1986 Belgian Grand Prix

1986 Belgian Grand Prix
Race 5 of 16 in the 1986 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	25 May 1986
Location	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Francorchamps, Wallonia, Belgium
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	6.940 km (4.312 miles)
Distance	43 laps, 301.172 km (187.136 miles)
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Nelson Piquet	Williams-Honda
Time	1:54.331
Fastest lap
Driver	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG
Time	1:59.282 on lap 31
Podium
First	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda
Second	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault
Third	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 1986 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on 25 May 1986. It was the fifth race of the 1986 FIA Formula One World Championship. The race was the 44th Belgian Grand Prix and the 32nd to be held at Spa-Francorchamps. It was held over 43 laps of the 7-kilometre (4.35 mi) circuit for a total race distance of 301 kilometres (187 mi).

The race was won by British driver Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Honda. It was Mansell's first victory of the season. Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna finished second in a Lotus-Renault, with Sweden's Stefan Johansson third in a Ferrari. Senna's result allowed him to take the lead of the Drivers' Championship from Frenchman Alain Prost, who could only manage sixth in his McLaren-TAG.

Qualifying

Brabham entered only one BT55, the car of Riccardo Patrese. Elio de Angelis had been killed in a testing accident at Circuit Paul Ricard just over a week before the race. Williams-Honda driver Nelson Piquet took pole late in the qualifying session using the team's spare car. Piquet's engine blew up in his race car during qualifying forcing him into the spare. Austrian Gerhard Berger scored his first front row start and the first for the BMW powered Benetton after being fastest in Friday qualifying. His Friday time of 1:54.468 was half a second faster than his Saturday time but still good enough for the front row. World Champion Alain Prost was third in his McLaren-TAG with the Lotus-Renault of Ayrton Senna completing the second row. Nigel Mansell qualified fifth in his Williams-Honda with Teo Fabi completing the top 6 in his Benetton-BMW.

Race

Piquet won the start and led the field into the La Source hairpin but behind him was chaos. Senna had made a good start from the 2nd row and when Berger's car twitched under brakes Senna went to the outside and then turned hard into the right hand corner. In doing so he squeezed out Berger who in turn squeezed out Prost while avoiding Senna. Prost, who had gone inside when the Benetton twitched, hit the inside barrier damaging the nose of his car with the right front wing drooping on the ground. He then drove over Berger's wheel launching the rear of his McLaren into the air. Other drivers were forced to take avoiding action with Berger's teammate Fabi having to stop to avoid hitting his teammates damaged car while Prost's teammate Keke Rosberg had to do a complete 180 degree turn the wrong way to avoid the Benettons. However, the only car that retired from the crash was the Lola-Ford of Patrick Tambay who went inside the stopped Fabi but hit his right rear with his left front wheel and damaged the left front suspension putting him out on the spot. Through it all Senna emerged unscathed in 2nd place followed by Mansell and the two Ferraris of Stefan Johansson and Michele Alboreto.

Both Berger and Prost pitted at the end of lap 1 with Berger in for a long stop for repairs and Prost for a new nose cone, his rear suspension survived intact despite its unscheduled first corner flight. Mansell disposed of Senna on lap 2, but spun on lap 5, falling back to 4th place. Piquet led until suffering turbo failure on lap 16 leaving Senna in front from Mansell, who shortly overtook Senna during pitstops. Prost emerged last on the road and only a few hundred metres in front of the leading Williams. On his way to being the last car on the lead lap and finishing in sixth place he set a new lap record of 1:59.282 on lap 31.

