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The 1986 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Jacarepaguá in Rio de Janeiro on 23 March 1986. It was the opening race of the 1986 Formula One World Championship. It was the 15th Brazilian Grand Prix and the seventh to be held at Jacarepaguá. The race was held over 61 laps of the 5.03-kilometre (3.13 mi) circuit for a race distance of 306.9 kilometres (190.7 mi).
| 1986 Brazilian Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 1 of 16 in the 1986 Formula One World Championship | |||
 | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 23 March 1986 | ||
| Official name | 15º Grande Premio Brasil de Fórmula 1 | ||
| Location | Jacarepaguá Circuit, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 5.031 km (3.126 miles) | ||
| Distance | 61 laps, 306.891 km (190.693 miles) | ||
| Weather | Hot, dry and sunny | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Lotus-Renault | ||
| Time | 1:25.501 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Nelson Piquet | Williams-Honda | |
| Time | 1:33.546 on lap 46 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Williams-Honda | ||
| Second | Lotus-Renault | ||
| Third | Ligier-Renault | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The race was won by local driver Nelson Piquet, driving a Williams-Honda, after he started from second position. Compatriot Ayrton Senna took pole position in his Lotus-Renault, but Piquet overtook him on lap 3 and went on to win from him by 34 seconds. Frenchman Jacques Laffite finished third in a Ligier-Renault.
Summary edit
The new season had seen many driver changes, the most significant was Piquet's arrival at Williams after seven years at Brabham, while Keke Rosberg joined McLaren and Elio de Angelis joined Brabham in the other major moves. Senna used his influence at Lotus to ensure they hired a driver that would not interfere with his campaign which left Derek Warwick out of a seat, although that would prove to be temporary. Williams was missing their team principal, Frank Williams who had had a car accident in pre-season testing that left him a quadriplegic.[1]
Senna led from pole position but was soon under threat from the Williams pair. Nigel Mansell spun off the track on the opening lap after contact with Senna, but Piquet was in the lead by lap three. As pitstops began it started to look as though Alain Prost (McLaren MP4/2C) might pull a surprise by only pitting once and snatching the win away from the Brazilians[1] but that came to an end along with Prost's TAG-Porsche engine just past half-distance.[2]
There was no threat to the Brazilian pair after that with Piquet retaking the lead from Senna after the latter's final tyre stop. Behind Laffite was his Ligier teammate René Arnoux. Fifth place was taken by the Tyrrell 014 of Martin Brundle, his first points finish since his debut season two years previously. Gerhard Berger finished sixth in his Benetton B186 on the debut for the new team which had taken over the Toleman team during the off-season. Philippe Streiff in the second Tyrrell, Elio de Angelis (Brabham BT55), Johnny Dumfries (Lotus 98T) and Teo Fabi (Benetton B186) were the only other finishers in a day of high attrition where Mansell had been the only non-mechanical retirement.
Classification edit
Qualifying edit
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | Ayrton Senna | Lotus-Renault | 1:26.893 | 1:25.501 | |
| 2 | 6 | Nelson Piquet | Williams-Honda | 1:26.266 | 1:26.755 | +0.765 |
| 3 | 5 |  Nigel Mansell | Williams-Honda | 1:27.406 | 1:26.749 | +1.248 |
| 4 | 25 |  René Arnoux | Ligier-Renault | 1:30.563 | 1:27.133 | +1.632 |
| 5 | 26 | Jacques Laffite | Ligier-Renault | 1:30.175 | 1:27.190 | +1.689 |
| 6 | 27 |  Michele Alboreto | Ferrari | 1:30.156 | 1:27.485 | +1.984 |
| 7 | 2 |  Keke Rosberg | McLaren-TAG | 1:28.763 | 1:27.705 | +2.204 |
| 8 | 28 |  Stefan Johansson | Ferrari | 1:30.363 | 1:27.711 | +2.210 |
| 9 | 1 | Alain Prost | McLaren-TAG | 1:28.467 | 1:28.099 | +2.598 |
| 10 | 7 | Riccardo Patrese | Brabham-BMW | 1:29.294 | +3.793 | |
| 11 | 11 | Johnny Dumfries | Lotus-Renault | 1:30.452 | 1:29.503 | +4.002 |
| 12 | 19 | Teo Fabi | Benetton-BMW | 1:31.138 | 1:29.748 | +4.247 |
| 13 | 16 | Patrick Tambay | Lola-Hart | 1:31.429 | 1:30.594 | +5.093 |
| 14 | 8 | Elio de Angelis | Brabham-BMW | 1:31.682 | 1:31.074 | +5.573 |
| 15 | 18 |  Thierry Boutsen | Arrows-BMW | 1:32.911 | 1:31.244 | +5.743 |
| 16 | 20 |  Gerhard Berger | Benetton-BMW | 1:31.653 | 1:31.313 | +5.812 |
| 17 | 3 | Martin Brundle | Tyrrell-Renault | 1:32.983 | 1:32.009 | +6.508 |
| 18 | 4 | Philippe Streiff | Tyrrell-Renault | 1:35.669 | 1:32.388 | +6.887 |
| 19 | 15 |  Alan Jones | Lola-Hart | 1:33.664 | 1:33.236 | +7.735 |
| 20 | 17 |  Marc Surer | Arrows-BMW | 1:33.781 | 1:34.144 | +8.280 |
| 21 | 14 | Jonathan Palmer | Zakspeed | 1:35.199 | 1:33.784 | +8.283 |
| 22 | 23 | Andrea de Cesaris | Minardi-Motori Moderni | 1:37.835 | 1:34.646 | +9.145 |
| 23 | 21 | Piercarlo Ghinzani | Osella-Alfa Romeo | 1:38.165 | 1:35.980 | +10.479 |
| 24 | 22 |  Christian Danner | Osella-Alfa Romeo | 1:39.389 | 1:36.558 | +11.057 |
| 25 | 24 | Alessandro Nannini | Minardi-Motori Moderni | 1:40.739 | 1:37.466 | +11.965 |
Race edit
Championship standings after the race edit
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.