1987 Formula One World Championship


The 1987 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 41st season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1987 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1987 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a sixteen-race series that commenced on 12 April and ended on 15 November.
The World Championship for Drivers was won by Nelson Piquet for the third and final time. He won just three races, compared to his teammate and main rival Nigel Mansell with six wins, but Mansell had to give up the challenge when he crashed in practice for the Japanese Grand Prix and injured his back. The World Championship for Constructors was won by Williams-Honda for the second consecutive year. The season also encompassed the Jim Clark Trophy and the Colin Chapman Trophy, which were respectively contested by drivers and constructors of Formula One cars powered by naturally aspirated engines.
This was the first season since that Renault were absent as an engine supplier in the sport due to ongoing company restructuring.
Pirelli's withdrawal from F1 at the end of meant that Goodyear was the sole tyre supplier for 1987. It was the first season since that the sport featured a standard single tyre supplier.

Drivers and constructors

The following drivers and constructors competed in the 1987 season. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Goodyear as Pirelli exited the sport after six seasons.

Team changes

  • Renault had withdrawn from Formula One at the end of last year, so their three customers had to look for new contracts:
  • * Lotus bought one-year-old Honda engines;
  • * Ligier were due to run Alfa Romeo four-cylinder turbo engines called the Alfa Romeo 415T, but when driver René Arnoux compared the engines to "used food", Alfa's owner FIAT withdrew from the collaboration. The team were due run with the 890T at the opening round in Brazil before debuting the 4 cylinder turbo at Imola in round 2. However, when the association with Alfa ended it forced the team to miss Brazil while they modified their car to fit the old BMW turbo engines rebadged as Megatron supplied to the team by Arrows team boss Jackie Oliver ;
  • * Tyrrell signed a contract for Ford-Cosworth V8's, preparing them for the new regulations banning turbos in.
  • AGS also made the switch to Cosworth naturally aspirated V8's.
  • Benetton, too, signed a deal with Ford-Cosworth, but for their V6 turbo which had debuted in with the Haas Lola team, because of its specific design features that could hopefully avoid the effects of the limited turbo boost, at least more than their rivals' turbo engines.
  • McLaren lost designer John Barnard to Ferrari, but gained the services of long time Brabham designer Gordon Murray as the new Technical Director, and former Williams and Haas Lola designer/engineer Neil Oatley. Mclaren's new 1987 car would be designed by Steve Nichols.
  • Arrows attracted former Haas Lola aerodynamicist Ross Brawn as its new Technical Director and Chief Designer. With BMW pulling out of Formula One other than honouring the contract to supply engines to the Brabham team in 1987, Arrows major sponsor, American insurance firm USF&G, bought the remaining supply of the BMW M12/13 4-cylinder engines and re-named them as the Megatron M12/13 engines. Team boss Jackie Oliver then supplied some of the engines to the Ligier team from round 2 of the season.

    Mid-season changes

  • The FIA's ban on turbocharged engines in made the entry to Formula One technologically easier and cheaper. The first team attracted to the grid was Scuderia Coloni, a successful squad in the Italian Formula Three Championship. They entered the Italian and Spanish Grand Prix, before participating in the full season a year later.

    Driver changes

  • Keke Rosberg retired from Formula One, opening the door at McLaren for Stefan Johansson, after he got replaced at Ferrari by Gerhard Berger.
  • Satoru Nakajima made his debut at Lotus, next to Ayrton Senna, having won six out of seven championships in Japanese Formula Two. His promotion was backed by Honda.
  • Martin Brundle and Jonathan Palmer switched teams, Brundle moving to Zakspeed and Palmer to Tyrrell. Palmer endured a more successful year, winning the Jim Clark Trophy as highest-scoring driver with a non-turbocharged car.
  • Another sixteen driver changes happened in the lower-ranking teams.

    Mid-season changes

  • By 1987, Osella were going at the season race by race and asking drivers to bring sponsorship or their own money. In such a construction, Gabriele Tarquini made his debut during the San Marino Grand Prix. And likewise, Franco Forini drove three races for the team.
  • 1986 Italian F3 champion Nicola Larini debuted with Scuderia Coloni. He had driven for the team in F3.
  • F3000 driver Yannick Dalmas made his debut during the Mexican Grand Prix, and staying until the end of the season, driving a second Larrousse car next to Philippe Alliot.
  • Due to poor results, AGS replaced Pascal Fabre with Roberto Moreno, with two races left in the year. Moreno had one previous experience in F1, as test driver for Lotus in.
  • Brabham driver Riccardo Patrese was given the opportunity to replace Nigel Mansell for the last race of the season, when the Williams driver was injured during qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix. He had already been signed by Williams for. 1987 F3000 champion Stefano Modena stepped in to make his debut at Brabham.

