1989 Belgian Grand Prix

It was the eleventh race of the 1989 Formula One World Championship.

1989 Belgian Grand Prix
Race 11 of 16 in the 1989 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	27 August 1989
Official name	XLVII Grand Prix de Belgique
Location	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Francorchamps, Wallonia, Belgium
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	6.940 km (4.312 miles)
Distance	44 laps, 305.360 km (189.741 miles)
Weather	Wet, cloudy, cool
Pole position
Driver	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Time	1:50.867
Fastest lap
Driver	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda
Time	2:11.571 on lap 44
Podium
First	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Second	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda
Third	Nigel Mansell	Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 44-lap race was won from pole position by Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna, driving a McLaren-Honda. Senna finished just ahead of French teammate Alain Prost, with Briton Nigel Mansell third in a Ferrari. The win, Senna's fifth of the season, moved him to within 11 points of Prost in the Drivers' Championship.

Pre-qualifying report

In the Friday morning pre-qualifying session, an Onyx topped the time sheets for the fifth Grand Prix in succession. Stefan Johansson was again comfortably fastest by over a second, and his team-mate Bertrand Gachot also pre-qualified in third. The other two pre-qualifiers were the Larrousse-Lola cars of Michele Alboreto in second, and Philippe Alliot in fourth.

Those failing to proceed to the main qualifying sessions included both Osellas; Nicola Larini and Piercarlo Ghinzani close together in fifth and sixth. Roberto Moreno was seventh in his Coloni, with the AGS of Gabriele Tarquini eighth. The struggling Zakspeed drivers were ninth and tenth, Bernd Schneider marginally faster than Aguri Suzuki. The other AGS of Yannick Dalmas was next, ahead of Gregor Foitek, driving the older EuroBrun ER188B after the new car had not been successful. Foitek quit the team after this Grand Prix, to be replaced by their 1988 driver Oscar Larrauri. Bottom of the time sheets was the second Coloni of debutant Enrico Bertaggia, who was unable to put a proper timed lap together. He was replacing Pierre-Henri Raphanel, who had left Coloni to join Rial after Volker Weidler had quit the team.

Pre-qualifying classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	36	Stefan Johansson	Onyx-Ford	1:56.279	—
2	29	Michele Alboreto	Lola-Lamborghini	1:57.509	+1.230
3	37	Bertrand Gachot	Onyx-Ford	1:57.720	+1.441
4	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Lamborghini	1:57.748	+1.469
5	17	Nicola Larini	Osella-Ford	1:58.065	+1.786
6	18	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Ford	1:58.209	+1.930
7	31	Roberto Moreno	Coloni-Ford	1:58.650	+2.371
8	40	Gabriele Tarquini	AGS-Ford	1:59.432	+3.153
9	34	Bernd Schneider	Zakspeed-Yamaha	2:00.713	+4.434
10	35	Aguri Suzuki	Zakspeed-Yamaha	2:00.757	+4.478
11	41	Yannick Dalmas	AGS-Ford	2:02.205	+5.926
12	33	Gregor Foitek	EuroBrun-Judd	2:02.767	+6.488
13	32	Enrico Bertaggia	Coloni-Ford	2:21.709	+25.430

Qualifying report

 

Ayrton Senna took his eighth pole position of the season by nearly six-tenths of a second from McLaren teammate Alain Prost, with almost a further second back to Gerhard Berger in the Ferrari in third. The two Williams were fourth and fifth with Thierry Boutsen, in his home race, ahead of Riccardo Patrese, followed by Nigel Mansell in the second Ferrari. Alessandro Nannini was seventh in the Benetton, over two seconds behind Mansell, and the top ten was completed by Stefano Modena in the Brabham, Maurício Gugelmin in the March and Derek Warwick in the Arrows.

The major talking point, however, was the failure of both Nelson Piquet and Satoru Nakajima to qualify, the first time in the Lotus team's history that neither of its cars had qualified.

All the times were determined in the second qualifying session, after the first had taken place in wet conditions.

Qualifying classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	2:11.171	1:50.867	—
2	2	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	2:12.721	1:51.463	+0.596
3	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	2:11.102	1:52.391	+1.524
4	5	Thierry Boutsen	Williams-Renault	2:13.030	1:52.786	+1.919
5	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	2:12.581	1:52.875	+2.008
6	27	Nigel Mansell	Ferrari	2:12.042	1:52.898	+2.031
7	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	2:14.117	1:55.075	+4.208
8	8	Stefano Modena	Brabham-Judd	2:19.161	1:55.642	+4.775
9	15	Maurício Gugelmin	March-Judd	2:16.401	1:55.729	+4.862
10	9	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Ford	2:13.005	1:55.864	+4.997
11	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Lamborghini	2:14.357	1:55.890	+5.023
12	21	Alex Caffi	Dallara-Ford	2:17.604	1:55.892	+5.025
13	20	Emanuele Pirro	Benetton-Ford	2:15.068	1:55.902	+5.035
14	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	2:15.515	1:56.115	+5.248
15	36	Stefan Johansson	Onyx-Ford	2:17.329	1:56.129	+5.262
16	4	Johnny Herbert	Tyrrell-Ford	2:17.714	1:56.248	+5.381
17	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Ford	2:14.344	1:56.251	+5.384
18	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Dallara-Ford	2:17.512	1:56.257	+5.390
19	16	Ivan Capelli	March-Judd	2:15.863	1:56.291	+5.424
20	7	Martin Brundle	Brabham-Judd	2:18.663	1:56.327	+5.460
21	3	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	2:18.405	1:56.600	+5.733
22	29	Michele Alboreto	Lola-Lamborghini	2:17.240	1:56.616	+5.749
23	37	Bertrand Gachot	Onyx-Ford	2:18.151	1:56.716	+5.849
24	10	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Ford	2:14.641	1:56.748	+5.881
25	24	Luis Pérez-Sala	Minardi-Ford	2:18.907	1:56.957	+6.090
26	26	Olivier Grouillard	Ligier-Ford	2:18.175	1:57.027	+6.160
27	12	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Judd	2:13.677	1:57.251	+6.384
28	11	Nelson Piquet	Lotus-Judd	2:14.358	1:57.771	+6.904
29	38	Christian Danner	Rial-Ford	2:20.503	2:00.247	+9.380
30	39	Pierre-Henri Raphanel	Rial-Ford	2:21.180	2:02.937	+12.070

