nannini recorded his first fastest lap.[2]
StandingsEdit
Alain Prost was left with a three point lead at the end of the German Grand Prix, second place in Germany having moved the Frenchman onto 60 points. Ayrton Senna was, however, the man in form, with his fifth victory of the campaign moving him onto 57 points and a major threat for the crown. Best of the rest was still Gerhard Berger in third, although he had slipped 32 points behind Senna in the hunt for the title.
The Constructors' Championship, meanwhile, was effectively over in Germany, with McLaren-Honda leaving Germany with a 76 point lead. Indeed, their tally of 117 was almost three times that of second placed Ferrari, who were instead focusing on finishing the season as close to the Anglo-Japanese squad as possible, rather than truly challenging. They were, however, a safe second heading into the second half of the season, with Benetton-Ford Cosworth and Lotus-Honda having lost more ground behind.
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Only point scoring drivers and constructors are shown.
ReferencesEdit
Images and Videos:
References:
- ↑ 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 'German GP, 1988', grandprix.com, (Inside F1 Inc., 2015), http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr461.html, (Accessed 11/04/2019)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 '9. Germany 1988', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2014), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1988/allemagne.aspx, (Accessed 11/04/2019)
- ↑ 'Germany 1988: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1988/allemagne/engages.aspx, (Accessed 10/04/2019)
- ↑ 'Mobil German Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 1', formula1.com, (Formula One World Championship Ltd., 2019), https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1988/races/535/germany/qualifying-1.html, (Accessed 11/04/2019)
- ↑ 'Mobil German Grand Prix - QUALIFYING 2', formula1.com, (Formula One World Championship Ltd., 2019), https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1988/races/535/germany/qualifying-2.html, (Accessed 11/04/2019)
- ↑ 'Germany 1988: Qualifications', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1988/allemagne/qualification.aspx, (Accessed 11/04/2019)
- ↑ 'Germany 1988: Result', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2016), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1988/allemagne/classement.aspx, (Accessed 11/04/2019)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 '1988 German GP', chicanef1.com, (Chicane F1, 2015), http://www.chicanef1.com/racetit.pl?year=1988&gp=German%20GP&r=1, (Accessed 11/04/2019)
| V T E | German Grand Prix
| |
|---|---|---|
| Circuits | Nürburgring (1951–1954, 1956–1958, 1960–1969, 1971–1976, 1985, 2007–2013*), AVUS (1959), Hockenheimring (1970, 1977–1984, 1986–2006, 2007–2014*, 2016, 2018–2019) |   |
| Races | 1950 • 1951 • 1952 • 1953 • 1954 • 1955 • 1956 • 1957 • 1958 • 1959 • 1960 • 1961 • 1962 • 1963 • 1964 • 1965 • 1966 • 1967 • 1968 • 1969 • 1970 • 1971 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979 • 1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 • 2009 • 2010 • 2011 • 2012 • 2013 • 2014 • 2015 • 2016 • 2017 • 2018 • 2019 • 2020 • | |
| * Nürburgring and Hockenheimring alternated between each other during these years. | ||
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