Nigel Mansell scored his first win of 1986 and the third win of his career. Senna, the cause of the first corner crash finished 20 seconds behind in second with Stefan Johansson finishing third after passing team leader Alboreto only two laps from home. Jacques Laffite finished fifth in his Ligier-Renault with Prost gaining a vital World Championship point for finishing sixth. Swiss driver Marc Surer finished ninth in his Arrows A8 in what would be the last Grand Prix of Surer's career – he would be seriously injured competing in the European Rally Championship a week later. Post race Mansell dedicated his win to his friend and former team mate Elio de Angelis who died just ten days prior to Spa in a testing accident at Paul Ricard.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	6	Nelson Piquet	Williams-Honda	1:54.637	1:54.331	—
2	20	Gerhard Berger	Benetton-BMW	1:54.468	1:54.939	+0.137
3	1	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	1:55.039	1:54.501	+0.170
4	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault	1:55.776	1:54.576	+0.245
5	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	1:55.345	1:54.582	+0.251
6	19	Teo Fabi	Benetton-BMW	1:57.440	1:54.765	+0.434
7	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Renault	1:57.269	1:55.576	+1.245
8	2	Keke Rosberg	McLaren-TAG	1:56.534	1:55.662	+1.331
9	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	1:56.294	1:56.242	+1.911
10	16	Patrick Tambay	Lola-Ford	1:58.574	1:56.309	+1.978
11	28	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	1:57.697	1:56.496	+2.165
12	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Renault	1:57.797	1:56.537	+2.206
13	11	Johnny Dumfries	Lotus-Renault	1:58.619	1:57.462	+3.131
14	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	1:57.918	1:57.612	+3.281
15	7	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW	2:00.357	1:57.612	+3.281
16	15	Alan Jones	Lola-Ford	1:59.180	1:57.815	+3.484
17	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Renault	1:58.238	2:27.817	+3.907
18	4	Philippe Streiff	Tyrrell-Renault	1:59.347	1:58.603	+4.272
19	23	Andrea de Cesaris	Minardi-Motori Moderni	2:00.984	1:59.960	+5.629
20	14	Jonathan Palmer	Zakspeed	2:02.307	2:00.148	+5.817
21	17	Marc Surer	Arrows-BMW	2:01.320	2:01.415	+4.661
22	24	Alessandro Nannini	Minardi-Motori Moderni	2:01.528	2:01.354	+7.023
23	29	Huub Rothengatter	Zakspeed	2:06.006	2:03.842	+9.511
24	21	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	2:05.092	3:38.767	+10.761
25	22	Christian Danner	Osella-Alfa Romeo	2:09.465	2:06.219	+11.888

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	43	1:27:57.925	5	9
2	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault	43	+ 19.827	4	6
3	28	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	43	+ 23.592	11	4
4	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	43	+ 29.634	9	3
5	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Renault	43	+ 1:10.690	17	2
6	1	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	43	+ 2:17.772	3	1
7	19	Teo Fabi	Benetton-BMW	42	+ 1 Lap	6
8	7	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW	42	+ 1 Lap	15
9	17	Marc Surer	Arrows-BMW	41	+ 2 Laps	21
10	20	Gerhard Berger	Benetton-BMW	41	+ 2 Laps	2
11	15	Alan Jones	Lola-Ford	40	Out of Fuel	16
12	4	Philippe Streiff	Tyrrell-Renault	40	+ 3 Laps	18
13	14	Jonathan Palmer	Zakspeed	37	+ 6 Laps	20
Ret	23	Andrea de Cesaris	Minardi-Motori Moderni	35	Out of Fuel	19
Ret	29	Huub Rothengatter	Zakspeed	25	Electrical	23
Ret	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Renault	25	Gearbox	12
Ret	24	Alessandro Nannini	Minardi-Motori Moderni	24	Gearbox	22
Ret	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Renault	23	Engine	7
Ret	6	Nelson Piquet	Williams-Honda	16	Turbo	1
Ret	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	7	Electrical	14
Ret	11	Johnny Dumfries	Lotus-Renault	7	Spun Off	13
Ret	2	Keke Rosberg	McLaren-TAG	6	Engine	8
Ret	21	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	3	Engine	24
Ret	22	Christian Danner	Osella-Alfa Romeo	2	Engine	25
Ret	16	Patrick Tambay	Lola-Ford	0	Accident	10
Source:

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Ayrton Senna	25
2	Alain Prost	23
3	Nigel Mansell	18
4	Nelson Piquet	15
5	Keke Rosberg	11
Source:

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	McLaren-TAG	34
2	Williams-Honda	33
3	Lotus-Renault	25
4	Ligier-Renault	12
5	Ferrari	10
Source:

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