1988 French Grand Prix
| 1988 French Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 7 of 16 in the 1988 Formula One World Championship | |||
 | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | July 3, 1988 | ||
| Official name | Rhône-Poulenc Grand Prix de France | ||
| Location | Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet, France | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 3.813 km (2.369 miles) | ||
| Distance | 80 laps, 305.040 km (189.543 miles) | ||
| Weather | Sunny and hot | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Time | 1:07.589 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Alain Prost | McLaren-Honda | |
| Time | 1:11.737 on lap 45 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Second | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Third | Ferrari | ||
The 1988 French Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on July 3, 1988 at the Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet. It was the seventh race of the 1988 Formula One season.
Qualifying
The two McLarens lined up in their usual front row places, but, for the first time this season, Alain Prost was ahead of Ayrton Senna, the Frenchman beating the Brazilian by almost half a second to take his first pole since the 1986 Monaco Grand Prix. The two Ferraris filled the second row, Gerhard Berger 1.1 seconds faster than Michele Alboreto. On the third row were the two normally-aspirated Benettons, Thierry Boutsen and Alessandro Nannini, while the Lotus-Honda's of Nelson Piquet and Satoru Nakajima filled the fourth row. The top ten was completed by the Judd powered Williams and March of Nigel Mansell and Ivan Capelli respectively. Capelli was returning after missing the race in Detroit with a fractured left foot during qualifying on the tight and bumpy street circuit.
The oldest French team in Formula One, Ligier, had a disastrous weekend on their home turf with both René Arnoux and Stefan Johansson failing to qualify their Ligier-Judd's, though they did have a celebration of sorts over the weekend as Arnoux turned 40 the day after the race. Julian Bailey also failed to qualify in his Tyrrell, while Piercarlo Ghinzani qualified 22nd in his Zakspeed but was excluded for missing a weight check, thus promoting Oscar Larrauri's EuroBrun to the last grid spot. Incredibly it was the second time in two seasons Ghinzani had been excluded for missing a weight check, having suffered the same fate at the 1987 British Grand Prix.
Race summary
Prost led away from Senna and the two Ferraris, with Piquet passing the two Benettons for fifth. Despite worries in the McLaren pit about overly high fuel consumption (the fuel readouts in the cars were showing less fuel used than what the Honda telemetry was telling the team), Ron Dennis was reportedly prepared to let his drivers run out of fuel at the expense of a perfect season if it taught them to be more conservative given their obvious advantage over the field, though ultimately the onboard readouts were proved correct. Prost maintained a two-second advantage over Senna until the mid-race pit stops, while a spin by Berger on lap 22 allowed team-mate Alboreto through into third. While both McLarens were racing each other out front, they were still pulling away from the field at sometimes a second per lap.
Senna made his pit stop three laps before Prost, enabling him to take the lead, but traffic on the Mistral Straight (including a less than helpful Piquet who most likely enjoyed seeing Senna lose the lead to Prost at close quarters) and a gearbox problem allowed Prost to close right up to him and then overtake him on lap 61 as they lapped Alex Caffi and Pierluigi Martini at the Signes corner. Meanwhile, Berger reclaimed third only for Alboreto to pass him again during the pit stops, while Mansell suffered his seventh consecutive retirement, dropping out on lap 49 with suspension problems. After returning to the pits and getting himself cleaned up, the Englishman left the circuit profoundly fed up with the performance of the Williams, fueling ongoing speculation in the press that he would leave the team at the end of the year to join Ferrari after the Italian team had announced they would not be keeping Alboreto for 1989. Despite the rumors turning out to be correct, Mansell continued to deny he was joining Ferrari.
In the closing laps, Prost pulled away as Senna's gearbox troubles continued, losing several gears. The Brazilian eventually finished nearly 32 seconds behind the Frenchman, though he was still nearly 35 seconds ahead of Alboreto, the last man on the lead lap. Berger was fourth ahead of Piquet, who also suffered gearbox problems in the later stages of the race; the final point went to the Benetton of Nannini. France was the first time since the 1987 Monaco Grand Prix that Alboreto had finished in front of his team mate in a race where they both finished.
The fastest lap of the race, a 1:11.737 set by Prost on lap 45, was over two seconds slower than the 1:09.548 set by Piquet in a Honda-powered Williams the previous year - a consequence of the restrictions imposed on turbocharged engines this season with the major difference being the speeds attained on the now 1 km long Mistral Straight. In 1987 the fastest turbo cars (Honda powered) were timed at 325 km/h (202 mph) on the straight. In 1988 the top speed was recorded at just under 300 km/h (186 mph).
