The 1988 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 42nd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1988 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1988 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a sixteen-race series that commenced on 3 April and ended on 13 November. The World Championship for Drivers was won by Ayrton Senna, and the World Championship for Constructors by McLaren-Honda. Senna and McLaren teammate Alain Prost won fifteen of the sixteen races between them; the only race neither driver won was the Italian Grand Prix, where Ferrari's Gerhard Berger took an emotional victory four weeks after the death of team founder Enzo Ferrari. McLaren's win tally has only been bettered or equalled in seasons with more than sixteen races; their Constructors' Championship tally of 199 points, more than three times that of any other constructor, was also a record until . Defending Constructors' Champions Williams were never in championship contention, failing to win a single race and scoring just two podiums all season, having been forced to run during this season with underpowered naturally-aspirated Judd V8 engines having lost their previous supply of turbo V6 Honda engines at the end of the previous season.
Drivers and constructors The following drivers and constructors competed in the 1988 season. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Goodyear.
Entrant Constructor Chassis Engine No Driver Rounds Camel Team Lotus Honda Lotus-Honda 100T Honda RA168E 1.5 V6 t 1 Nelson Piquet All 2 Satoru Nakajima All Tyrrell Racing Organisation Tyrrell-Ford 017 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 3 Jonathan Palmer All 4 Julian Bailey All Canon Williams Team Williams-Judd FW12 Judd CV 3.5 V8 5 Nigel Mansell 1–10, 13–16 Martin Brundle 11 Jean-Louis Schlesser 12 6 Riccardo Patrese All West Zakspeed Zakspeed 881 Zakspeed 1500/4 1.5 L4 t 9 Piercarlo Ghinzani All 10 Bernd Schneider All Honda Marlboro McLaren McLaren-Honda MP4/4 Honda RA168E 1.5 V6 t 11 Alain Prost All 12 Ayrton Senna All Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives AGS-Ford JH23 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 14 Philippe Streiff All Leyton House March Racing Team March-Judd 881 Judd CV 3.5 V8 15 Maurício Gugelmin All 16 Ivan Capelli All Arrows Grand Prix International Arrows-Megatron A10B Megatron M12/13 1.5 L4 t 17 Derek Warwick All 18 Eddie Cheever All Benetton Formula Benetton-Ford B188 Ford DFR 3.5 V8 19 Alessandro Nannini All 20 Thierry Boutsen All Osella Squadra Corse Osella FA1IFA1L Osella 890T 1.5 V8 t 21 Nicola Larini All Rial Racing Rial-Ford ARC1 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 22 Andrea de Cesaris All Lois Minardi Team Minardi-Ford M188 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 23 Adrián Campos 1–5 Pierluigi Martini 6–16 24 Luis Pérez-Sala All Ligier Loto Ligier-Judd JS31 Judd CV 3.5 V8 25 René Arnoux All 26 Stefan Johansson All Scuderia Ferrari Ferrari F1/87/88C Ferrari Tipo 033E 1.5 V6 t 27 Michele Alboreto All 28 Gerhard Berger All Larrousse Calmels Lola-Ford LC88 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 29 Yannick Dalmas 1–14 Aguri Suzuki 15 Pierre-Henri Raphanel 16 30 Philippe Alliot All Coloni SpA Coloni-Ford FC188FC188B Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 31 Gabriele Tarquini All EuroBrun Racing EuroBrun-Ford ER188 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 32 Oscar Larrauri All 33 Stefano Modena All Scuderia Italia BMS Dallara-Ford 3087 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 36 Alex Caffi 1 F188 Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 V8 2–16Sources:
Team changes
Naturally aspirated engines would become mandatory from onwards and this year already saw severe restrictions on the turbocharged units (see Regulation changes), so four teams took the gamble of making the switch early, hoping to give themselves an extra year to get used to the new regulations. Among them most notably was constructors' champion Williams; they were powered by the new Judd CV 3.5L V8. March and Ligier made the same choice. The other obvious way was to use the Ford-Cosworth DFZ V8's, but they ran a year behind in development, and Benetton had gained exclusive rights to use the superior Cosworth DFR engine. Minardi made this choice, bringing the number of Cosworth-powered teams to ten in total. Looking for an advantage now that they couldn't rely on superior Honda turbo power, Williams added their reactive suspension system to the new Williams FW12. But 5% of the engine power was needed to run the computer-controlled system properly and, with the weight of the system, it made the already underpowered Judd V8 sluggish compared to its rivals. Osella kept using the Alfa Romeo 890T V8 turbo, but without factory support from the Italians, re-badged it as the "Osella V8". It produced around , making it the second most powerful engine on paper, but it often proved slower than even the year-old Cosworths. McLaren and Lotus, customers of Honda, received the RA168E engine, specifically designed to cope with the limits placed on turbo output (see Regulation changes). This was hoped to give Honda teams an advantage, as all other engines had been designed in accordance to the previous rule set. Besides this, Lotus made what turned out to be the right choice, by stepping away from active suspension systems. The March team employed a new designer, who would go on to produce many successful F1 cars in his career: Adrian Newey designed the sleek-looking and aerodynamically effective March 881 for the team's second season back in F1. There were three new teams on the grid this year: BMS Scuderia Italia, using a Dallara chassis; Rial, ex-owner of the ATS team; EuroBrun, who had bought the remains of the Brabham team from Bernie Ecclestone. It would be the first time since that the Brabham team would be missing from the grid. After losing use of the turbo BMW engines and failing to secure a replacement, and after missing the FIA's entry deadline for the 1988 season, team owner Bernie Ecclestone announced Brabham's withdrawal before the opening race in Brazil.
