The XXX Gran Premio Tio Pepe de España, otherwise known as the 1988 Spanish Grand Prix, was the fourteenth round of the 1988 FIA Formula One World Championship, staged at the Circuito de Jerez in Jerez, Spain, on the 2 October 1988.[1] The race would see Alain Prost claim victory to maintain his lead in the Championship, as teammate Ayrton Senna battled against a misreading fuel metre.[1]
Qualifing had seen Senna secure pole position as usual, beating teammate Prost by 0.067s.[1] Best of the rest was Nigel Mansell in the Williams-Judd, while his teammate was handed a $10,000 fine for brake testing Julian Bailey after the Brit spoiled one of his flying laps.[1]
Prost made the best getaway at the start, sprinting clear as teammate Senna bogged down and battled turbo-lag.[1] The Brazilian was hence beaten into the first corner by Mansell, while Ivan Capelli and Thierry Boutsen clashed just behind.[1]
Senna would battle with Mansell throughout the early stages of the race, briefly passing the Williams only to run wide and let the Brit back through.[1] Yet, there would be no changes to the order during the opening phase of the race, barring the disappearance of Michele Alboreto on lap 16 with an engine failure.[1]
Indeed, it was only when Senna began to obey the commands of his fuel metre that the order changed, with the Brazilian slipping into the sights of Patrese and Capelli.[2] Senna's pace ultimately proved so poor that Alessandro Nannini and Gerhard Berger could join the fight, with Capelli passing Patrese soon after.[2]
Three laps later and Capelli had passed Senna and claimed third, only for an engine failure to end his race shortly after half-distance.[2] Out front, meanwhile, Prost would keep himself just out of the reach of Mansell through to the pit stops, with the Brit ultimately dropping away after a poor switch to fresh tyres.[2]
That effectively brought an end to the race, with Prost able to stop and rejoin without losing the lead.[1] He duly charged across the line to claim victory for the sixth time in 1988, 26 seconds clear of Mansell in second.[1]
Behind them would come Nannini, who would jump Senna during their pitstops to leave the Brazilian title pretender in fourth.[1] The final points hence went to Patrese and Berger, who had also briefly got ahead of Senna before being passed by the McLaren late on.[1]
Background
Alain Prost had returned to the top of the Championship with his fifth victory of the season last time out, opening out a five point lead over teammate Ayrton Senna. However, the Frenchman had reached the eleven race limit for scoring points, meaning he would be losing dropped scores for the rest of the season. Senna, meanwhile, had one race's grace before he began losing potential points, a small advantage heading into the final three races.
McLaren-Honda had added to their Constructors' Championship winning tally in Portugal, ending the weekend on 157 points. Ferrari were now a race away from securing second, having opened out a 34 point gap back to Benetton-Ford Cosworth in third. The young British squad were instead set to spend the final three races trying to hold onto said position, with Arrows-Megatron, March-Judd and Lotus-Honda all within a win's worth of points.