Race report

 

The race was delayed for some time due to the wet conditions. At the start, Senna led the way from Prost and Berger. Mansell managed to pass both Williams on the grass on the run to La Source hairpin to claim fourth position by the first corner. Johnny Herbert retired when he spun off on lap 4 in his first race for Tyrrell. René Arnoux then retired in the pit lane on lap 5 after a collision with the Lola of Philippe Alliot at La Source. Early on, Berger pressured Prost but was unable to find a way through. Senna comfortably led from start to finish in conditions similar to those in which he won his first Belgian Grand Prix in 1985. Behind him, Berger suffered his tenth consecutive retirement of the season when he spun out on lap 10, leaving Prost to fend off a charging Mansell who, in his efforts to pass the McLaren, made a number of unorthodox moves at the exit of La Source in an attempt to gain a better run at the McLaren through Eau Rouge and on to the long uphill straight. Senna eased up in the last few laps, allowing Prost and Mansell to finish within two seconds of him. Boutsen finished fourth in his 100th race. Johnny Herbert, in his first race for Tyrrell (replacing Jean Alesi who was busy competing in the F3000 championship), said during the BBC commentary that in order to see the car in front it was necessary to press the helmet visor against the lens of the rear-facing visibility light from the car in front. Unusually, Eddie Cheever received the black and white warning flag for 'unsportsmanlike behaviour' for his alleged baulking of Mansell.

Race classification

 

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	44	1:40:54.196	1	9
2	2	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	44	+ 1.304	2	6
3	27	Nigel Mansell	Ferrari	44	+ 1.824	6	4
4	5	Thierry Boutsen	Williams-Renault	44	+ 54.408	4	3
5	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	44	+ 1:08.805	7	2
6	9	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Ford	44	+ 1:18.316	10	1
7	15	Maurício Gugelmin	March-Judd	43	+ 1 lap	9
8	36	Stefan Johansson	Onyx-Ford	43	+ 1 lap	15
9	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	43	+ 1 lap	14
10	20	Emanuele Pirro	Benetton-Ford	43	+ 1 lap	13
11	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Dallara-Ford	43	+ 1 lap	18
12	16	Ivan Capelli	March-Judd	43	+ 1 lap	19
13	26	Olivier Grouillard	Ligier-Ford	43	+ 1 lap	26
14	3	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	42	+ 2 laps	21
15	24	Luis Pérez-Sala	Minardi-Ford	41	+ 3 laps	25
16	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Lamborghini	39	Engine	11
Ret	10	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Ford	38	Wheel	24
Ret	37	Bertrand Gachot	Onyx-Ford	21	Spun off	23
Ret	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	20	Collision	5
Ret	29	Michele Alboreto	Lola-Lamborghini	19	Collision	22
Ret	21	Alex Caffi	Dallara-Ford	13	Spun off	12
Ret	7	Martin Brundle	Brabham-Judd	12	Brakes	20
Ret	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	9	Spun off	3
Ret	8	Stefano Modena	Brabham-Judd	9	Handling	8
Ret	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Ford	4	Collision damage	17
Ret	4	Johnny Herbert	Tyrrell-Ford	3	Spun off	16
DNQ	12	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Judd
DNQ	11	Nelson Piquet	Lotus-Judd
DNQ	38	Christian Danner	Rial-Ford
DNQ	39	Pierre-Henri Raphanel	Rial-Ford
DNPQ	17	Nicola Larini	Osella-Ford
DNPQ	18	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Ford
DNPQ	31	Roberto Moreno	Coloni-Ford
DNPQ	40	Gabriele Tarquini	AGS-Ford
DNPQ	34	Bernd Schneider	Zakspeed-Yamaha
DNPQ	35	Aguri Suzuki	Zakspeed-Yamaha
DNPQ	41	Yannick Dalmas	AGS-Ford
DNPQ	33	Gregor Foitek	EuroBrun-Judd
DNPQ	32	Enrico Bertaggia	Coloni-Ford
Source:

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1   Alain Prost 62 2   Ayrton Senna 51 3   Nigel Mansell 38 4   Riccardo Patrese 25 5   Thierry Boutsen 20 Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1   McLaren-Honda 113 2   Williams-Renault 45 3   Ferrari 38 4   Benetton-Ford 19 5   Arrows-Ford 12 Source:

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