1986 Italian Grand Prix

The 1986 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 7 September 1986. It was the thirteenth race of the 1986 Formula One World Championship.

1986 Italian Grand Prix
Race 13 of 16 in the 1986 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date7 September 1986
Official name57º Gran Premio d'Italia[1]
LocationAutodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza
CoursePermanent racing facility
Course length5.800 km (3.60 miles)
Distance51 laps, 295.800 km (183.600 miles)
WeatherDry
Pole position
DriverBenetton-BMW
Time1:24.078
Fastest lap
DriverItaly Teo FabiBenetton-BMW
Time1:28.099 on lap 35
Podium
FirstWilliams-Honda
SecondWilliams-Honda
ThirdFerrari
Lap leaders

The 51-lap race was won by Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet, driving a Williams-Honda. Piquet's British teammate and Drivers' Championship rival, Nigel Mansell, finished second, with Swede Stefan Johansson third in a Ferrari. The other two championship challengers, Frenchman Alain Prost and Brazilian Ayrton Senna, both failed to finish, Senna suffering a transmission failure in his Lotus-Renault at the very start of the race and Prost being disqualified halfway through for illegally switching to his spare McLaren-TAG after the start of the formation lap.

The win moved Piquet into second place in the Drivers' Championship, five points behind Mansell and three ahead of Prost, with three races remaining.

Qualifying report edit

During the second qualifying session at Monza, the Benetton-BMW of Gerhard Berger was recorded as being the fastest car along the start-finish straight, with a top speed of 351.22 km/h (218.24 mph). He was followed by four more BMW-powered cars: teammate Teo Fabi, the Brabhams of Derek Warwick and Riccardo Patrese, and the Arrows of Thierry Boutsen.[2] The fastest non-BMW powered car was the Williams-Honda of Nigel Mansell, with a top speed 10 km/h (6 mph) slower than that of Berger.

Despite this, Berger could only qualify fourth, while Fabi took his second consecutive pole position. Alain Prost lined up alongside Fabi on the front row, despite being nearly half a second slower in his McLaren-TAG and recording a top speed over 16 km/h (10 mph) slower than Berger's.[2] Drivers' Championship leader Mansell was third, ahead of Berger, while Brazilian pair Ayrton Senna (Lotus-Renault) and Nelson Piquet (Williams-Honda) made up the third row. The top 10 was completed by Warwick, Keke Rosberg in the second McLaren, Michele Alboreto in the Ferrari and Patrese; Alboreto's position was notable as he had missed the first day of qualifying after injuring his arm in a motorcycle crash.[3]

The race saw the debut of local driver Alex Caffi, deputising for Allen Berg at Osella, as well as the debut of the French AGS team, whose Motori Moderni-powered JH21C was driven by another local driver, Ivan Capelli. With the number of entries increased to 27 at both this race and the next race in Portugal, FISA decided to allow all the cars to start. Caffi was the beneficiary of this decision, starting 27th behind Capelli and Osella teammate Piercarlo Ghinzani.[4]

Qualifying classification edit

PosNoDriverConstructorQ1Q2Gap
119 Teo FabiBenetton-BMW1:26.0191:24.078
21 Alain ProstMcLaren-TAG1:26.8851:24.514+0.436
35 Nigel MansellWilliams-Honda1:26.1811:24.882+0.804
420 Gerhard BergerBenetton-BMW1:25.5801:24.885+0.807
512 Ayrton SennaLotus-Renault1:25.3631:24.916+0.838
66 Nelson PiquetWilliams-Honda1:26.6141:25.137+1.059
78 Derek WarwickBrabham-BMW7:12.9701:25.175+1.097
82 Keke RosbergMcLaren-TAG1:26.7421:25.378+1.300
927 Michele AlboretoFerrarino time1:25.549+1.471
107 Riccardo PatreseBrabham-BMW1:27.4381:26.111+2.033
1125 René ArnouxLigier-Renault1:27.9281:26.187+2.109
1228 Stefan JohanssonFerrari1:26.5171:26.422+2.344
1318 Thierry BoutsenArrows-BMW1:28.0511:26.754+2.676
1426 Philippe AlliotLigier-Renault1:27.2871:27.269+3.191
1516 Patrick TambayLola-Ford1:29.7441:27.808+3.730
1617 Christian DannerArrows-BMW1:30.3971:27.923+3.845
1711 Johnny DumfriesLotus-Renault1:28.8571:28.024+3.946
1815 Alan JonesLola-Ford7:40.1321:28.403+3.965
1924 Alessandro NanniniMinardi-Motori Moderni1:29.2391:28.690+4.612
203 Martin BrundleTyrrell-Renault1:31.2661:29.125+5.047
2123 Andrea de CesarisMinardi-Motori Moderni1:31.3751:29.561+5.483
2214 Jonathan PalmerZakspeed1:32.0641:29.659+5.581
234 Philippe StreiffTyrrell-Renault1:30.1991:30.976+6.121
2429 Huub RothengatterZakspeed1:32.7261:30.904+6.826
2531 Ivan CapelliAGS-Motori Moderni58:12.1431:33.844+9.766
2621 Piercarlo GhinzaniOsella-Alfa Romeo1:36.1281:36.334+12.050
2722 Alex CaffiOsella-Alfa Romeo1:36.9001:38.493+12.822

