The 1987 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Adelaide on 15 November 1987. It was the sixteenth and final race of the 1987 Formula One World Championship.
The 82-lap race was won by Austrian driver Gerhard Berger, who started from pole position, achieved the fastest lap and led every lap in his Ferrari, earning him his only grand chelem in his career. The win would end up being the last Ferrari win during team founder Enzo Ferrari's life, who would die in August of the following year. Brazilian Ayrton Senna finished second in his Lotus-Honda but was subsequently disqualified, thus promoting Berger's Italian teammate Michele Alboreto to second and the Benetton-Ford of Belgian Thierry Boutsen to third. Following Senna's disqualification, it was a rare distinction of the dubbed "Big Four" failing to score points at the same Grand Prix for various reasons.
Background Nigel Mansell was still recovering from his accident in the previous race in Japan and so Riccardo Patrese, who had already signed for Williams to partner Mansell in 1988, was given permission by Brabham owner Bernie Ecclestone to stand in for the Briton in this race; he was replaced at Brabham by Formula 3000 champion Stefano Modena, making his Formula One debut.
Qualifying report Despite being ill during qualifying, Gerhard Berger took pole position in his Ferrari by 0.7 seconds from Alain Prost in the McLaren. In his final race for Williams Nelson Piquet took third, with compatriot Ayrton Senna fourth in his final race for Lotus; they were followed by Thierry Boutsen in the Benetton and Michele Alboreto in the second Ferrari. Patrese was seventh in the second Williams, with Stefan Johansson in the second McLaren, Teo Fabi in the second Benetton and Andrea de Cesaris in the Brabham completing the top ten. Modena took 15th, just behind Satoru Nakajima in the second Lotus.
Qualifying classification Pos Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:17.267 1:18.142 2 1 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:18.200 1:17.967 +0.700 3 6 Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 1:18.017 1:18.176 +0.750 4 12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Honda 1:18.508 1:18.488 +1.221 5 20 Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford 1:18.943 1:18.523 +1.256 6 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:18.578 1:19.612 +1.311 7 5 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Honda 1:19.507 1:18.813 +1.546 8 2 Stefan Johansson McLaren-TAG 1:19.761 1:18.826 +1.559 9 19 Teo Fabi Benetton-Ford 1:19.461 1:20.301 +2.194 10 8 Andrea de Cesaris Brabham-BMW 1:19.768 1:19.590 +2.323 11 18 Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 1:20.187 1:21.592 +2.920 12 17 Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 1:20.638 1:20.837 +3.371 13 24 Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:20.701 1:21.523 +3.434 14 11 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 1:21.708 1:20.891 +3.624 15 7 Stefano Modena Brabham-BMW 1:21.887 1:21.014 +3.747 16 9 Martin Brundle Zakspeed 1:22.224 1:21.483 +4.216 17 30 Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 1:21.888 1:22.846 +4.621 18 4 Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Ford 1:21.971 1:22.434 +4.704 19 3 Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 1:22.315 1:22.087 +4.820 20 25 René Arnoux Ligier-Megatron 1:24.833 1:22.303 +5.036 21 29 Yannick Dalmas Lola-Ford 1:25.021 1:22.650 +5.383 22 26 Piercarlo Ghinzani Ligier-Megatron 1:22.689 1:24.652 +5.422 23 16 Ivan Capelli March-Ford 1:22.698 1:22.704 +5.437 24 10 Christian Danner Zakspeed 1:23.046 1:22.736 +5.469 25 14 Roberto Moreno AGS-Ford 1:23.659 1:24.149 +6.392 26 23 Adrián Campos Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:25.760 1:24.121 +6.859 21 Alex Caffi Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:25.872 1:27.331 +8.585Source:
Race report At the green light, Piquet darted past Berger to take the lead into the first chicane, whilst Alessandro Nannini in the Minardi was out immediately after crashing into the wall on the exit. A confident Berger, fresh from his victory in the previous race in Japan, re-passed Piquet at Wakefield Corner and began to pull away from the field.
