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1988 German Grand Prix

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1988 German Grand Prix
Race 9 of 16 in the 1988 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 24 July 1988
Official name Mobil 1 Grosser Preis von Deutschland
Location Hockenheimring, Hockenheim, West Germany
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 6.802 km (4.227 miles)
Distance 44 laps, 299.068 km (185.832 miles)
Weather Wet and cool
Pole position
Driver McLaren-Honda
Time 1:44.596
Fastest lap
Driver Italy Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford
Time 2:03.032 on lap 40
Podium
First McLaren-Honda
Second McLaren-Honda
Third Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 1988 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 24 July 1988 at the Hockenheimring, Hockenheim. It was the ninth race of the 1988 Formula One World Championship.

The 44-lap race was won from pole position by Ayrton Senna, driving a McLaren-Honda, with teammate Alain Prost second and Gerhard Berger third in a Ferrari. The win, Senna's fifth of the season, moved him to within three points of Prost at the top of the Drivers' Championship.

Report

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Pre-race

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At the midpoint of the season, the pre-qualifiers were re-evaluated. After a fourth-place finish in the Detroit Grand Prix, the Rial of Andrea de Cesaris was promoted to the top 26 cars automatically entered into the main qualifying sessions. Relegated to pre-qualifying was the Osella of Nicola Larini.

Before the German Grand Prix, Williams announced that Thierry Boutsen would be joining the team in 1989 as the replacement for Nigel Mansell, who was moving to Ferrari.

Qualifying

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Qualifying saw Ayrton Senna take his seventh pole position of the season by just under 0.3 seconds from McLaren teammate Alain Prost. Gerhard Berger was third in his Ferrari, albeit over a second behind Prost, with teammate Michele Alboreto fourth, a further second behind. Nelson Piquet took fifth in his Lotus, with Alessandro Nannini sixth in his Benetton, the highest-placed non-turbo car. The Marches of Ivan Capelli and Maurício Gugelmin took seventh and tenth respectively, sandwiching Satoru Nakajima in the second Lotus and Boutsen in the second Benetton.

Race

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There had been thunderstorms all weekend. The rain stopped on Sunday morning, but there were concerns over which type of tyre to use for the race. In the end, everyone started on wet tyres with the exception of Piquet, who gambled on the track drying out.

At the start, Senna led away while Prost dropped behind Berger and a fast-starting Nannini. Piquet's gamble failed to pay off as he aquaplaned off the track at the Ostkurve chicane and hit the barriers, limping back to the pits to retire. Prost re-passed Nannini on lap 8, while on lap 9 Philippe Alliot, who had pitted for slick tyres, spun his Lola off at the Ostkurve while allowing Senna to lap him. Prost overtook Berger for second on lap 12, but by then Senna was 12 seconds ahead.

Senna and Prost maintained their 1-2 until the chequered flag, despite a late spin by the Frenchman coming out of the Ostkurve. It was Senna's fifth win of the season, as well as the sixth 1-2 for McLaren; the Brazilian thus moved within three points of Prost in the Drivers' Championship.

Berger and Alboreto finished third and fourth respectively. Berger's podium finish was to be the last achieved by the Ferrari team during Enzo Ferrari's lifetime, as he died three weeks later. Nannini was running fourth when he had to pit seven laps from the end due to a broken throttle bracket, losing four laps as a result; a charge brought him the fastest lap of the race, though he still finished only 18th. Capelli inherited fifth despite having no clutch for the last 30 laps, while Boutsen took the final point for sixth.

Mansell retired from seventh with a spin after a broken bolt had jammed his gearbox. Bernd Schneider achieved his first Grand Prix finish in his home race, coming home 12th, which turned out to be the highest finish of the season for the Zakspeed team.

Classification

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Pre-qualifying

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Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 21 Italy Nicola Larini Osella 1:52.321
2 36 Italy Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 1:53.031 +0.710
3 32 Argentina Oscar Larrauri EuroBrun-Ford 1:54.184 +1.863
4 33 Italy Stefano Modena EuroBrun-Ford 1:54.317 +1.996
DNPQ 31 Italy Gabriele Tarquini Coloni-Ford 1:54.358 +2.037

