1987 Monaco Grand Prix

The 1987 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on May 31, 1987 at the Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo. It was the 4th race of the 1987 Formula One season.

Race summary

Traditionally the number of competitors permitted for this Grand Prix was lower than all other circuits, due to the tight twisty nature of the track. Originally 16, it was later increased to 20; in 1987 it was increased to a full grid of 26. According to FISA this was to bring it into line with other Grands Prix but there were cynical views that this was done in order to reduce the number of non-qualifiers to appease the 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, Christian Danner and Michele Alboreto tangled, resulting in a severe accident: the Ferrari was thrown in the air and caught fire, but fortunately landed back on the track. FISA took the decision to disqualify Danner from the weekend, the first such event in the history of the Formula 1 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.<ref>Template:Citation/core{{#if:|}}</ref>

The pole position was claimed by Nigel Mansell in the Williams, second was Ayrton Senna for Lotus, and third was the other Williams of Nelson Piquet. The top three were in the same order after the start. On lap 3, Philippe Streiff, still recovering from the huge accident he suffered at the previous race in Belgium, crashed heavily again. Mansell's lead built up until lap 30, when he retired with a loss of turbo boost. This gave first place to Senna, who dominated the rest of the race, making a pit stop for tyre change without losing the lead, and set the fastest lap of the race.

Arrows drivers Derek Warwick and Eddie Cheever were both competitive, but retired with gearbox and engine failure respectively. Alain Prost retired from 3rd place with an engine failure with just 2 laps to go. Piquet came home second from Alboreto in third and Gerhard Berger in fourth. Jonathan Palmer finished fifth for his first World Championship points in the Tyrrell (and winning the Jim Clark Trophy for nonturbo drivers), while Ivan Capelli grabbed the last point for March.

Senna's victory was notable in that it was the first for a car with active suspension.

Classification

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	Template:Country flagicon Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Honda	78	1:57:54.085	2	9
2	6	Template:Country flagicon Nelson Piquet	Williams-Honda	78	+ 33.212	3	6
3	27	Template:Country flagicon Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	78	+ 1:12.839	5	4
4	28	Template:Country flagicon Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	77	+ 1 Lap	8	3
5 (1)	3	Template:Country flagicon Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	76	+ 2 Laps	15	2
6 (2)	16	Template:Country flagicon Ivan Capelli	March-Ford	76	+ 2 Laps	19	1
7	9	Template:Country flagicon Martin Brundle	Zakspeed	76	+ 2 Laps	14
8	19	Template:Country flagicon Teo Fabi	Benetton-Ford	76	+ 2 Laps	12
9	1	Template:Country flagicon Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	75	Engine	4
10	11	Template:Country flagicon Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Honda	75	+ 3 Laps	17
11	25	Template:Country flagicon René Arnoux	Ligier-Megatron	74	+ 4 Laps	22
12	26	Template:Country flagicon Piercarlo Ghinzani	Ligier-Megatron	74	+ 4 Laps	20
13 (3)	14	Template:Country flagicon Pascal Fabre	AGS-Ford	71	+ 7 Laps	24
Ret	18	Template:Country flagicon Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Megatron	59	Overheating	6
Ret	17	Template:Country flagicon Derek Warwick	Arrows-Megatron	58	Gearbox	11
Ret	2	Template:Country flagicon Stefan Johansson	McLaren-TAG	57	Engine	7
Ret	30	Template:Country flagicon Philippe Alliot	Larrousse-Ford	42	Engine	18
Ret	7	Template:Country flagicon Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW	41	Electrical	10
Ret	21	Template:Country flagicon Alex Caffi	Osella-Alfa Romeo	39	Electrical	16
Ret	8	Template:Country flagicon Andrea de Cesaris	Brabham-BMW	38	Suspension	21
Ret	5	Template:Country flagicon Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	29	Turbo	1
Ret	24	Template:Country flagicon Alessandro Nannini	Minardi-Motori Moderni	21	Electrical	13
Ret	4	Template:Country flagicon Philippe Streiff	Tyrrell-Ford	9	Accident	23
Ret	20	Template:Country flagicon Thierry Boutsen	Benetton-Ford	5	Transmission	9
DNS	23	Template:Country flagicon Adrián Campos	Minardi-Motori Moderni	0	Non Starter	0
EX	10	Template:Country flagicon Christian Danner	Zakspeed		Excluded

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Template:Country flagicon Alain Prost 18 2 Template:Country flagicon Ayrton Senna 15 3 Template:Country flagicon Stefan Johansson 13 4 Template:Country flagicon Nelson Piquet 12 5 Template:Country flagicon Nigel Mansell 10

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Template:Country flagicon McLaren-TAG 31 2 Template:Country flagicon Williams-Honda 24 3 Template:Country flagicon Lotus-Honda 18 4 Template:Country flagicon Ferrari 11 5 Template:Country flagicon Brabham-BMW 4 Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.