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A look back at Austria: 1987

Published on 06 Jul 2017 10:20
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By: Chris Soulsby

At F1Today, we continue to look back at memorable races at the Austrian Grand Prix ahead of this weekend's race at the Red Bull Ring. Today, we look at the 1987 race, which saw countless accidents around the 3.6 mile track.

1987 Austrian Grand Prix

Going into the tenth race of the 1987 Season, Nelson Piquet was leading the Drivers' Championship, seven points ahead of his fellow countryman, Ayrton Senna, after winning the Hungarian Grand Prix one week earlier. Nigel Mansell was 18 points behind Piquet in third place, locked on 30 points with McLaren's Alain Prost.

In qualifying, Nelson Piquet claimed pole position and headed up a Williams front row lockout with Mansell starting alongside him in second place. Gerhard Berger qualified in third place for his home race for Ferrari while Belgian Thierry Boutsen lined up in fourth.

When the lights went out for the first race start, carnage quickly ensued and Martin Brundle soon found himself with damage after crashing while team mates Jonathan Palmer and Philippe Strieff collided with one another along with Ligier driver Piercarlo Ghinzani.

A more serious crash then occurred on the second race start when Nigel Mansell had a slow getaway, causing the field to condense behind him. This resulted in Eddie Cheever and Riccardo Patrese colliding and almost half of the field being collected in the pileup. Drivers involved in the accident included McLaren's Stefan Johansson, Ivan Capelli, Pascal Fabre, Philippe Alliot, Christian Danner, and Martin Brundle for the second time.

Almost two hours later, the race was started for a third time, and due to the long time delay, a number of drivers were able to rejoin through repairs or going out in spare cars. The third start was without drama, and the field got away cleanly, although Johansson picked up a puncture.

In the early part of the race, Piquet led from Boutsen who had jumped ahead of Mansell after starting in third place. A gearbox issue for Boutsen then promoted Mansell back up to second and the Briton quickly took the lead, jumping ahead of Piquet during the pit stops.

Through Boutsen's issue, his Benetton team mate, Teo Fabi, moved into third and finished there, albeit one lap down from Mansell who went on to win the race, 56 seconds ahead of Piquet. Boutsen came home in fourth, heading up a 3-4 for Benetton while Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost recovered from the difficult start to the race that they faced to claim the remaining points paying positions in fifth and sixth.

The 1987 Austrian Grand Prix marked Mansell's third race win of the season and the fifth consecutive win for Williams while Fabi's third place marked what would be the final podium finish of his Formula 1 career.

By finishing in second place, Nelson Piquet extended his lead in the championship from Ayrton Senna to 11 points while Mansell closed in on the Brazilian racer and future champion so only four points separated them in the championship.

Chris Soulsby

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