Entry list
The full entry list for the 1988 Spanish Grand Prix is outlined below:
Practice Overview
Qualifying
Friday Qualifying
Saturday Qualifying
Qualifying Results
The full qualifying results for the 1988 Spanish Grand Prix are outlined below:
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Constructor | Time | Gap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Q2 | |||||
| 1 | 12 |  Ayrton Senna
|
 McLaren-Honda
|
1:24.775 | 1:24.067 | — |
| 2 | 11 |  Alain Prost
|
McLaren-Honda
|
1:26.735 | 1:24.134 | +0.067s |
| 3 | 5 | Nigel Mansell
|
Williams-Judd
|
1:25.898 | 1:24.269 | +0.202s |
| 4* | 20 |  Thierry Boutsen
|
Benetton-Ford Cosworth
|
— | 1:24.904 | +0.837s |
| 5 | 19 |  Alessandro Nannini
|
Benetton-Ford Cosworth
|
1:26.673 | 1:25.032 | +0.965s |
| 6 | 16 | Ivan Capelli
|
March-Judd
|
1:26.221 | 1:25.115 | +1.048s |
| 7 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese
|
Williams-Judd
|
1:27.504 | 1:25.217 | +1.150s |
| 8 | 28 |  Gerhard Berger
|
Ferrari
|
1:27.796 | 1:25.466 | +1.399s |
| 9 | 1 | Nelson Piquet
|
Lotus-Honda
|
1:28.015 | 1:25.648 | +1.581s |
| 10 | 27 | Michele Alboreto
|
Ferrari
|
1:29.034 | 1:26.447 | +2.380s |
| 11 | 15 | Maurício Gugelmin
|
March-Judd
|
1:27.414 | 1:26.578 | +2.511s |
| 12 | 30 | Philippe Alliot
|
Lola-Ford Cosworth
|
1:27.927 | 1:26.832 | +2.765s |
| 13 | 14 | Philippe Streiff
|
AGS-Ford Cosworth
|
1:28.099 | 1:26.971 | +2.904s |
| 14 | 21 | Nicola Larini
|
Osella
|
1:28.417 | 1:27.012 | +2.945s |
| 15 | 2 |  Satoru Nakajima
|
Lotus-Honda
|
1:28.840 | 1:27.171 | +3.104s |
| 16 | 29 | Yannick Dalmas
|
Lola-Ford Cosworth
|
1:29.688 | 1:27.187 | +3.120s |
| 17 | 17 | Derek Warwick
|
Arrows-Megatron
|
1:28.473 | 1:27.240 | +3.173s |
| 18 | 36 | Alex Caffi
|
Dallara-Ford Cosworth
|
1:27.907 | 1:27.350 | +3.283s |
| 19 | 25 | René Arnoux
|
Ligier-Judd
|
1:29.157 | 1:27.351 | +3.284s |
| 20 | 23 | Pierluigi Martini
|
Minardi-Ford Cosworth
|
1:27.826 | 1:27.407 | +3.340s |
| 21 | 26 |  Stefan Johansson
|
Ligier-Judd
|
1:28.009 | 1:27.474 | +3.407s |
| 22 | 3 | Jonathan Palmer
|
Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth
|
1:27.582 | 1:27.548 | +3.481s |
| 23 | 22 | Andrea de Cesaris
|
 Rial-Ford Cosworth
|
1:28.315 | 1:27.798 | +3.731s |
| 24 | 24 |  Luis Pérez-Sala
|
Minardi-Ford Cosworth
|
1:28.694 | 1:27.833 | +3.816s |
| 25 | 18 |  Eddie Cheever
|
Arrows-Megatron
|
1:29.305 | 1:27.859 | +3.792s |
| 26 | 33 | Stefano Modena
|
EuroBrun-Ford Cosworth
|
1:30.759 | 1:27.977 | +3.910s |
| DNQ | 10 | Bernd Schneider
|
Zakspeed
|
1:31.144 | 1:28.194 | +4.127s |
| DNQ | 32 |  Oscar Larrauri
|
EuroBrun-Ford Cosworth
|
1:31.366 | 1:28.664 | +4.597s |
| DNQ | 4 | Julian Bailey
|
Tyrrell-Ford Cosworth
|
1:30.125 | 1:29.066 | +4.999s |
| DNQ | 9 | Piercarlo Ghinzani
|
Zakspeed
|
1:29.824 | 1:29.503 | +5.436s |
| DNPQ | 31 | Gabriele Tarquini
|
Coloni-Ford Cosworth
|
1:30.459 | ||
| Source:[4][5][6] | ||||||
- 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.