Race report edit

Following problems at the start of the formation lap, pole position man Teo Fabi was forced to start from the back of the grid and Alain Prost, alongside him on the front row, had to start from the pit lane in the spare car. At the green light, Gerhard Berger took the lead, but on lap eight lost positions to first Mansell, Piquet, and an on-form Alboreto in the Ferrari. Ayrton Senna was out with a broken gearbox at the start. Alboreto looked to be in challenging the Williams duo for the lead having overtaken Rosberg, Arnoux and Berger before spinning at the exit of the first chicane. Like the British Grand Prix, the race became a close fight between the two Williams drivers, but this time Piquet hunted down his teammate British driver Nigel Mansell to take the victory. Piquet defeated Mansell in a straight fight, leading the Briton home by 9.828 seconds. The Brazilian managed to pass Mansell at the Curva Grande to go on and claim his fourth win of the season. Behind, Fabi and Prost had charged from the rear and by lap 12 were running 8th and 9th. Prost was disqualified for changing cars after the start of the formation lap, which was illegal, but his engine blew up a lap after he was flagged anyway. Johansson charged early in the race, passing Rosberg and Arnoux on lap five to go on to finish third.

Race classification edit

PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
16 Nelson PiquetWilliams-Honda511:17:42.88969
25 Nigel MansellWilliams-Honda51+ 9.82836
328 Stefan JohanssonFerrari51+ 22.915124
42 Keke RosbergMcLaren-TAG51+ 53.80983
520 Gerhard BergerBenetton-BMW50+ 1 lap42
615 Alan JonesLola-Ford49+ 2 laps181
718 Thierry BoutsenArrows-BMW49+ 2 laps13 
817 Christian DannerArrows-BMW49+ 2 laps16 
94 Philippe StreiffTyrrell-Renault49+ 2 laps23 
103 Martin BrundleTyrrell-Renault49+ 2 laps20 
NC22 Alex CaffiOsella-Alfa Romeo45+ 6 laps27 
Ret19 Teo FabiBenetton-BMW44Puncture1 
Ret27 Michele AlboretoFerrari33Engine9 
Ret23 Andrea de CesarisMinardi-Motori Moderni33Engine21 
Ret31 Ivan CapelliAGS-Motori Moderni31Puncture25 
Ret25 René ArnouxLigier-Renault30Gearbox11 
Ret14 Jonathan PalmerZakspeed27Engine22 
DSQ1 Alain ProstMcLaren-TAG27Illegal car change2 
Ret26 Philippe AlliotLigier-Renault22Engine14 
Ret11 Johnny DumfriesLotus-Renault18Gearbox17 
Ret8 Derek WarwickBrabham-BMW16Spun off7 
Ret24 Alessandro NanniniMinardi-Motori Moderni15Electrical19 
Ret21 Piercarlo GhinzaniOsella-Alfa Romeo12Suspension26 
Ret16 Patrick TambayLola-Ford2Accident15 
Ret7 Riccardo PatreseBrabham-BMW2Accident10 
Ret29 Huub RothengatterZakspeed1Engine24 
Ret12 Ayrton SennaLotus-Renault0Transmission5 
Source:[5]

Championship standings after the race edit

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

References edit


Previous race:
1986 Austrian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1986 season
Next race:
1986 Portuguese Grand Prix
Previous race:
1985 Italian Grand Prix
Italian Grand PrixNext race:
1987 Italian Grand Prix