1989 British Grand Prix

The 1989 British Grand Prix (formally the XLII Shell British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 16 July 1989. It was the eighth race of the 1989 Formula One World Championship.

1989 British Grand Prix
Race 8 of 16 in the 1989 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 16 July 1989
Official name XLII Shell British Grand Prix
Location Silverstone Circuit
Silverstone, Northamptonshire, England
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.778 km (2.969 miles)
Distance 64 laps, 305.904 km (190.080 miles)
Weather Warm, dry, sunny
Pole position
Driver McLaren-Honda
Time 1:09.099
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Ferrari
Time 1:12.017 on lap 57
Podium
First McLaren-Honda
Second Ferrari
Third Benetton-Ford
Lap leaders

The 64-lap race was won by Frenchman Alain Prost, driving a McLaren-Honda, after he started from second position. Prost's Brazilian teammate, Ayrton Senna, took pole position and led until he spun off on lap 12. Local driver Nigel Mansell finished second in a Ferrari, with Italian Alessandro Nannini third in a Benetton-Ford. This marked the last win for a Honda-powered car at Silverstone until Max Verstappen won the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix in 2020.

Qualifying

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Pre-qualifying report

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For the second Grand Prix in a row, the Onyx of Bertrand Gachot topped the time sheets in Friday morning's pre-qualifying session. It was Gachot's second pre-qualifying success. Two tenths of a second slower in second place was Nicola Larini in the Osella, pre-qualifying for the third time this season. The other two to go through to the main qualifying sessions were the Brabham pairing of Stefano Modena and Martin Brundle. This was the team's last pre-qualifying session of the season, as their five points in Monaco were enough to enable them to avoid having to pre-qualify for the rest of the season. Modena had pre-qualified at all eight events so far in 1989, and Brundle six, with both drivers qualifying for all of those races.

Stefan Johansson narrowly missed out in fifth place in the second Onyx, his fourth failure this season. Alex Caffi was sixth in the Dallara, only his second failure, but Dallara were another team who would avoid pre-qualifying for the rest of the season, having scored eight points.

Gregor Foitek was seventh in the sole EuroBrun, still only able to pre-qualify once this season, which was once more than Piercarlo Ghinzani, eighth in the second Osella. Ninth was Yannick Dalmas, who had replaced Joachim Winkelhock at AGS, and for the rest of the season, both AGS cars would have to take part in pre-qualifying sessions. The Zakspeed pairing of Bernd Schneider and Aguri Suzuki were tenth and twelfth, with no success at this stage since the first race of the season. Pierre-Henri Raphanel was eleventh in his Coloni, and from here on, both Colonis would have to take part in pre-qualifying. At the bottom of the time sheets was the Rial of Volker Weidler, his eighth consecutive failure to pre-qualify, but Christian Danner's three points at Phoenix meant both cars would avoid pre-qualifying for the rest of the season.[1]

Pre-qualifying classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 37   Bertrand Gachot Onyx-Ford 1:11.506
2 17   Nicola Larini Osella-Ford 1:11.766 +0.260
3 8   Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 1:11.809 +0.303
4 7   Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd 1:12.021 +0.515
5 36   Stefan Johansson Onyx-Ford 1:12.248 +0.742
6 21   Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 1.12.501 +0.995
7 33   Gregor Foitek EuroBrun-Judd 1:13.128 +1.622
8 18   Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Ford 1:13.429 +1.923
9 41   Yannick Dalmas AGS-Ford 1:13.720 +2.214
10 34   Bernd Schneider Zakspeed-Yamaha 1:14.124 +2.618
11 32   Pierre-Henri Raphanel Coloni-Ford 1:14.206 +2.700
12 35   Aguri Suzuki Zakspeed-Yamaha 1:14.266 +2.760
13 39   Volker Weidler Rial-Ford 1:15.096 +3.590

Qualifying report

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McLaren took control of qualifying with Ayrton Senna ahead of Alain Prost. Having announced before the previous race in France that he would be leaving McLaren at the end of the season, Prost now announced that he would be joining Ferrari in 1990.