Driver changes
Despite winning his third championship with Williams, Nelson Piquet left his team. A heated battle with teammate Nigel Mansell left the pair's relationship sour. Riccardo Patrese was signed as his replacement. Piquet moved to Team Lotus, where a seat became available after it was announced that Ayrton Senna moved to McLaren to join Alain Prost. Before the 1987 Austrian Grand Prix, it was announced that Minardi driver Alessandro Nannini would replace Teo Fabi at Benetton. Fabi took out his frustration on his teammate Thierry Boutsen during the race, blocking him for many laps and not moving over for blue flags. In 1987, Julian Bailey became the first British driver to win a Formula 3000 race. This landed him a drive for Tyrrell F1 for 1988. Bailey was one of the five drivers making his debut at the beginning of the season. Another ten driver switches happened in the lower-ranking teams.
Mid-season changes Martin Brundle was test driver for Williams in 1988 and replaced Nigel Mansell at the Belgian Grand Prix, after Mansell was struck down with chickenpox. For the Italian Grand Prix, Williams called upon Jean-Louis Schlesser to make his debut, since Brundle had prior commitments in IMSA. The French driver made himself (in)famous by crashing into leader Ayrton Senna when the Brazilian tried to lap him for the second time. The McLaren spun out, paving the way for a Ferrari 1-2 finish on home soil. It was McLaren's only race in the year they did not win. After failing to qualify in three consecutive races, Adrián Campos left Minardi unmotivated. The team replaced him with Pierluigi Martini, having raced for them in as well. Larrousse driver Yannick Dalmas fell ill near the end of the season. To replace him, Aguri Suzuki made his debut at his home race. For the final race, Pierre-Henri Raphanel stepped in, for his debut as well.
Calendar Round Grand Prix Circuit Date 1 Brazilian Grand Prix Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet, Jacarepaguá 3 April 2 San Marino Grand Prix Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola 1 May 3 Monaco Grand Prix Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo 15 May 4 Mexican Grand Prix Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City 29 May 5 Canadian Grand Prix Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montréal 12 June 6 Detroit Grand Prix Detroit Street Circuit, Michigan 19 June 7 French Grand Prix Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet 3 July 8 British Grand Prix Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone 10 July 9 German Grand Prix Hockenheimring, Hockenheim 24 July 10 Hungarian Grand Prix Hungaroring, Mogyoród 7 August 11 Belgian Grand Prix Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot 28 August 12 Italian Grand Prix Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza 11 September 13 Portuguese Grand Prix Autódromo do Estoril, Estoril 25 September 14 Spanish Grand Prix Circuito de Jerez, Jerez de la Frontera 2 October 15 Japanese Grand Prix Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka 30 October 16 Australian Grand Prix Adelaide Street Circuit, Adelaide 13 November
Calendar changes The Austrian Grand Prix was dropped from the 1988 calendar due to safety concerns with the Österreichring, the narrow pit straight resulting in the 1987 race having to be restarted twice and Stefan Johansson hitting a small reindeer during the practice session, destroying his car and breaking his ribs in the process. This led to a re-organisation of the calendar, with the Belgian Grand Prix being moved from late May to late August to fill the slot traditionally occupied by the Austrian Grand Prix, and the Mexican Grand Prix being moved from mid-October to late May.
The Canadian Grand Prix returned after a year away, taking place in mid-June as the second race in a three-race North American tour, preceded by the Mexican Grand Prix and followed by the Detroit Grand Prix the following week.
Regulation changes Technical regulations The FIA continued their strategy from , to make naturally aspirated engines more attractive, ahead of the ban on turbocharged engines from on: The turbo boost was limited at , after it had already been brought down to for 1987. The FIA handled this by mandating that the valves would "pop off" when the pressure went over the limit. This led to the turbo-powered cars producing approximately less than the year before. The fuel limit for turbo engines was set at , down from for 1987, while teams running with a naturally aspirated engine could carry and use unlimited amounts of fuel during a race.
The FIA also introduced some new safety measures: The driver's feet should be positioned behind the front axis of the car. The survival cell and fuel tank would now have to pass a static crash test.
Sporting and event regulations The Jim Clark and Colin Chapman trophies, awarded the previous year for drivers and constructors, respectively, who were using naturally aspirated engines, had been withdrawn as such engines would become mandatory from 1989 onwards, 31 drivers entered the first race, but it was decided that only 30 cars should be allowed to participate in the qualifying sessions. So pre-qualifying, which had been used in several races during the late 1970s and early 1980s, was re-introduced. For 1988, this consisted of five cars taking part in an extra session on Friday morning before the first session of qualifying proper, with the slowest car to miss out on the rest of the weekend. A permanent FIA race director would be present and active at all race meetings.
Season report
Pre-season The pre-season was a very contentious time, with many theories of the championship flying around: whether the Honda engines would prove successful with McLaren; whether Ferrari would be able to continue the trend set by the last two rounds of , in which Gerhard Berger scored successive victories in Japan and Australia; whether Williams would be able to continue their success without Honda and Nelson Piquet; and whether reigning world champion Piquet could succeed in defending his title with the Honda-powered Lotus.