1988 British Grand Prix

Infobox Grand Prix race report
Type = F1
Country = Great Britain
Grand Prix = British
Official name = Shell Oils British Grand Prix
Date = July 10
Year = 1988

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Race_No = 8
Season_No = 16
Location = Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Great Britain
Course = Permanent racing facility
Course_mi = 2.969
Course_km = 4.778
Distance_laps = 65
Distance_mi = 192.979
Distance_km = 310.570
Weather = Wet and cool
Pole_Driver = Gerhard Berger
Pole_Team = Ferrari
Pole_Time = 1:10.133
Pole_Country = Austria
Fast_Driver = Nigel Mansell
Fast_Team = Williams-Judd
Fast_Time = 1:23.308
Fast_L

Fast_Country = UK
First_Driver = Ayrton Senna
First_Team = McLaren-Honda
First_Country = Brazil
Second_Driver = Nigel Mansell
Second_Team = Williams-Judd
Second_Country = UK
Third_Driver = Alessandro Nannini
Third_Team = Benetton-Ford
Third_Country = ItalyThe 1988 British Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on July 10 1988 at the Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone. It was the eighth race of the 1988 Formula One season.

Race summary

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Silverstone Circuit, many facilities had been added to the circuit, including a Press Centre complex, an internal ring road, debris fencing, many widescreens to show the public the live action as broadcasted by the BBC, and a 600 metres long tented hospitality for corporate guests. However, the weekend was tragically overshadowed by the death of the RAC Chief Executive Peter Hammond in a car crash on the way to the track.

Nigel Mansell announced that he would race for Ferrari in the 1989 season, encouraged to go to the Italian team by a series of high speed accidents on Friday as a result of problems with Williams' active suspension, as well as a streak of seven consecutive retirements. With Mansell 13th in practice and Riccardo Patrese seemingly set to fail to qualify, Williams decided to abandon the system until the end of the season.

The grid had an unfamiliar look. With the McLarens suffering handling problems because of the new bodywork suitable for high speed circuits coming up, the Ferraris occupied the front row of the grid. Senna and Prost qualified in 3rd and 4th place, the first time no McLaren had been on the front row of the grid since the 1987 Mexican Grand Prix. An exceptional performance put the naturally aspirated March cars in 5th and 6th. Mansell qualified in 11th place.

The race was held in pouring rain, the first wet race since the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix. Senna made an excellent start to tail polesitter Gerhard Berger, and unsuccessfully challenge him for the lead. Prost's start was awful and he fell back to 9th place. On lap 3, Ivan Capelli dropped back with electrical trouble.

By lap 14, Mauricio Gugelmin, Alessandro Nannini and Mansell were fighting for 3rd place. One lap later, Senna finally took the lead under the Bridge chicane, overtaking Berger and lapping Prost, who was running really slowly, at the same time. Using his skill in wet conditions, Senna managed to pull away and build a lead. On lap 20, Mansell passed Nannini for 4th, after which the Italian spun and let Gugelmin through. Two laps later, he passed Michele Alboreto in the Ferrari for 3rd. At that time, Prost retired claiming handling problems of his McLaren.

Seeking out the wet parts of the track to cool his tyres, Mansell drove very well to set the lap record and average 206 km/h in difficult weather track conditions. On lap 50, he caught and passed Berger and held 2nd place until the finish, some 23 seconds behind Senna. The Austrian was suffering with a fuel deficit and was losing places rapidly. On the very last corner, he ran out of fuel and dropped from 5th down to 9th. The same problem happened to Alboreto, who ran out of fuel on lap 63.

Nannini, despite two further spins, claimed his first Grand Prix podium finish. Gugelmin collected his first World Championship points, and Nelson Piquet and Derek Warwick rounded out the top 6.

Classification

References

* "Unless otherwise indicated, all race results are taken from cite web |title=The Official Formula 1 website |url=http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1988/270/ |accessdate=2007-07-12

F1 race report
Name_of_race = British Grand Prix
Year_of_race = 1988
Previous_race_in_season = 1988 French Grand Prix
Next_race_in_season = 1988 German Grand Prix
Previous_year's_race = 1987 British Grand Prix
Next_year's_race = 1989 British Grand Prix
Previous_promotional_trophy_winner = 1987 Japanese Grand Prix
Next_promotional_trophy_winner = 1989 Japanese Grand Prix