Derek Warwick returned after missing the French Grand Prix, qualifying 19th. Still in pain from his karting accident, he had a special seat fitted in his Arrows. Maurício Gugelmin qualified sixth, but his March developed a water-related problem moments before the race, forcing him to start from the pit lane.

Qualifying classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 1   Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 1:09.124 1:09.099
2 2   Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 1:10.156 1:09.266 +0.167
3 27   Nigel Mansell Ferrari 1:09.488 1:10.279 +0.389
4 28   Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:09.855 1:10.130 +0.756
5 6   Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 1:09.865 1:09.963 +0.766
6 15   Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 1:10.336 1:12.665 +1.237
7 5   Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 1:10.376 1:10.771 +1.277
8 16   Ivan Capelli March-Judd 1:10.650 1:11.544 +1.551
9 19   Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 1:11.034 1:10.798 +1.699
10 11   Nelson Piquet Lotus-Judd 1:11.589 1:10.925 +1.826
11 23   Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:11.368 1:11.582 +2.269
12 30   Philippe Alliot Lola-Lamborghini 1:11.541 1:12.408 +2.442
13 29   Éric Bernard Lola-Lamborghini 1:12.193 1:11.687 +2.588
14 8   Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 1:12.262 1:11.755 +2.656
15 24   Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford 1:11.955 1:11.826 +2.727
16 12   Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Judd 1:12.326 1:11.960 +2.861
17 17   Nicola Larini Osella-Ford 1:12.061 1:12.395 +2.962
18 3   Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 1:12.070 1:12.157 +2.971
19 9   Derek Warwick Arrows-Ford 1:12.295 1:12.208 +3.109
20 7   Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd 1:12.616 1:12.327 +3.228
21 37   Bertrand Gachot Onyx-Ford 1:12.329 1:12.928 +3.230
22 4   Jean Alesi Tyrrell-Ford 1:12.994 1:12.341 +3.242
23 31   Roberto Moreno Coloni-Ford 1:12.680 1:12.412 +3.313
24 26   Olivier Grouillard Ligier-Ford 1:12.853 1:12.605 +3.506
25 22   Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 1:13.335 1:12.904 +3.805
26 20   Emanuele Pirro Benetton-Ford 1:13.233 1:13.148 +4.049
27 25   René Arnoux Ligier-Ford 1:13.240 1:13.550 +4.141
28 10   Eddie Cheever Arrows-Ford 1:13.655 1:13.386 +4.287
29 40   Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:13.496 1:13.997 +4.397
30 38   Christian Danner Rial-Ford 1:15.387 1:15.394 +6.288

Race

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Race report

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Prost beat Senna off the line, but the Brazilian was later on the brakes and re-took the lead going into Copse Corner. They were followed by the Ferraris of Nigel Mansell and Gerhard Berger. At the end of lap 4, Berger pulled into the pits with electrical problems, rejoining the race some laps later. On lap 5 the race order was Senna, Prost, Mansell, the Williams pair of Thierry Boutsen and Riccardo Patrese, and Alessandro Nannini in the Benetton.

Senna spun out on lap 12 going into Becketts due to gear selection problems, handing Prost the lead from Mansell. Patrese overtook teammate Boutsen for third, before suffering a huge accident on lap 20 when a burst radiator sprayed water onto his rear wheels, causing him to spin off into the tyre barrier at Club Corner. With Prost and Mansell pulling away, Nelson Piquet moved into third in his Lotus on lap 23, ahead of Boutsen, Philippe Alliot in the Larrousse-Lola and Jean Alesi in the Tyrrell. Boutsen dropped back with a rear puncture while Alesi spun off at Club Corner on lap 29, at which point Prost led Mansell by 3.2 seconds, followed by Piquet, Nannini, Gugelmin and Alliot.

