The 1986 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Hockenheimring on 27 July 1986. It was the tenth race of the 1986 Formula One World Championship.
Pre-race
In the run-up to the race, Keke Rosberg announced that he would be retiring from Formula One at the end of the season, while Lotus announced that they would be using Honda engines in 1987, following Renault's withdrawal from the sport, with Japanese driver Satoru Nakajima replacing Johnny Dumfries. Meanwhile, Ligier drafted in Philippe Alliot to replace the injured Jacques Laffite.
Qualifying While other turbo engines of the mid-1980s had qualifying setups with high boost and well over 1000 hp for a few laps, especially BMW, and despite the McLaren drivers asking for more qualifying power, TAG-Porsche put less effort and money into such modifications and stayed closer to race configuration. This worked in the 1986 Monaco Grand Prix, where Alain Prost took pole, fastest lap and the win ahead of his teammate. The all-McLaren front row at the fast Hockenheimring with its long straights in the forest and short stadium section was a surprise. TAG finally used larger turbos while the other brands had to limit boost for the long full throttle sections.
Race The 45-lap race was race of attrition won by Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet, driving a Williams-Honda. Compatriot Ayrton Senna was second in a Lotus-Renault, with Briton Nigel Mansell third in the other Williams-Honda. Frenchman Alain Prost was running third in his McLaren-TAG in the closing laps when he ran out of fuel, dropping him to sixth and thus allowing Mansell to extend his lead in the Drivers' Championship to seven points.
Classification
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 2 Keke Rosberg McLaren-TAG 1:42.478 1:42.013 — 2 1 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:43.373 1:42.166 +0.153 3 12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault 1:45.212 1:42.329 +0.316 4 20 Gerhard Berger Benetton-BMW 1:44.493 1:42.541 +0.528 5 6 Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 1:43.852 1:42.545 +0.532 6 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 1:42.696 1:43.086 +0.683 7 7 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 1:46.094 1:43.348 +1.335 8 25 René Arnoux Ligier-Renault 1:43.991 1:43.693 +1.680 9 19 Teo Fabi Benetton-BMW 12:12.563 1:44.001 +1.998 10 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:46.319 1:44.308 +2.295 11 28 Stefan Johansson Ferrari 1:46.847 1:44.346 +2.333 12 11 Johnny Dumfries Lotus-Renault 1:47.845 1:44.768 +2.755 13 16 Patrick Tambay Lola-Ford 1:47.221 1:44.979 +2.966 14 26 Philippe Alliot Ligier-Renault 1:45.047 1:45.905 +3.034 15 3 Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Renault 1:49.406 1:45.432 +3.419 16 14 Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed 1:47.167 1:45.887 +3.874 17 17 Christian Danner Arrows-BMW 1:49.439 1:46.355 +4.342 18 4 Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Renault 1:47.371 1:48.397 +5.358 19 15 Alan Jones Lola-Ford 1:51.918 1:47.517 +5.505 20 8 Derek Warwick Brabham-BMW 1:48.206 53:52.766 +6.193 21 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 1:49.240 2:03.702 +7.227 22 24 Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:50.224 1:49.369 +7.356 23 23 Andrea de Cesaris Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:50.900 1:50.066 +8.053 24 29 Huub Rothengatter Zakspeed 1:52.461 1:50.918 +8.905 25 21 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:56.468 +14.455 26 22 Allen Berg Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:56.959 +14.946
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 6 Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 44 1:22:08.263 5 9 2 12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault 44 + 15.437 3 6 3 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 44 + 44.580 6 4 4 25 René Arnoux Ligier-Renault 44 + 1:15.176 8 3 5 2 Keke Rosberg McLaren-TAG 43 Out of fuel 1 2 6 1 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 43 Out of fuel 2 1 7 8 Derek Warwick Brabham-BMW 43 + 1 Lap 20 8 16 Patrick Tambay Lola-Ford 43 + 1 Lap 13 9 15 Alan Jones Lola-Ford 42 + 2 Laps 19 10 20 Gerhard Berger Benetton-BMW 42 + 2 Laps 4 11 28 Stefan Johansson Ferrari 41 Broken wing 11 12 22 Allen Berg Osella-Alfa Romeo 40 + 4 Laps 26 17 Christian Danner Arrows-BMW 38 Turbo 17 29 Huub Rothengatter Zakspeed 38 Gearbox 24 14 Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed 37 Engine 16 3 Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Renault 34 Electrical 15 7 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 22 Turbo 7 23 Andrea de Cesaris Minardi-Motori Moderni 20 Gearbox 23 24 Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 19 Overheating 22 11 Johnny Dumfries Lotus-Renault 17 Water radiator 12 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 13 Turbo 21 26 Philippe Alliot Ligier-Renault 11 Engine 14 21 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 10 Clutch 25 4 Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Renault 7 Engine 18 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 6 Transmission 10 19 Teo Fabi Benetton-BMW 0 Collision 9
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Nigel Mansell 51 2 Alain Prost 44 3 Ayrton Senna 42 4 Nelson Piquet 38 5 Keke Rosberg 19Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Honda 89 2 McLaren-TAG 63 3 Lotus-Renault 42 4 Ligier-Renault 28 5 Ferrari 13Source:
References