    Calendar

Calendar changes

It had already been determined that turbocharged engines would be banned from on. The FIA tried to make an early switch to naturally aspirated engines appealing:
  • Naturally aspirated engines could now have a maximum displacement of 3.5 litres, up from 3.0.
  • The fuel limit for turbo engines was set at, while teams running with a naturally aspirated engine could carry and use unlimited amounts of fuel during a race.
  • The turbo boost was now limited at. The FIA handled this by mandating that the valves would "pop off" when the pressure went over the limit. This led to the turbo-powered cars producing approximately less than the year before. However, the rate of development in areas like aerodynamics and tyres was such that the leading turbo-running teams practically negated the restriction on power.
The FIA banned super-soft qualifying tyres to eliminate the unpopular practice of having to find a clear lap on tyres which were good for two flying laps at best.

Season report

Race 1: Brazil

The first race in April at the fast, rough and abrasive Jacarepagua Riocentro Autodrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil resulted in a dominant showing from Williams-Honda with Mansell ahead of Piquet. Then came Senna, Fabi, Prost, Boutsen, Berger, Warwick, Alboreto and Johansson.
The March team suffered a setback on race morning when it ran out of engines, and so the field was down to 22. At the start, Piquet took the lead from the fast-starting Senna while Mansell made a bad start and had to fight his way back to third. On lap seven Piquet suddenly went into the pits, his car having picked up paper in its radiators. He rejoined back in 11th position, leaving Senna to lead Mansell although the British driver was soon in the pits as well to have his radiators cleared. He rejoined behind Piquet and the pair then began to climb through the field. Senna pitted because of handling trouble and so Prost went into the lead and when he stopped for new tyres Boutsen briefly led before Piquet went back into the lead before his second stop. Prost then went ahead again and led for the rest of the afternoon, never looking threatened as he did not have a third tire stop while his rivals Senna and Piquet did. Mansell's race was disrupted by a puncture while Senna went out with engine failure and so Prost came home to win ahead of Piquet, Johansson, Berger, Boutsen and Mansell.

Race 2: San Marino (Imola, Italy)

After the season-opening race in Brazil there was a three-week gap during which March finished building the first 871 chassis for Capelli. Osella expanded to two cars with the second being run by a youngster called Gabriele Tarquini, while Brundle had the first of Zakspeed's new 871 chassis. Ligier was back in action with Megatron-engined cars for Rene Arnoux and Piercarlo Ghinzani. In addition there was another new team in the form of Gerard Larrousse's Lola-Ford/Cosworth team which had employed Philippe Alliot.
But come the San Marino Grand Prix held at the fast Autodromo Dino Ferrari in Italy, Nelson Piquet had a huge accident at the flat out Tamburello corner when he suffered a tire failure during qualifying and was forbidden from racing by F1 doctor Sid Watkins. Goodyear decided that in the interests of safety it would fly in new tyres overnight for Saturday qualifying. On Saturday afternoon Ayrton Senna took pole position in his Lotus-Honda with Nigel Mansell second quickest in his Williams-Honda. The second row featured Teo Fabi and Alain Prost with the Ferraris of Michele Alboreto and Gerhard Berger together on the third row. The top 10 was completed by Stefan Johansson, Riccardo Patrese and the two Arrows-Megatrons of Derek Warwick and Eddie Cheever. Senna led from the start but on the second lap at Tosa, Mansell swept into the lead and began to pull away. On Lap 6 Prost found a way ahead of Senna and then clawed his way up behind Mansell and stayed there. Prost's race ended, however, on Lap 15 when the McLaren suffered an alternator failure. By then Alboreto had got ahead of Senna and so was in second place with Senna third and Patrese fourth. Mansell stopped earlier than planned for new tyres but was still ahead when everyone reemerged from their first stops. Patrese had moved to second with Alboreto and Senna chasing. In the closing laps Patrese dropped back because he had used too much fuel and so Alboreto was second until he lost boost pressure and Senna went ahead again. Mansell took the flag just under half a minute ahead of Senna with Alboreto third. Johansson was fourth, Martin Brundle fifth and Satoru Nakajima picking up sixth in his Lotus-Honda.