The 1987 Monaco Grand Prix (formally the 45e Grand Prix de Monaco) was a Formula One motor race held on 31 May 1987 at the Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo. It was the fourth race of the 1987 Formula One World Championship.
The 78-lap race was won by Ayrton Senna, driving a Lotus-Honda. It was the first of an eventual six wins for the Brazilian driver at Monaco. Compatriot Nelson Piquet was second in a Williams-Honda, with Italian Michele Alboreto third in a Ferrari.
The win promoted Senna to second in the Drivers' Championship, three points behind McLaren driver Alain Prost.
Race summary Traditionally the number of competitors permitted for the Monaco Grand Prix was lower than at all other races, due to the short, tight and twisty nature of the Monte Carlo circuit. Originally 16, it was later increased to 20. For 1987, however, it was increased to a full grid of 26. According to FISA, this move was made in order to bring the race into line with the other races on the F1 calendar, but there were cynical views that it was made in order to reduce the number of non-qualifiers to appease team sponsors. There was widespread concern about the results of overcrowding on the track and the speed difference of various cars.
During the practice session, Michele Alboreto's Ferrari tangled with Christian Danner's slow-moving Zakspeed on the uphill section after the Ste-Devote corner. Alboreto's car was thrown in the air and caught fire, but landed back on the track. FISA blamed Danner for the accident and decided to exclude him from the weekend, the first such event in the history of the Formula One World Championship. There were widespread objections throughout the paddock, particularly as there were several other practice accidents and it was felt that Danner had no more to blame than any other driver involved in these accidents. Alboreto himself believed that Danner was not to blame for the accident.
Nigel Mansell took pole position in the Williams, with Ayrton Senna's Lotus alongside on the front row and Nelson Piquet third in the other Williams. At the start, Mansell led away from Senna, Piquet, Alboreto and Alain Prost in the McLaren. Mansell led until lap 30 when he retired with a loss of turbo boost; Senna then led for the remainder of the race; despite making a pit stop for tyres.
Senna eventually won by 33 seconds from Piquet. Prost was running third when his engine failed with three laps to go, promoting Alboreto to the final podium position. Gerhard Berger finished fourth in the other Ferrari, with the top six completed by the first two naturally-aspirated finishers, Jonathan Palmer in the Tyrrell and Ivan Capelli in the March.
Senna's victory was the first for a car with active suspension, with the Brazilian driver stating that "she was so excellent that, if she could, she would do and win another two-hour race in Monaco right after".
Classification Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap Grid 1 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 1:24.514 1:23.039 — 1 2 12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Honda 1:25.255 1:23.711 +0.672 2 3 6 Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 1:25.917 1:24.755 +1.716 3 4 1 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:25.574 1:25.083 +2.044 4 5 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:27.017 1:26.102 +3.063 5 6 18 Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 1:27.716 1:26.175 +3.136 6 7 2 Stefan Johansson McLaren-TAG 1:27.701 1:26.317 +3.278 7 8 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:29.281 1:26.323 +3.284 8 9 20 Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford 1:27.082 1:26.630 +3.591 9 10 7 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 1:26.957 1:26.763 +3.724 10 11 17 Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 1:27.685 1:27.294 +4.255 11 12 19 Teo Fabi Benetton-Ford 1:29.264 1:27.622 +4.583 12 13 24 Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:28.517 1:27.731 +4.692 13 14 9 Martin Brundle Zakspeed 1:29.801 1:27.894 +4.855 14 15 3 Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 1:30.307 1:28.088 +5.049 15 16 21 Alex Caffi Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:36.267 1:28.233 +5.194 16 17 11 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 1:30.606 1:28.890 +5.851 17 18 30 Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 1:29.114 1:29.459 +6.075 18 19 16 Ivan Capelli March-Ford 1:31.589 1:29.147 +6.108 19 20 26 Piercarlo Ghinzani Ligier-Megatron 1:31.098 1:29.258 +6.219 20 21 8 Andrea de Cesaris Brabham-BMW 1:32.643 1:29.827 +6.788 21 22 25 René Arnoux Ligier-Megatron 1:31.270 1:30.000 +6.961 22 23 4 Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Ford 1:30.765 1:30.143 +7.104 23 24 23 Adrián Campos Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:30.805 — +7.766 25 14 Pascal Fabre AGS-Ford 1:35.179 1:31.667 +8.628 24 10 Christian Danner Zakspeed — — — —Source:
Race Numbers in brackets refer to positions of normally aspirated entrants competing for the Jim Clark Trophy. Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Honda 78 1:57:54.085 2 9 2 6 Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 78 + 33.212 3 6 3 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 78 + 1:12.839 5 4 4 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 77 + 1 lap 8 3 5 (1) 3 Jonathan Palmer Tyrrell-Ford 76 + 2 laps 15 2 6 (2) 16 Ivan Capelli March-Ford 76 + 2 laps 19 1 7 9 Martin Brundle Zakspeed 76 + 2 laps 14 8 19 Teo Fabi Benetton-Ford 76 + 2 laps 12 9 1 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 75 Engine 4 10 11 Satoru Nakajima Lotus-Honda 75 + 3 laps 17 11 25 René Arnoux Ligier-Megatron 74 + 4 laps 22 12 26 Piercarlo Ghinzani Ligier-Megatron 74 + 4 laps 20 13 (3) 14 Pascal Fabre AGS-Ford 71 + 7 laps 24 18 Eddie Cheever Arrows-Megatron 59 Overheating 6 17 Derek Warwick Arrows-Megatron 58 Gearbox 11 2 Stefan Johansson McLaren-TAG 57 Engine 7 30 Philippe Alliot Lola-Ford 42 Engine 18 7 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 41 Electrical 10 21 Alex Caffi Osella-Alfa Romeo 39 Electrical 16 8 Andrea de Cesaris Brabham-BMW 38 Suspension 21 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 29 Turbo/Exhaust 1 24 Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 21 Electrical 13 4 Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Ford 9 Accident 23 20 Thierry Boutsen Benetton-Ford 5 Transmission 9 23 Adrián Campos Minardi-Motori Moderni Non Starter 10 Christian Danner Zakspeed Excluded
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Alain Prost 18 2 Ayrton Senna 15 3 Stefan Johansson 13 4 Nelson Piquet 12 5 Nigel Mansell 10Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-TAG31 2 Williams-Honda22 3 Lotus-Honda18 4 Ferrari14 5 Brabham-BMW4Source:
Jim Clark Trophy standings PosDriverPoints 1 Philippe Streiff 21 2 Jonathan Palmer 18 3 Pascal Fabre 16 4 Philippe Alliot 15 5 Ivan Capelli 6
Colin Chapman trophy standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Tyrrell-Ford39 2 AGS-Ford16 3 Lola-Ford15 4 March-Ford6
References