1989 Spanish Grand Prix

The 1989 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Jerez on 1 October 1989. It was the fourteenth race of the 1989 Formula One World Championship. The 73-lap race was won from pole position by Ayrton Senna, driving a McLaren-Honda. Gerhard Berger was second in a Ferrari, while Senna's teammate and Drivers' Championship rival Alain Prost was third.

1989 Spanish Grand Prix
Race 14 of 16 in the 1989 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 1 October 1989
Official name XXXI Gran Premio Tio Pepe de España
Location Circuito Permanente de Jerez
Jerez de la Frontera, Spain
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.218 km (2.6209 miles)
Distance 73 laps, 307.918 km (191.328 miles)
Weather Dry, hot, sunny
Pole position
Driver McLaren-Honda
Time 1:20.291
Fastest lap
Driver Brazil Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda
Time 1:25.779 on lap 55
Podium
First McLaren-Honda
Second Ferrari
Third McLaren-Honda
Lap leaders

With Nigel Mansell banned from the race and fined $50,000 following his disqualification and collision with Senna in Portugal the previous week, Ferrari entered only one car for Berger. Senna's win kept the Drivers' Championship alive, but Prost's result meant that the Brazilian had to win both remaining races in order to beat the Frenchman to the title.

Qualifying

edit

Pre-qualifying report

edit

Osella topped a pre-qualifying session for the first time this season as Nicola Larini was fastest by four tenths of a second, ahead of Onyx driver JJ Lehto. Larini's team-mate Piercarlo Ghinzani was third, only the second time in 1989 he had progressed to the main qualifying sessions. The fourth pre-qualifier was the Larrousse-Lola of Philippe Alliot.

Gabriele Tarquini was fifth in his AGS, his sixth successive failure to pre-qualify. Stefan Johansson was down in sixth in the other Onyx after an engine failure, failing to pre-qualify after his podium achievement at the previous race. Roberto Moreno was seventh in the Coloni, with the other Larrousse-Lola of Michele Alboreto down in eighth, his lowest placing thus far. The usual suspects were in the lower positions, with ninth-placed Bernd Schneider notching up his thirteenth consecutive failure to pre-qualify in the Zakspeed, followed by Yannick Dalmas in the other AGS. Schneider's team-mate Aguri Suzuki was eleventh, his fourteenth failure, ahead of Oscar Larrauri's EuroBrun. Bottom of the timings was Enrico Bertaggia in the second Coloni, over two seconds behind his team-mate Moreno.[1]

Pre-qualifying classification

edit
Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 17   Nicola Larini Osella-Ford 1:23.566
2 37   JJ Lehto Onyx-Ford 1:23.958 +0.392
3 18   Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Ford 1:24.586 +1.020
4 30   Philippe Alliot Lola-Lamborghini 1:24.610 +1.044
5 40   Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:24.847 +1.281
6 36   Stefan Johansson Onyx-Ford 1:24.944 +1.378
7 31   Roberto Moreno Coloni-Ford 1:25.074 +1.508
8 29   Michele Alboreto Lola-Lamborghini 1:25.646 +2.080
9 34   Bernd Schneider Zakspeed-Yamaha 1:25.673 +2.107
10 41   Yannick Dalmas AGS-Ford 1:26.131 +2.565
11 35   Aguri Suzuki Zakspeed-Yamaha 1:26.609 +3.043
12 33   Oscar Larrauri EuroBrun-Judd 1:26.803 +3.237
13 32   Enrico Bertaggia Coloni-Ford 1:27.236 +3.670

Qualifying report

edit

Ayrton Senna blasted around the 4.218 km (2.6209 mi) Jerez circuit in 1:20.291 to take his pole position record to 40. Gerhard Berger was second in his Ferrari 640, only 0.274 seconds behind the man who would be his 1990 teammate at McLaren. Over a second behind Senna in third was world championship leader Alain Prost in his McLaren, with the surprise of late season qualifying, Pierluigi Martini, fourth in his Minardi, the Pirelli qualifying tyres once again coming to the fore. Martini had been an incredible second fastest after Friday qualifying, only 0.388 slower than Senna.

Philippe Alliot snared a career best fifth place on the grid in his Larrousse, proving that both the Lola chassis and the Lamborghini V12 designed by Mauro Forghieri was starting to come good. It also enhanced Alliot's reputation as a demon qualifier.

Williams-Renault entered two different model cars for their drivers Thierry Boutsen and Riccardo Patrese. Boutsen qualified 21st the new Williams FW13 that had debuted in Portugal, while Patrese reverted to the older model FW12C and ended up sixth on the grid ahead his former Brabham teammate Nelson Piquet in a surprisingly fast Lotus.

René Arnoux (Ligier) and the Rial pair of Pierre-Henri Raphanel and Gregor Foitek all failed to qualify for the race.