Alliot retired with an engine failure on lap 40. On lap 42, Mansell developed a puncture on his right front tyre, forcing him to pit. Prost was then delayed during his own pit stop for fresh tyres, but retained a healthy lead over Mansell. Gugelmin retired from fifth with a gearbox failure on lap 55, before Nannini passed Piquet for third on lap 56, pulling away in the closing laps.

At the chequered flag, Prost was 19 seconds ahead of Mansell, with Nannini a further 29 seconds back and Piquet the last driver on the lead lap. The Minardis of Pierluigi Martini and Luis Pérez-Sala finished fifth and sixth, scoring three points which prevented the team from being relegated to the pre-qualifying sessions for the second half of 1989 (and kept the Onyx team in these sessions, despite their two points for Stefan Johansson's fifth place at the previous race in France). This was Sala's only point in Formula One.

Race classification

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 2   Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 64 1:19:22.131 2 9
2 27   Nigel Mansell Ferrari 64 + 19.369 3 6
3 19   Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 64 + 48.019 9 4
4 11   Nelson Piquet Lotus-Judd 64 + 1:06.735 10 3
5 23   Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 63 + 1 lap 11 2
6 24   Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford 63 + 1 lap 15 1
7 26   Olivier Grouillard Ligier-Ford 63 + 1 lap 24  
8 12   Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Judd 63 + 1 lap 16  
9 9   Derek Warwick Arrows-Ford 62 + 2 laps 19  
10 5   Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 62 + 2 laps 7  
11 20   Emanuele Pirro Benetton-Ford 62 + 2 laps 26  
12 37   Bertrand Gachot Onyx-Ford 62 + 2 laps 21  
Ret 15   Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 54 Gearbox 6  
Ret 7   Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd 49 Engine 20  
Ret 28   Gerhard Berger Ferrari 49 Gear fire 4  
Ret 29   Éric Bernard Lola-Lamborghini 46 Engine 13  
Ret 30   Philippe Alliot Lola-Lamborghini 39 Engine 12  
Ret 3   Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 32 Accident 18  
Ret 8   Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 31 Engine 14  
Ret 4   Jean Alesi Tyrrell-Ford 28 Spun off 22  
Ret 17   Nicola Larini Osella-Ford 23 Handling 17  
Ret 6   Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 19 Radiator/accident 5  
Ret 16   Ivan Capelli March-Judd 15 Transmission 8  
Ret 22   Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 14 Engine 25  
Ret 1   Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 11 Spun off/gearbox 1  
Ret 31   Roberto Moreno Coloni-Ford 2 Gearbox 23  
DNQ 25   René Arnoux Ligier-Ford        
DNQ 10   Eddie Cheever Arrows-Ford        
DNQ 40   Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford        
DNQ 38   Christian Danner Rial-Ford        
DNPQ 36   Stefan Johansson Onyx-Ford        
DNPQ 21   Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford        
DNPQ 33   Gregor Foitek EuroBrun-Judd        
DNPQ 18   Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Ford        
DNPQ 41   Yannick Dalmas AGS-Ford        
DNPQ 34   Bernd Schneider Zakspeed-Yamaha        
DNPQ 32   Pierre-Henri Raphanel Coloni-Ford        
DNPQ 35   Aguri Suzuki Zakspeed-Yamaha        
DNPQ 39   Volker Weidler Rial-Ford        
Source:[2]

Championship standings after the race

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

References

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  1. ^ Walker, Murray (1989). Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year. First Formula Publishing. pp. 69–76. ISBN 1-870066-22-7.
  2. ^ "1989 British Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Britain 1989 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
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Previous race:
1989 French Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1989 season
Next race:
1989 German Grand Prix
Previous race:
1988 British Grand Prix
British Grand Prix Next race:
1990 British Grand Prix