Early retirements included Philippe Streiff spinning off in his Tyrrell on lap 7 and Nakajima suffering a hydraulics failure on lap 23. Modena's debut ended on lap 32 when he stopped in the pits due to exhaustion.
The battle for second between Piquet, Prost, Alboreto and Senna changed little until lap 35, when Piquet pitted for tyres and dropped to sixth. On lap 42, Prost found himself baulked by former teammate René Arnoux in the Ligier on the pit straight and Alboreto slipped through, before Senna powered past both the McLaren and the Ferrari.
Attrition kicked in as the race continued, with brakes in particular becoming a big issue. Fabi was the first brake-related retirement on lap 47, followed by Johansson on lap 49 and Prost on lap 54. Piquet's brakes also failed on lap 59, leaving Berger, Senna and Alboreto as the top three followed by Boutsen and Patrese.
In the latter stages of the race Senna made a charge, closing to within eight seconds of Berger, before the Austrian pulled away again, setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 72. Berger crossed the finish line just under 35 seconds ahead of Senna, with Alboreto the only other driver on the lead lap and Boutsen, Jonathan Palmer in the second Tyrrell and Yannick Dalmas in the Larrousse completing the top six after Patrese suffered a late oil leak.
In post-race scrutineering it was discovered that the brake ducts on Senna's Lotus were oversized, resulting in his disqualification from the race. Alboreto was duly promoted to second, giving Ferrari a 1-2 finish, with Boutsen third, Palmer fourth, Dalmas fifth and Roberto Moreno sixth, scoring the AGS team's first World Championship point. The only other classified finishers were Christian Danner in the Zakspeed, de Cesaris and Patrese. Dalmas did not receive the two points for his fifth place, as he was driving Larrousse's second car and the team had officially entered only one car for the championship, with that car being driven by Philippe Alliot.
Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 82 1:52:56.144 1 9 2 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 82 + 1:07.884 6 6 3 20 Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford 81 + 1 lap 5 4 4 (1) 3 Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 80 + 2 laps 19 3 5 (2) 29 Yannick Dalmas Lola-Ford 79 + 3 laps 21 0* 6 (3) 14 Roberto Moreno AGS-Ford 79 + 3 laps 25 1 7 10 Christian Danner Zakspeed 79 + 3 laps 24 8 8 Andrea de Cesaris Brabham-BMW 78 Spun off 10 9 5 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Honda 76 Oil leak 7 12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Honda 82 Illegal brake ducts 4 6 Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 58 Brakes 3 16 Ivan Capelli March-Ford 58 Spun off 23 1 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 53 Brakes 2 18 Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 53 Overheating 11 2 Stefan Johansson McLaren-TAG 48 Brakes 8 19 Teo Fabi Benetton-Ford 46 Brakes 9 23 Adrián Campos Minardi-Motori Moderni 46 Transmission 26 30 Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 45 Electrical 17 25 René Arnoux Ligier-Megatron 41 Ignition 20 7 Stefano Modena Brabham-BMW 31 Physical 15 26 Piercarlo Ghinzani Ligier-Megatron 26 Ignition 22 11 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 22 Hydraulics 14 17 Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 19 Transmission 12 9 Martin Brundle Zakspeed 18 Engine 16 4 Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Ford 6 Spun off 18 24 Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 0 Accident 13 * Dalmas did not receive points towards the Drivers' Championship or the Jim Clark Trophy, as he was driving Larrousse-Lola's second car and the team had officially entered only one car for the entire championship.
Notes
Championship standings after the race Bold text indicates the World Champions.
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Nelson Piquet 73 (76) 2 Nigel Mansell 61 3 Ayrton Senna 57 4 Alain Prost 46 5 Gerhard Berger 36Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Honda137 2 McLaren-TAG76 3 Lotus-Honda64 4 Ferrari53 5 Benetton-Ford28Source:
Jim Clark Trophy standings PosDriverPoints 1 Jonathan Palmer 95 2 Philippe Streiff 74 3 Philippe Alliot 43 4 Ivan Capelli 38 5 Pascal Fabre 35
Colin Chapman Trophy standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Tyrrell-Ford169 2 Lola-Ford43 3 AGS-Ford39 4 March-Ford38
References