Qualifying classification

edit
Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 1   Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:21.855 1:20.291
2 28   Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:22.276 1:20.565 +0.274
3 2   Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 1:23.113 1:21.368 +1.077
4 23   Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:22.243 1:21.479 +1.188
5 30   Philippe Alliot Lola-Lamborghini 1:23.597 1:21.708 +1.417
6 6   Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:24.033 1:21.777 +1.486
7 11   Nelson Piquet Lotus-Judd 1:23.235 1:21.922 +1.631
8 7   Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd 1:23.761 1:22.133 +1.842
9 4   Jean Alesi Tyrrell-Ford 1:24.615 1:22.363 +2.072
10 20   Emanuele Pirro Benetton-Ford 1:24.647 1:22.567 +2.276
11 17   Nicola Larini Osella-Ford 1:23.538 1:22.620 +2.329
12 8   Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 1:23.679 1:22.826 +2.535
13 3   Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 1:23.494 1:23.052 +2.761
14 19   Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 1:24.233 1:23.105 +2.814
15 22   Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 1:24.900 1:23.186 +2.895
16 9   Derek Warwick Arrows-Ford 1:24.161 1:23.222 +2.931
17 37   JJ Lehto Onyx-Ford 1:24.322 1:23.243 +2.952
18 12   Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Judd 1:23.309 +3.018
19 16   Ivan Capelli March-Judd 1:23.401 +3.110
20 24   Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford 1:23.908 1:23.443 +3.152
21 5   Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 1:24.839 1:23.657 +3.366
22 10   Eddie Cheever Arrows-Ford 1:24.222 1:23.729 +3.438
23 21   Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 1:24.658 1:23.763 +3.472
24 26   Olivier Grouillard Ligier-Ford 1:24.991 1:23.931 +3.640
25 18   Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Ford 1:26.147 1:24.003 +3.712
26 15   Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 1:28.311 1:24.707 +4.416
27 25   René Arnoux Ligier-Ford 1:26.767 1:25.190 +4.899
28 39   Pierre-Henri Raphanel Rial-Ford 1:28.311 1:25.443 +5.152
29 38   Gregor Foitek Rial-Ford 1:29.226 +8.935

Race

edit

Race report

edit

McLaren's reigning World Champion Ayrton Senna took the pole, set the fastest race lap and kept the world championship alive with his sixth win of the season. Second with his third podium finish in a row following his second in Italy and his win in the previous race in Portugal was the Ferrari 640 of Gerhard Berger. World Championship leader Alain Prost finished third in his McLaren-Honda in what was his last race finish for the team with whom he won the 1985 and 1986 World Drivers' Championships.

Rounding out the points were the 'find of the season' Jean Alesi in his Tyrrell in fourth, the older model Williams-Renault of Patrese in fifth in what would be the FW12C's final race, and giving the Lamborghini V12 its first ever points finish in Formula One was Alliot in what would be the best drive of his Grand Prix career.

Prost's third place gave him a 16-point lead over Senna with only two races to go. If he was to retain his title, the Brazilian would need to win in both Japan and Australia.

Race classification

edit
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1   Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 73 1:47:48.264 1 9
2 28   Gerhard Berger Ferrari 73 + 27.051 2 6
3 2   Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 73 + 53.788 3 4
4 4   Jean Alesi Tyrrell-Ford 72 + 1 Lap 9 3
5 6   Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 72 + 1 Lap 6 2
6 30   Philippe Alliot Lola-Lamborghini 72 + 1 Lap 5 1
7 22   Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 72 + 1 Lap 15  
8 11   Nelson Piquet Lotus-Judd 71 + 2 Laps 7  
9 9   Derek Warwick Arrows-Ford 71 + 2 Laps 16  
10 3   Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 71 + 2 Laps 13  
Ret 10   Eddie Cheever Arrows-Ford 61 Engine 22  
Ret 20   Emanuele Pirro Benetton-Ford 59 Spun Off 10  
Ret 21   Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 55 Engine 23  
Ret 7   Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd 51 Spun Off 8  
Ret 15   Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 47 Collision 26  
Ret 24   Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford 47 Spun Off 20  
Ret 5   Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 40 Fuel Pump 21  
Ret 26   Olivier Grouillard Ligier-Ford 34 Engine 24  
Ret 23   Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 27 Spun Off 4  
Ret 16   Ivan Capelli March-Judd 23 Transmission 19  
Ret 37   JJ Lehto Onyx-Ford 20 Gearbox 17  
Ret 18   Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Ford 17 Gearbox 25  
Ret 19   Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 14 Spun Off 14  
Ret 8   Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 11 Electrical 12  
Ret 17   Nicola Larini Osella-Ford 6 Suspension 11  
Ret 12   Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Judd 0 Collision 18  
DNQ 25   René Arnoux Ligier-Ford        
DNQ 39   Pierre-Henri Raphanel Rial-Ford        
DNQ 38   Gregor Foitek Rial-Ford        
DNPQ 40   Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford        
DNPQ 36   Stefan Johansson Onyx-Ford        
DNPQ 31   Roberto Moreno Coloni-Ford        
DNPQ 29   Michele Alboreto Lola-Lamborghini        
DNPQ 35   Aguri Suzuki Zakspeed-Yamaha        
DNPQ 41   Yannick Dalmas AGS-Ford        
DNPQ 34   Bernd Schneider Zakspeed-Yamaha        
DNPQ 33   Oscar Larrauri EuroBrun-Judd        
DNPQ 32   Enrico Bertaggia Coloni-Ford        
Source:[2]

Championship standings after the race

edit
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

edit
  1. ^ Walker, Murray (1989). Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year. First Formula Publishing. pp. 117–124. ISBN 1-870066-22-7.
  2. ^ "1989 Spanish Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Spain 1988 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.


Previous race:
1989 Portuguese Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1989 season
Next race:
1989 Japanese Grand Prix
Previous race:
1988 Spanish Grand Prix
Spanish Grand Prix Next race:
1990 Spanish Grand Prix