- 1 Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
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16o Grande Premio do Brasil Date: April 12 1987 Location: Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Course: Permanent racing facility 5.031 km (3.126 mi) Distance: 61 laps, 306.891 km (190.70 mi) Weather: Sunny Qualifings were dominated by the Honda powered Williams, with Nigel Mansell ahead of Nelson Piquet. Third was Ayrton Senna, with Lotus. The total number of cars entered for the event was 23, but on race day the March team ran out of engines and there were only 22 entrants. At the start Piquet was fastest, taking the lead from Senna, while Mansell made a bad start; the Benettons of Thierry Boutsen and Teo Fabi outdragged him and Alain Prost. Piquet's lead did not last long: on lap 7, he had to pit with engine overheating caused by litter on the track getting into the radiator sidepods. He rejoined back in 11th position, leaving Senna to lead Mansell (who in the meantime fought back to second) although he too entered in the pits to have his radiators cleared. He rejoined behind Piquet, and the pair began to climb through the field. Then, Senna pitted because of handling troubles of his Lotus and so Prost went into the lead. When he stopped for fresh tires the lead was briefly passed to Thierry Boutsen, who was performing admirably with his Benetton, before Piquet went back to first before his second stop, on lap 21. Prost then went ahead again and led for the rest of the race, never looking threatened as he preserved his tyres to only require two stops, while his rivals Senna and Piquet had three. Mansell's race was compromised late in the race by a tyre puncture, who sent him back to seventh place. On lap 51 Senna suffered an engine failure, causing him to retire from the 2nd place he held for much of the race despite problems with the Lotus' active suspensions. Prost won ahead of Piquet, his teammate Stefan Johansson, Gerhard Berger (who battled for the whole race with handling problems of his Ferrari), Boutsen and Mansell, who caught the last point. Notes - This was Prost's 26th victory, which made him the second most successful Grand Prix driver at the time, after Jackie Stewart. - Adrián Campos was disqualified for an incorrect starting procedure.
Air Date: 1987-04-12
- 2 Imola (San Marino)
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7o Gran Premio di San Marino Date: May 3 1987 Location: Autodromo Dino Ferrari, Imola, Italy Course: Permanent racing facility 5.040 km (3.131 mi) Distance: 59 laps, 297.360 km (184.770 mi) Weather: Sunny, warm Pole position: Ayrton Senna: Lotus-Honda 1:25.826 Fastest lap: Teo Fabi Benetton-Ford 1:29.246 on lap 51 In Friday practice, championship contender Nelson Piquet was eliminated from the race after an accident at the Tamburello corner. A tyre of his Williams failed, which resulted in a violent impact against the wall. Whilst in his opinion he had only sustained a sore ankle, he was taken to the nearby Bellaria-Igea Marina hospital, and after medical checks he was forbidden to start by FIA Medical Delegate Sid Watkins. Alarmed by excessive blistering and the suggestion that Piquet's accident may have been caused by a tyre deflation, Goodyear withdrew all the tyres issued to teams. A replacement selection was flown in and despite the lack of Customs officials due to an Italian public holiday, the new rubber was available for all teams to race on by Sunday. Saturday's qualifing went on smoothly, with Ayrton Senna claiming pole position on his Lotus, with Nigel Mansell, on the second Williams, aside him in the front row. The second row was occupied by Teo Fabi in the Benetton and Alain Prost's McLaren; "home" team Ferrari took the whole third row with Michele Alboreto ahead of Gerhard Berger. The race required two starts as Martin Brundle, Thierry Boutsen and Eddie Cheever stalled on the original grid. Satoru Nakajima started from the pit lane owing to a faulty battery, and René Arnoux failed to take the second start after the suspension of his Ligier failed. On the second start, Senna led off the line but Mansell overtook him on lap two, at the Tosa corner, and went on to dominate the race. Prost got the second place overtaking Senna on lap 6; the Brazilian was then engaged in a battle with the two Ferraris, and got back second when Prost retired with an alternator failure on lap 15. Berger retired with turbo boost failure on lap 17, and by that time Alboreto passed Senna to take second place. On lap 22, Mansell pitted early due to a loose wheel balance weight and for 3 laps Alboreto led the race. Senna retook first position with Alboreto's pit stop, then before Mansell returned to the front when the Brazilian stopped. Riccardo Patrese in a Brabham was now holding second place but he retired when his alternator failed on lap 51. Simultaneously, Teo Fabi retired with engine problems. Fabi's race had been wrecked by front wing damage on the first lap, although his attempted fightback did produce the fastest lap. Mansell took a comfortable win with Senna holding second after Alboreto's turbo experienced problems. Stefan Johansson was in fourth place whilst Derek Warwick's retirement (out of fuel) handed fifth to Brundle and first points ever to Zakspeed with Nakajima rounding off the points. Notes * Finishing the race in sixth place, Nakajima became the first Japanese driver to score a World Championship point.