- * Boutsen had his first qualifying times deleted for using an illegal front wing.[7]
Grid
| Pos. | Pos. | |
|---|---|---|
| Driver | Driver | |
| ______________ | ||
| Row 1 | ______________ | 1 |
| 2 | Ayrton Senna | |
| Alain Prost | ______________ | |
| Row 2 | ______________ | 3 |
| 4 | Nigel Mansell | |
| Thierry Boutsen | ______________ | |
| Row 3 | ______________ | 5 |
| 6 | Alessandro Nannini | |
| Ivan Capelli | ______________ | |
| Row 4 | ______________ | 7 |
| 8 | Riccardo Patrese | |
| Gerhard Berger | ______________ | |
| Row 5 | ______________ | 9 |
| 10 | Nelson Piquet | |
| Michele Alboreto | ______________ | |
| Row 6 | ______________ | 11 |
| 12 | Maurício Gugelmin | |
| Philippe Alliot | ______________ | |
| Row 7 | ______________ | 13 |
| 14 | Philippe Streiff | |
| Nicola Larini | ______________ | |
| Row 8 | ______________ | 15 |
| 16 | Satoru Nakajima | |
| Yannick Dalmas | ______________ | |
| Row 9 | ______________ | 17 |
| 18 | Derek Warwick | |
| Alex Caffi | ______________ | |
| Row 10 | ______________ | 19 |
| 20 | René Arnoux | |
| Pierluigi Martini | ______________ | |
| Row 11 | ______________ | 21 |
| 22 | Stefan Johansson | |
| Jonathan Palmer | ______________ | |
| Row 12 | ______________ | 23 |
| 24 | Andrea de Cesaris | |
| Luis Pérez-Sala | ______________ | |
| Row 13 | ______________ | 25 |
| 26 | Eddie Cheever | |
| Stefano Modena | ______________ |
Race
Report
Results
The full results for the 1988 Spanish Grand Prix are outlined below:
- T Indicates a driver used their test/spare car.
Milestones
- 100th Grand Prix entry for Zakspeed as a constructor and engine supplier.[8]
- McLaren set a new record for most pole positions in a single season - 13.[8]
- Alain Prost claimed his 34th career victory.[2]
- McLaren secured their 68th win as a constructor.[2]
- Alessandro Nannini secured Benetton's tenth podium as a constructor.[2]
- Gabriele Tarquini set a new record for most failures to pre-qualify - 5.[1]
Standings
Surprisingly there had been no change in the situation at the head of the Championship after the Spanish Grand Prix, with dropped scores coming into play. As such, Alain Prost only gained three points for his sixth victory of the season, by virtue of losing a second place worth six points from earlier in the campaign. That meant that Ayrton Senna, who would also begin losing old scores in Japan, had effectively lost no ground in Spain, in spite of finishing fourth.
In the Constructors' Championship, meanwhile, it had been yet another strong weekend for McLaren-Honda, with the Anglo-Japanese alliance moving 107 points clear. Indeed, Ferrari had all but secured second in Spain in spite of the colossal gap to the leaders, moving 24 points clear with 30 left to fight for. Benetton-Ford Cosworth were the only team capable of beating them to the runner-up spot, with an eighteen point gap separating them from Arrows-Megatron in fourth.
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Only point scoring drivers and constructors are shown.
References
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 'Spanish GP, 1988', grandprix.com, (Inside F1 Inc., 2015), http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/rr466.html, (Accessed 12/04/2019)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 '14. Spain 1988', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2014), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1987/espagne.aspx, (Accessed 13/04/2019)
- ↑ 'Spain 1988: Entrants', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2015), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1988/espagne/engages.aspx, (Accessed 12/04/2019)
- ↑ 'Brazilian Grand Prix 1985 - QUALIFYING 1', formula1.com, (Formula One World Championship Ltd., 2019), https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1985/races/482/brazil/qualifying-1.html, (Accessed 01/04/2019)
- ↑ 'Brazilian Grand Prix 1985 - QUALIFYING 2', formula1.com, (Formula One World Championship Ltd., 2019), https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1985/races/482/brazil/qualifying-2.html, (Accessed 01/04/2019)
- ↑ 'Spain 1988: Qualifications', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2016), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1988/espagne/qualification.aspx, (Accessed 13/04/2019)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 'Spain 1988: Result', statsf1.com, (Stats F1, 2016), https://www.statsf1.com/en/1988/espagne/classement.aspx, (Accessed 13/04/2019)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 '1988 Spanish GP', chicanef1.com, (Chicane F1, 2015), http://www.chicanef1.com/racetit.pl?year=1987&gp=Spanish%20GP&r=1, (Accessed 13/04/2019)
| V T E | Spanish Grand Prix
|
|
|---|---|---|
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