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1988 Japanese Grand Prix
1988 Japanese Grand Prix
Race 15 of 16 in the 1988 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	30 October 1988
Official name	XIV Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix
Location	Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Japan
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.860 km (3.641 miles)
Distance	51 laps, 298.860 km (185.703 miles)
Weather	Cool and mainly dry, some rain toward the end
Attendance	233,000
Pole position
Driver	Ayrton Senna;
Time	1:41.853
Fastest lap
Driver	Ayrton Senna
Time	1:46.326 on lap 33
Podium
First	Ayrton Senna;
Second	Alain Prost;
Third	Thierry Boutsen;
	Lap leaders ;

The 1988 Japanese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Suzuka Circuit on 30 October 1988. It was the fifteenth and penultimate race of the 1988 season.

Report

Qualifying

On Honda's home track, the McLarens of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost filled the front row. Senna's pole time was 1.8 seconds slower than Gerhard Berger's 1987 time.

Berger himself could only manage third on the grid, joined on the second row by Ivan Capelli in the naturally aspirated March-Judd. On the third row were the two Lotus-Hondas of outgoing World Champion Nelson Piquet, who was suffering from a virus, and home town favourite Satoru Nakajima, whose mother had died on the Friday morning. Lotus showed great faith in Nakajima by announcing that they had re-signed him for the 1989 season, despite the fact that they would have to use Judd engines after Honda's decision to supply McLaren exclusively.

French driver Yannick Dalmas was declared medically unfit for the race and was replaced in the Larrousse team by Japan's Aguri Suzuki, who was on his way to winning the 1988 Japanese Formula 3000 Championship. Suzuki qualified 20th on his F1 debut, one place behind temporary teammate Philippe Alliot. Dalmas, originally thought to have an ear infection that kept him out of both Japan and the final race in Australia, was diagnosed with Legionnaires' disease later in the year.

Race

The all-McLaren front row was the 11th of the year, but its drivers had contrasting fortunes. Prost led away from Berger and Capelli, while Senna stalled on the grid. However, Suzuka had the only sloping grid of the year and so the Brazilian was able to bump start his car into action. He had dropped to 14th place, but immediately made a charge through the field, gaining six places by the end of the first lap and then passing Riccardo Patrese, Thierry Boutsen, Alessandro Nannini and Michele Alboreto to run fourth on lap 4. Meanwhile, Derek Warwick and Nigel Mansell collided and had to pit for a puncture and a new nose cone, respectively, while Capelli not only set the fastest lap but also passed Berger – who was already troubled with fuel consumption problems – on lap 5 to move into second place. Alboreto was nudged off track by Thierry Boutsen in the Benetton-Ford on lap 8 while he was in sixth place.

On lap 14 the weather started to come into contention as rain began on parts of the circuit, benefiting Senna. On lap 16 Capelli seized his chance to pass Prost for the lead, the first time a non-turbo car had led a Grand Prix since 1983. Prost had been slowed when Suzuki's Lola had spun at the chicane and got going again just as Prost and Capelli were braking for the tight right-left complex. He then missed a gear coming out of the chicane thanks to a troublesome gearbox and was passed by the March, but Capelli's lead only lasted for a few hundred metres as the extra power of the Honda turbo engine allowed Prost to regain the lead going into the first turn. Capelli made several further attempts to overtake Prost before ultimately retiring three laps later with electrical failure.

Mansell's race lasted until lap 24 when he collided with Piquet's Lotus while trying to lap him. Piquet, still unwell with a virus and complaining of double vision, continued for another ten laps before retiring through fatigue.

By then Senna was catching Prost rapidly, and with traffic, Prost's malfunctioning gearbox, and a tricky wet and dry surface, conditions were favourable to the Brazilian. On lap 27, as they attempted to lap Andrea de Cesaris, Nakajima and Maurício Gugelmin, Senna managed to force his way through as Prost was delayed by de Cesaris's Rial. Senna then put in a succession of fast laps, breaking the former lap record and building a lead of over three seconds, despite being delayed while lapping Nakajima.

With slick tyres on a track that was now wet, Senna gestured for the race to be stopped. The race ran out its entire distance, however, with Senna finishing 13 seconds ahead of Prost. Boutsen took third place, whilst Berger recovered to fourth place after Alboreto held up Nannini, who had to settle for fifth. Patrese finished in sixth, and Nakajima was 7th.

With victory in the race, Senna clinched the World Championship. Due to the scoring system in 1988, Prost could only add three more points to his total even if he won in Australia, which would give him 87 points in total. If Senna then failed to score they would be equal on points, but Senna would still win the title, having taken more wins (8 to 7). Victory in Japan was also Senna's eighth win of the season, which beat the record for total wins in a single season, previously held by Jim Clark (1963) and Prost (1984).

