The 1989 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Spa-Francorchamps on 27 August 1989. It was the eleventh race of the 1989 Formula One World Championship.
The 44-lap race was won from pole position by Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna, driving a McLaren-Honda. Senna finished just ahead of French teammate Alain Prost, with Briton Nigel Mansell third in a Ferrari. The win, Senna's fifth of the season, moved him to within 11 points of Prost in the Drivers' Championship. James Hunt was absent from BBC commentary for this race due to illness, leaving Murray Walker to commentate the majority of the race alone with cameo appearances from Johnny Herbert and Martin Brundle.
Qualifying Pre-qualifying report In the Friday morning pre-qualifying session, an Onyx topped the time sheets for the fifth Grand Prix in succession. Stefan Johansson was again comfortably fastest by over a second, and his team-mate Bertrand Gachot also pre-qualified in third. The other two pre-qualifiers were the Larrousse-Lola cars of Michele Alboreto in second, and Philippe Alliot in fourth.
Those failing to proceed to the main qualifying sessions included both Osellas; Nicola Larini and Piercarlo Ghinzani close together in fifth and sixth. Roberto Moreno was seventh in his Coloni, with the AGS of Gabriele Tarquini eighth. The struggling Zakspeed drivers were ninth and tenth, Bernd Schneider marginally faster than Aguri Suzuki. The other AGS of Yannick Dalmas was next, ahead of Gregor Foitek, driving the older EuroBrun ER188B after the new car had not been successful. Foitek quit the team after this Grand Prix, to be replaced by their 1988 driver Oscar Larrauri. Bottom of the time sheets was the second Coloni of debutant Enrico Bertaggia, who was unable to put a proper timed lap together. He was replacing Pierre-Henri Raphanel, who had left Coloni to join Rial after Volker Weidler had quit the team.
Pre-qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap 1 36 Stefan Johansson Onyx-Ford 1:56.279 — 2 29 Michele Alboreto Lola-Lamborghini 1:57.509 +1.230 3 37 Bertrand Gachot Onyx-Ford 1:57.720 +1.441 4 30 Philippe Alliot Lola-Lamborghini 1:57.748 +1.469 5 17 Nicola Larini Osella-Ford 1:58.065 +1.786 6 18 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Ford 1:58.209 +1.930 7 31 Roberto Moreno Coloni-Ford 1:58.650 +2.371 8 40 Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 1:59.432 +3.153 9 34 Bernd Schneider Zakspeed-Yamaha 2:00.713 +4.434 10 35 Aguri Suzuki Zakspeed-Yamaha 2:00.757 +4.478 11 41 Yannick Dalmas AGS-Ford 2:02.205 +5.926 12 33 Gregor Foitek EuroBrun-Judd 2:02.767 +6.488 13 32 Enrico Bertaggia Coloni-Ford 2:21.709 +25.430
Qualifying report
Ayrton Senna took his eighth pole position of the season by nearly six-tenths of a second from McLaren teammate Alain Prost, with almost a further second back to Gerhard Berger in the Ferrari in third. The two Williams were fourth and fifth with Thierry Boutsen, in his home race, ahead of Riccardo Patrese, followed by Nigel Mansell in the second Ferrari. Alessandro Nannini was seventh in the Benetton, over two seconds behind Mansell, and the top ten was completed by Stefano Modena in the Brabham, Maurício Gugelmin in the March and Derek Warwick in the Arrows.
The major talking point, however, was the failure of both Nelson Piquet and Satoru Nakajima to qualify, the first time in the Lotus team's history that neither of its cars had qualified.
All the times were determined in the second qualifying session, after the first had taken place in wet conditions.
Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 1 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 2:11.171 1:50.867 — 2 2 Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 2:12.721 1:51.463 +0.596 3 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 2:11.102 1:52.391 +1.524 4 5 Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 2:13.030 1:52.786 +1.919 5 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 2:12.581 1:52.875 +2.008 6 27 Nigel Mansell Ferrari 2:12.042 1:52.898 +2.031 7 19 Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 2:14.117 1:55.075 +4.208 8 8 Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 2:19.161 1:55.642 +4.775 9 15 Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 2:16.401 1:55.729 +4.862 10 9 Derek Warwick Arrows-Ford 2:13.005 1:55.864 +4.997 11 30 Philippe Alliot Lola-Lamborghini 2:14.357 1:55.890 +5.023 12 21 Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 2:17.604 1:55.892 +5.025 13 20 Emanuele Pirro Benetton-Ford 2:15.068 1:55.902 +5.035 14 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 2:15.515 1:56.115 +5.248 15 36 Stefan Johansson Onyx-Ford 2:17.329 1:56.129 +5.262 16 4 Johnny Herbert Tyrrell-Ford 2:17.714 1:56.248 +5.381 17 25 René Arnoux Ligier-Ford 2:14.344 1:56.251 +5.384 18 22 Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 2:17.512 1:56.257 +5.390 19 16 Ivan Capelli March-Judd 2:15.863 1:56.291 +5.424 20 7 Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd 2:18.663 1:56.327 +5.460 21 3 Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 2:18.405 1:56.600 +5.733 22 29 Michele Alboreto Lola-Lamborghini 2:17.240 1:56.616 +5.749 23 37 Bertrand Gachot Onyx-Ford 2:18.151 1:56.716 +5.849 24 10 Eddie Cheever Arrows-Ford 2:14.641 1:56.748 +5.881 25 24 Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford 2:18.907 1:56.957 +6.090 26 26 Olivier Grouillard Ligier-Ford 2:18.175 1:57.027 +6.160 27 12 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Judd 2:13.677 1:57.251 +6.384 28 11 Nelson Piquet Lotus-Judd 2:14.358 1:57.771 +6.904 29 38 Christian Danner Rial-Ford 2:20.503 2:00.247 +9.380 30 39 Pierre-Henri Raphanel Rial-Ford 2:21.180 2:02.937 +12.070
Race Race report
The race was delayed for some time due to the wet conditions. At the start, Senna led the way from Prost and Berger. Mansell managed to pass both Williams on the grass on the run to La Source hairpin to claim fourth position by the first corner. Johnny Herbert retired when he spun off on lap 4 in his first race for Tyrrell. René Arnoux then retired in the pit lane on lap 5 after a collision with the Lola of Philippe Alliot at La Source. Early on, Berger pressured Prost but was unable to find a way through. Senna comfortably led from start to finish in conditions similar to those in which he won his first Belgian Grand Prix in 1985. Behind him, Berger suffered his tenth consecutive retirement of the season when he spun out on lap 10, leaving Prost to fend off a charging Mansell who, in his efforts to pass the McLaren, made a number of unorthodox moves at the exit of La Source in an attempt to gain a better run at the McLaren through Eau Rouge and on to the long uphill straight. Senna eased up in the last few laps, allowing Prost and Mansell to finish within two seconds of him. Boutsen finished fourth in his 100th race. Johnny Herbert, in his first race for Tyrrell (replacing Jean Alesi who was busy competing in the F3000 championship), said during the BBC commentary that in order to see the car in front it was necessary to press the helmet visor against the lens of the rear-facing visibility light from the car in front. Unusually, Eddie Cheever received the black and white warning flag for 'unsportsmanlike behaviour' for his alleged baulking of Mansell.Murray Walker's 1989 Grand Prix Year, First Frost 1989, p.100
Race classification
Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Honda 44 1:40:54.196 1 9 2 2 Alain Prost McLaren-Honda 44 + 1.304 2 6 3 27 Nigel Mansell Ferrari 44 + 1.824 6 4 4 5 Thierry Boutsen Williams-Renault 44 + 54.408 4 3 5 19 Alessandro Nannini Benetton-Ford 44 + 1:08.805 7 2 6 9 Derek Warwick Arrows-Ford 44 + 1:18.316 10 1 7 15 Maurício Gugelmin March-Judd 43 + 1 lap 9 8 36 Stefan Johansson Onyx-Ford 43 + 1 lap 15 9 23 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 43 + 1 lap 14 10 20 Emanuele Pirro Benetton-Ford 43 + 1 lap 13 11 22 Andrea de Cesaris Dallara-Ford 43 + 1 lap 18 12 16 Ivan Capelli March-Judd 43 + 1 lap 19 13 26 Olivier Grouillard Ligier-Ford 43 + 1 lap 26 14 3 Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 42 + 2 laps 21 15 24 Luis Pérez-Sala Minardi-Ford 41 + 3 laps 25 16 30 Philippe Alliot Lola-Lamborghini 39 Engine 11 10 Eddie Cheever Arrows-Ford 38 Wheel 24 37 Bertrand Gachot Onyx-Ford 21 Spun off 23 6 Riccardo Patrese Williams-Renault 20 Collision 5 29 Michele Alboreto Lola-Lamborghini 19 Collision 22 21 Alex Caffi Dallara-Ford 13 Spun off 12 7 Martin Brundle Brabham-Judd 12 Brakes 20 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 9 Spun off 3 8 Stefano Modena Brabham-Judd 9 Handling 8 25 René Arnoux Ligier-Ford 4 Collision damage 17 4 Johnny Herbert Tyrrell-Ford 3 Spun off 16 12 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Judd 11 Nelson Piquet Lotus-Judd 38 Christian Danner Rial-Ford 39 Pierre-Henri Raphanel Rial-Ford 17 Nicola Larini Osella-Ford 18 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Ford 31 Roberto Moreno Coloni-Ford 40 Gabriele Tarquini AGS-Ford 34 Bernd Schneider Zakspeed-Yamaha 35 Aguri Suzuki Zakspeed-Yamaha 41 Yannick Dalmas AGS-Ford 33 Gregor Foitek EuroBrun-Judd 32 Enrico Bertaggia Coloni-Ford
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Alain Prost 62 2 Ayrton Senna 51 3 Nigel Mansell 38 4 Riccardo Patrese 25 5 Thierry Boutsen 20Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-Honda113 2 Williams-Renault45 3 Ferrari38 4 Benetton-Ford19 5 Arrows-Ford12Source:
References