Canadian GP 1989

Canadian GP, 1989

The McLaren-Honda domination continued in qualifying in Montreal but on this occasion it was Alain Prost ahead of Ayrton Senna. Riccardo Patrese was third quickest in his Williams-Renault with Gerhard Berger fourth for Ferrari, ahead of his team mate Nigel Mansell and Thierry Boutsen in the second Williams. Stefano Modena (Brabham) and Alex Caffi (Scuderia Italia Dallara) shared the fourth row with Andrea de Cesaris next in his Dallara ahead of Philippe Alliot's Larrousse Lola. The Benetton team was struggling with Sandro Nannini 13th and Johnny Herbert failing to qualify - and a power struggle developing inside the team between Peter Collins and Flavio Briatore.

It was raining on race morning and the starting procedure was a mess as Mansell, Nannini and Luis Sala (Minardi) decided to pit at the end of the parade lap to change on to slick tires. This was done and both the Ferrari and the Benetton went out of the pitlane at high speed, thinking that the race had already begun. In fact the others had not started and so in the early laps Mansell and Nannini ran at the front. They were both black-flagged amid recriminations that there should have been some official guidance at the pit exit.

Behind them Prost had gone into the lead at the start with Senna second and Patrese third ahead of Berger, Boutsen and de Cesaris. Caffi and Prost both pitted for slicks at the end of the first lap but soon afterwards Prost went out with a suspension failure on his McLaren. The order was jumbled as others pitted for slicks and the result was that Patrese was in the lead from Boutsen. Stefan Johansson provided an unusual spectacle when he rejoined after his stop with his Onyx trailing an tire hammer, an air line and part of the metal pit gantry. He was eventually black flagged by officials.

Boutsen pitted for slicks just bas the rain began to get worse and Patrese stayed out and as the rain intensified he built up a big lead as those who had switched to dry tires now had to return to the pits to go back to wets. Warwick also stayed on wet tires and so ran second with Nicola Larini third in the Osella. Senna closed up fast once he was back on wet tires. Larini's moment of glory did not last long because soon after being passed by Senna the Osella stopped with electrical trouble. Patrese then pitted for new wets and so Warwick was left in the lead although Senna soon caught and passed him. Derek then went out with an engine failure.

In the closing laps as Senna cruised towards the flag, Patrese suffered a problem with his undertray. This allowed Boutsen through into second place and when Senna's engine blew on lap 66 the Belgian found himself en route to his first win. It was also the first victory for Williams-Renault and a 1-2 for the team!

Third place went to de Cesaris with Nelson Piquet (Lotus) fourth and Rene Arnoux (Ligier) scoring a vital fifth place for Ligier (to help the team escape the threat of having to pre-qualify after the British GP) and Caffi sixth.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault  69 2h01m24.073s  
Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault  69 2h01m54.080s  
22 Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Cosworth  69 2h03m00.722s  
11 Nelson Piquet Lotus-Judd  69 2h03m05.557s  19 
25 Rene Arnoux Ligier-Cosworth  68  22 
21 Alex Caffi Dallara-Cosworth  67  
Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda  66 Engine 
38 Christian Danner Rial-Cosworth  66  23 
31 Roberto Moreno Coloni-Cosworth  57 Gearbox 26 
Derek Warwick Arrows-Cosworth  40 Engine 12 
Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Cosworth  35 Accident 14 
17 Nicola Larini Osella-Cosworth  33 Electrics 15 
16 Ivan Capelli March-Judd  28 Accident 21 
30 Philippe Alliot Lola-Lamborghini  26 Accident 10 
15 Mauricio Gugelmin March-Judd  11 Electrics 17 
dq 36 Stefan Johansson Onyx-Cosworth  13 Ignored Black Flag 18 
24 Luis Sala Minardi-Cosworth  11 Accident 24 
28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari  Alternator Belt 
40 Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Cosworth  Accident 25 
10 Eddie Cheever Arrows-Cosworth  Electrics 16 
Alain Prost McLaren-Honda  Suspension 
Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Cosworth  Electrics 20 
Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd  Accident 
23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Cosworth  Accident 11 
dq 27 Nigel Mansell Ferrari  Started From The Pits Too Soon 
dq 19 Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Cosworth  Started From Pits Too Soon 13 
nq 12 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Judd    27 
nq 29 Yannick Dalmas Lola-Lamborghini    28 
nq 20 Johnny Herbert Benetton-Cosworth    29 
nq 26 Olivier Grouillard Ligier-Cosworth    30 
npq Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd    31 
npq 37 Bertrand Gachot Onyx-Cosworth    32 
npq 33 Gregor Foitek EuroBrun-Judd    33 
npq 18 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Cosworth    34 
npq34 34 Bernd Schneider Zakspeed-Yamaha    35 
npq 41 Joachim Winkelhock AGS-Cosworth    36 
npq 39 Volker Weidler Rial-Cosworth    37 
npq 35 Aguri Suzuki Zakspeed-Yamaha    38 
npq 32 Pierre-Henri Raphanel Coloni-Cosworth    39