Classification

Pre-qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	36	Alex Caffi	Dallara-Ford	1:49.099	—
2	21	Nicola Larini	Osella	1:50.288	+1.189
3	32	Oscar Larrauri	EuroBrun-Ford	1:50.942	+1.843
4	33	Stefano Modena	EuroBrun-Ford	1:51.141	+2.042
DNPQ	31	Gabriele Tarquini	Coloni-Ford	1:52.234	+3.135

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	12	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	1:42.157	1:41.853	—
2	11	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	1:43.806	1:42.177	+0.324
3	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	1:43.548	1:43.353	+1.500
4	16	Ivan Capelli	March-Judd	1:44.583	1:43.605	+1.752
5	1	Nelson Piquet	Lotus-Honda	1:45.171	1:43.693	+1.840
6	2	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Honda	1:45.156	1:43.693	+1.840
7	17	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Megatron	1:46.915	1:43.816	+1.963
8	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Judd	1:44.448	1:43.893	+2.040
9	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	1:44.909	1:43.972	+2.119
10	20	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton-Ford	1:44.882	1:44.499	+2.686
11	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Judd	1:45.510	1:44.555	+2.702
12	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	1:45.047	1:44.611	+2.758
13	15	Maurício Gugelmin	March-Judd	1:45.138	1:45.156	+3.285
14	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Rial-Ford	1:48.393	1:45.558	+3.705
15	18	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Megatron	1:45.845	1:46.189	+3.992
16	3	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	1:47.828	1:45.916	+4.063
17	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	1:47.638	1:46.449	+4.596
18	14	Philippe Streiff	AGS-Ford	1:47.583	1:46.486	+4.633
19	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Ford	1:47.057	1:46.521	+4.668
20	29	Aguri Suzuki	Lola-Ford	1:48.448	1:46.920	+5.067
21	36	Alex Caffi	Dallara-Ford	1:47.813	1:46.982	+5.129
22	24	Luis Pérez-Sala	Minardi-Ford	1:48.769	1:47.134	+5.281
23	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Judd	1:49.165	1:47.193	+5.340
24	21	Nicola Larini	Osella	1:48.706	1:47.547	+5.694
25	10	Bernd Schneider	Zakspeed	1:49.897	1:47.599	+5.746
26	4	Julian Bailey	Tyrrell-Ford	1:49.420	1:48.589	+6.736
DNQ	26	Stefan Johansson	Ligier-Judd	1:49.127	1:48.716	+6.863
DNQ	32	Oscar Larrauri	EuroBrun-Ford	1:50.224	1:49.265	+7.412
DNQ	9	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Zakspeed	1:49.706	1:50.550	+7.853
DNQ	33	Stefano Modena	EuroBrun-Ford	1:49.812	1:50.047	+7.959

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	12	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	51	1:33:26.173	1	9
2	11	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	51	+ 13.363	2	6
3	20	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton-Ford	51	+ 36.109	10	4
4	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	51	+ 1:26.714	3	3
5	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	51	+ 1:30.603	12	2
6	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Judd	51	+ 1:37.615	11	1
7	2	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Honda	50	+ 1 Lap	6
8	14	Philippe Streiff	AGS-Ford	50	+ 1 Lap	18
9	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Ford	50	+ 1 Lap	19
10	15	Maurício Gugelmin	March-Judd	50	+ 1 Lap	13
11	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	50	+ 1 Lap	9
12	3	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	50	+ 1 Lap	16
13	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	49	+ 2 Laps	17
14	4	Julian Bailey	Tyrrell-Ford	49	+ 2 Laps	26
15	24	Luis Pérez-Sala	Minardi-Ford	49	+ 2 Laps	22
16	29	Aguri Suzuki	Lola-Ford	48	+ 3 Laps	20
17	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Judd	48	+ 3 Laps	23
Ret	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Rial-Ford	36	Overheating	14
Ret	18	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Megatron	35	Ignition	15
Ret	21	Nicola Larini	Osella	34	Brakes	24
Ret	1	Nelson Piquet	Lotus-Honda	34	Driver Unwell	5
Ret	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Judd	24	Collision	8
Ret	36	Alex Caffi	Dallara-Ford	22	Spun Off	21
Ret	16	Ivan Capelli	March-Judd	19	Electrical	4
Ret	17	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Megatron	16	Spun Off	7
Ret	10	Bernd Schneider	Zakspeed	14	Driver Unfit	25
DNQ	26	Stefan Johansson	Ligier-Judd
DNQ	32	Oscar Larrauri	EuroBrun-Ford
DNQ	9	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Zakspeed
DNQ	33	Stefano Modena	EuroBrun-Ford
DNPQ	31	Gabriele Tarquini	Coloni-Ford
Source:^[3]

Championship standings after the race

Bold text indicates the World Champions.

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Ayrton Senna	87 (88)
2	Alain Prost	84 (96)
3	Gerhard Berger	41
4	Thierry Boutsen	29
5	Michele Alboreto	24
Source: ^[4]

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	McLaren-Honda	184
2	Ferrari	65
3	Benetton-Ford	44
4	Arrows-Megatron	20
5	March-Judd	19
Source: ^[4]

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. Drivers could only count their best 11 results; numbers without parentheses are Championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored. Points accurate at final declaration of results. The Benettons were subsequently disqualified from the Belgian Grand Prix and their points reallocated.

References

^ "1988 Japanese Grand Prix | Motorsport Database".
^ "Formula 1 Honda Japanese Grand Prix 2022 – Media Kit" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 5 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
^ "1988 Japanese Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
^ ^a ^b "Japan 1988 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.

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