Air Date: 1987-05-03
- 3 Spa-Francorchamps (Belguim)
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Grand Prix de Belgique Date: May 17 1987 Location: Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Francorchamps, Belgium Course: Permanent racing facility 6.940 km (4.312 mi) Distance: 43 laps, 298.420 km (185.429 mi) Weather: Cloudy and cool Pole position: Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 1:52.026 Fastest lap: Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:57.153 on lap 26 Qualifyings saw the two Williams taking the front row, with Nigel Mansell on pole,nearly 1.5 seconds faster than Nelson Piquet, while Ayrton Senna took the third place in his Lotus, ahead of the two Ferraris of Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto. The race required two starts: at the first start Mansell took the lead ahead of Senna, Piquet and Alboreto; at the back of the grid René Arnoux and Andrea de Cesaris tangled, whilst Thierry Boutsen hit Berger's spinning Ferrari. A more serious accident befell Philippe Streiff who crashed heavily at the Eau Rouge before the wreckage was hit by teammate Jonathan Palmer; both were unhurt but their Tyrrells were reduced to scrap. At the second start, Senna led Mansell away, but during lap 1 the British tried to overtake the Brazilian: the two controversially tangled, leading to the retirement of the Lotus; Mansell rejoined the race at the back, until the damage sustained in the collision finally forced him to retire, on lap 17. Mansell subsequently visited the Lotus garage where harsh words were exchanged and punches were thrown. Berger retired on lap 3 with a broken piston whilst on lap 10 second place Michele Alboreto's wheel bearing broke and Nelson Piquet retired with a broken turbo pipe, handing the lead to Alain Prost from Teo Fabi and Stefan Johansson. The pitsops changed little in the situation, and he maintained this to win easily by 25 seconds, despite concerns with his fuel consumption due to a faulty gauge. This was Prost's 27th win, equalling Jackie Stewart's record with team-mate Johansson making it a McLaren 1-2. Andrea de Cesaris drove superbly to finish 3rd for Brabham despite having to push his car over the line with Eddie Cheever, Satoru Nakajima and Arnoux taking the remaining points. Notes * 27th victory for Prost, record equalizer.
Air Date: 1987-05-17
- 4 Monaco (Monte Carlo)
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Air Date: 1987-05-31
- 7 Silverstone (Britain)
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Air Date: 1987-07-12
- 8 Hockenheim (Germany)
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Air Date: 1987-07-26
- 10 Österreichring (Austria)
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Air Date: 1987-08-16
- 13 Jerez (Spain)
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Air Date: 1987-09-27
- 14 Mexico City (Mexico)
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Notes * Pole position: Nigel Mansell - 1:18.383[2] * Fastest lap: Nelson Piquet - 1:19.132 on lap 57 * The race was stopped after 30 laps due to Warwick's accident. It was restarted over a further 33 laps, with the times of two races being aggregated. * Numbers in brackets refer to positions of normally-aspirated entrants competing for the Jim Clark Trophy
Air Date: 1987-10-18
- 16 Adelaide (Australia)
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Air Date: 1987-11-15