Hungarian GP 1987

AUGUST 9, 1987

Hungarian GP, 1987

The big news at the Hungarian Grand Prix was that Ayrton Senna had informed Lotus that he would not be staying with the team in 1988. Team boss Peter Warr moved quickly and signed Nelson Piquet, who was unhappy that Frank Williams would not give him clear number one status at Williams. Senna was going to join Alain Prost at McLaren.

Qualifying for the race in Budapest saw Ferrari making a step forward as Gerhard Berger qualified second behind Nigel Mansell's Williams-Honda. Nelson Piquet was third with Alain Prost fourth in his McLaren while Michele Alboreto was fifth in the second Ferrari and Senna sixth. The top 10 was completed by Thierry Boutsen (Benetton-Ford), Stefan Joahnsson's McLaren, Derek Warwick in the Arrows-Megatron and Riccardo Patrese's Brabham-BMW.

Mansell took the lead at the start with Berger making a slightly hesitant start which allowed Piquet to take second before Berger retook the place with a brave outside overtaking maneuver at the first corner. Piquet then lost third place to Alboreto and so it was Mansell being chased by the two Ferraris, with Piquet fourth ahead of Senna, Prost, Boutsen and Johansson. Berger's race would be short-lived as he retired after 13 laps with differential failure. This moved Alboreto to second and Piquet to third and the order stayed the same until Piquet overtook Alboreto on lap 29. Senna was fourth with Boutsen fifth and Prost sixth.

The order remained unchanged until lap 44 when Alboreto disappeared with an engine problem and then in the closing laps Prost moved ahead of Boutsen. On lap 71 of 76 Mansell's car lost its right rear wheel nut and he was forced to retire. Victory went to Piquet. Senna was second with Prost third ahead of Boutsen, Patrese and Warwick.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda  76 1h59m26.793s  
12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Honda  76 2h00m04.520s  
Alain Prost McLaren-TAG Porsche  76 2h00m54.249s  
20 Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Cosworth  75  
Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW  75  10 
17 Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron  74  
Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Cosworth  74  16 
18 Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron  74  11 
Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Cosworth  74  14 
10 16 Ivan Capelli March-Cosworth  74  18 
11 24 Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni  73  20 
12 26 Piercarlo Ghinzani Ligier-Megatron  73  25 
13 14 Pascal Fabre AGS-Cosworth  71  13 
14r Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda  70 Wheel Nut Lost 
21 Alex Caffi Osella-Alfa Romeo  64 Out Of Fuel 21 
25 Rene Arnoux Ligier-Megatron  57 Electrics 19 
30 Philippe Alliot Lola-Cosworth  48 Accident 15 
Martin Brundle Zakspeed  45 Turbo 22 
27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari  43 Engine 
Andrea de Cesaris Brabham-BMW  43 Gearbox 13 
Stefan Johansson McLaren-TAG Porsche  14 Gearbox 
19 Teo Fabi Benetton-Cosworth  14 Gearbox 12 
23 Adrian Campos Minardi-Motori Moderni  14 Accident 24 
28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari  13 Cv Joint 
10 Christian Danner Zakspeed  Electrics 23 
11 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda  Drive Shaft 17