Qualifying

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Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 12 Brazil Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:44.596 1:50.002
2 11 France Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 1:44.873 1:45.868 +0.277
3 28 Austria Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:46.115 1:46.431 +1.519
4 27 Italy Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:47.154 1:47.418 +2.558
5 1 Brazil Nelson Piquet Lotus-Honda 1:47.702 1:47.681 +3.085
6 19 Italy Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 1:48.223 1:48.208 +3.612
7 16 Italy Ivan Capelli March-Judd 1:48.703 1:49.750 +4.107
8 2 Japan Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 1:49.359 1:48.781 +4.185
9 20 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford 1:48.837 1:49.966 +4.241
10 15 Brazil Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 1:49.511 1:49.645 +4.915
11 5 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Williams-Judd 1:49.850 1:50.673 +5.254
12 17 United Kingdom Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 1:50.459 1:50.770 +5.863
13 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Judd 1:51.105 1:50.719 +6.213
14 22 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Rial-Ford 1:51.004 1:51.859 +6.408
15 18 United States Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 1:51.385 1:51.171 +6.575
16 14 France Philippe Streiff AGS-Ford 1:52.348 1:51.642 +7.046
17 25 France René Arnoux Ligier-Judd 1:54.139 1:52.080 +7.484
18 21 Italy Nicola Larini Osella 1:52.203 1:52.168 +7.572
19 36 Italy Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 1:52.469 1:52.277 +7.681
20 30 France Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 1:52.293 1:52.629 +7.697
21 29 France Yannick Dalmas Lola-Ford 1:52.795 1:52.436 +7.840
22 10 West Germany Bernd Schneider Zakspeed 1:52.696 1:52.664 +8.068
23 9 Italy Piercarlo Ghinzani Zakspeed 1:52.674 1:57.241 +8.078
24 3 United Kingdom Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 1:53.238 1:52.908 +8.312
25 33 Italy Stefano Modena EuroBrun-Ford 1:52.998 1:53.904 +8.402
26 32 Argentina Oscar Larrauri EuroBrun-Ford 1:53.832 1:53.043 +8.447
DNQ 24 Spain Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford 1:53.356 1:53.673 +8.760
DNQ 26 Sweden Stefan Johansson Ligier-Judd 1:54.717 1:53.507 +8.911
DNQ 4 United Kingdom Julian Bailey Tyrrell-Ford 1:53.674 1:53.576 +8.980
DNQ 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:53.720 1:53.673 +9.077

Race

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 12 Brazil Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 44 1:32:54.188 1 9
2 11 France Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 44 + 13.609 2 6
3 28 Austria Gerhard Berger Ferrari 44 + 52.095 3 4
4 27 Italy Michele Alboreto Ferrari 44 + 1:40.912 4 3
5 16 Italy Ivan Capelli March-Judd 44 + 1:49.606 7 2
6 20 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford 43 + 1 Lap 9 1
7 17 United Kingdom Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 43 + 1 Lap 12  
8 15 Brazil Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 43 + 1 Lap 10  
9 2 Japan Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 43 + 1 Lap 8  
10 18 United States Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 43 + 1 Lap 15  
11 3 United Kingdom Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 43 + 1 Lap 24  
12 10 West Germany Bernd Schneider Zakspeed 43 + 1 Lap 22  
13 22 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Rial-Ford 42 + 2 Laps 14  
14 9 Italy Piercarlo Ghinzani Zakspeed 42 + 2 Laps 23  
15 36 Italy Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 42 + 2 Laps 19  
16 32 Argentina Oscar Larrauri EuroBrun-Ford 42 + 2 Laps 26  
17 25 France René Arnoux Ligier-Judd 41 + 3 Laps 17  
18 19 Italy Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 40 + 4 Laps 6  
19 29 France Yannick Dalmas Lola-Ford 39 Clutch 21  
Ret 14 France Philippe Streiff AGS-Ford 38 Throttle 16  
Ret 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Williams-Judd 34 Spun Off 13  
Ret 21 Italy Nicola Larini Osella 27 Engine 18  
Ret 5 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Williams-Judd 16 Spun Off 11  
Ret 33 Italy Stefano Modena EuroBrun-Ford 15 Engine 25  
Ret 30 France Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 8 Spun Off 20  
Ret 1 Brazil Nelson Piquet Lotus-Honda 1 Spun Off 5  
DNQ 24 Spain Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford    
DNQ 26 Sweden Stefan Johansson Ligier-Judd    
DNQ 4 United Kingdom Julian Bailey Tyrrell-Ford    
DNQ 23 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford    
DNPQ 31 Italy Gabriele Tarquini Coloni-Ford      
Source:[1]

Championship standings after the race

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

References

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  1. ^ "1988 German Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Germany 1988 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.


Previous race:
1988 British Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1988 season
Next race:
1988 Hungarian Grand Prix
Previous race:
1987 German Grand Prix
German Grand Prix Next race:
1989 German Grand Prix