For Prost it was his third win in his home Grand Prix after winning in both 1982 at Dijon (his first Grand Prix victory) and 1983 at the full length Paul Ricard. On both occasions he had been driving for the factory Renault team.
Classification
Qualifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 | Alain Prost
|
McLaren-Honda | 1:08.171 | 1:07.589 | — |
| 2 | 12 |  Ayrton Senna
|
McLaren-Honda | 1:08.456 | 1:08.067 | +0.478 |
| 3 | 28 |  Gerhard Berger
|
Ferrari | 1:09.032 | 1:08.282 | +0.693 |
| 4 | 27 |  Michele Alboreto
|
Ferrari | 1:09.624 | 1:09.422 | +1.833 |
| 5 | 20 |  Thierry Boutsen
|
Benetton-Ford | 1:11.170 | 1:09.587 | +1.998 |
| 6 | 19 | Alessandro Nannini
|
Benetton-Ford | 1:10.743 | 1:09.718 | +2.129 |
| 7 | 1 | Nelson Piquet
|
Lotus-Honda | 1:09.734 | 1:09.900 | +2.145 |
| 8 | 2 |  Satoru Nakajima
|
Lotus-Honda | 1:11.394 | 1:10.250 | +2.661 |
| 9 | 5 |  Nigel Mansell
|
Williams-Judd | 1:11.112 | 1:10.337 | +2.748 |
| 10 | 16 | Ivan Capelli
|
March-Judd | 1:11.779 | 1:10.496 | +2.907 |
| 11 | 17 | Derek Warwick
|
Arrows-Megatron | 1:11.339 | 1:10.634 | +3.045 |
| 12 | 22 | Andrea de Cesaris
|
Rial-Ford | 1:11.854 | 1:10.861 | +3.272 |
| 13 | 18 |  Eddie Cheever
|
Arrows-Megatron | 1:11.567 | 1:10.979 | +3.390 |
| 14 | 36 | Alex Caffi
|
Dallara-Ford | 1:13.144 | 1:11.211 | +3.622 |
| 15 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese
|
Williams-Judd | 1:11.671 | 1:11.286 | +3.697 |
| 16 | 15 | Mauricio Gugelmin
|
March-Judd | 1:11.315 | 1:11.404 | +3.726 |
| 17 | 14 | Philippe Streiff
|
AGS-Ford | 1:12.004 | 1:11.466 | +3.877 |
| 18 | 30 | Philippe Alliot
|
Lola-Ford | 1:12.286 | 1:11.511 | +3.922 |
| 19 | 29 | Yannick Dalmas
|
Lola-Ford | 1:12.547 | 1:11.747 | +4.158 |
| 20 | 33 | Stefano Modena
|
EuroBrun-Ford | 1:12.997 | 1:12.007 | +4.418 |
| 21 | 10 |  Bernd Schneider
|
Zakspeed | 1:13.527 | 1:12.026 | +4.437 |
| 22 | 23 | Pierluigi Martini
|
Minardi-Ford | 1:13.039 | 1:12.268 | +4.679 |
| 23 | 3 | Jonathan Palmer
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 1:13.063 | 1:12.316 | +4.272 |
| 24 | 21 | Nicola Larini
|
Osella | 1:13.037 | 1:12.406 | +4.817 |
| 25 | 24 |  Luis Pérez-Sala
|
Minardi-Ford | 1:12.938 | 1:12.525 | +4.936 |
| 26 | 32 |  Oscar Larrauri
|
EuroBrun-Ford | 1:13.888 | 1:12.538 | +4.949 |
| DNQ | 25 | René Arnoux
|
Ligier-Judd | 1:12.654 | 1:12.736 | +5.065 |
| DNQ | 4 | Julian Bailey
|
Tyrrell-Ford | 1:13.839 | 1:12.697 | +5.108 |
| DNQ | 26 |  Stefan Johansson
|
Ligier-Judd | 1:13.629 | 1:12.801 | +5.212 |
| EX | 9 | Piercarlo Ghinzani
|
Zakspeed | 1:14.797 | 1:12.121 | |
| DNPQ | 31 | Gabriele Tarquini
|
Coloni-Ford |
Race
Standings after the race
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
- Unless otherwise indicated, all race results are taken from "The Official Formula 1 website". Retrieved 2007-07-12.