The 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix was a
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
motor race held at
Jacarepaguá
Jacarepaguá (), with a land area of , is a neighborhood situated in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In 2010, it had a population of 157,326. The name comes from the indigenous name of the location, "shallow pond of caymans", yakaré (c ...
,
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...
on 26 March 1989. It was the first race of the
1989 Formula One World Championship.
The 61-lap race was won by Englishman
Nigel Mansell, driving a
Ferrari, with Frenchman
Alain Prost
Alain Marie Pascal Prost (; born 24 February 1955) is a French retired racing driver and Formula One team owner. A four-time Formula One World Drivers' Champion, from 1987 until 2001 he held the record for most Grand Prix victories until Micha ...
second in a
McLaren-
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.
Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...
and local driver
Maurício Gugelmin
Maurício Gugelmin (born 20 April 1963) is a Brazilian former racing driver. He took part in both Formula One and Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART). He participated in 80 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting in for the March team. Gugelmin achi ...
third in a
March
March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...
-
Judd. It was the first time that a car with a semi-automatic gearbox won the race. Mansell had joked that he had booked an early flight home as he did not expect to win, and during the podium ceremony he cut his hand whilst lifting the trophy.
Qualifying
Pre-qualifying report
Several teams were required to participate in the Friday morning pre-qualifying sessions during 1989, in order to reduce the field to thirty cars for the main qualifying sessions on Friday afternoon and Saturday. At the midway point of the season, the pre-qualifying group was to be reassessed, with the more successful, points-scoring teams being allowed to avoid pre-qualifying, and unsuccessful teams being required to pre-qualify from mid-season onwards.
At this first Grand Prix of 1989 in Brazil, five cars were allowed to progress. The
AGS team had expanded from one car to two, and their first car, to be driven by
Philippe Streiff
Philippe Streiff (26 June 1955 – 23 December 2022) was a French racing driver. He participated in 55 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 21 October 1984. He achieved one podium, and scored a total of 11 championship points.
A pre-season tes ...
, was not required to pre-qualify. However, the Frenchman had been paralysed in a midweek testing crash at the circuit, which ended his career. He was not replaced for the Grand Prix weekend, allowing an extra car to progress from the pre-qualifying session.
The
FIRST
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
team withdrew before the event, as the car had failed a mandatory
FIA
FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used.
Fia or FIA may also refer to: People
* Fia Backs ...
pre-season crash test. This left thirteen cars participating in the session. They included the two
Brabhams, as the team had not participated in 1988, and the new
Onyx
Onyx primarily refers to the parallel banded variety of chalcedony, a silicate mineral. Agate and onyx are both varieties of layered chalcedony that differ only in the form of the bands: agate has curved bands and onyx has parallel bands. The ...
team with their two-car entry. Also included were the two
Zakspeed
Zakspeed () is a motor racing team from Germany, founded in 1968 by Erich Zakowski and after that run by his son Peter Zakowski. It is based in Niederzissen, Rhineland-Palatinate, around from the Nürburgring circuit.
1973 to 1981: Saloon and s ...
s and the two
Osella
Osella is an Italian racing car manufacturer and former Formula One team. They participated in 132 Grands Prix between 1980 and 1990. They achieved two points finishes and scored five championship points.
Early days
Named after its founder V ...
s. This left five other cars: the sole single-car entry from
EuroBrun
EuroBrun Racing was an Italian-licensed Formula One constructor based in Senago, Milan, Italy. They participated in 46 Grands Prix between 1988 and 1990, entering a total of 76 cars.
Background
The team was a combination of two outfits – the ...
, and the second cars of the four teams expanding from one car to two for 1989, namely AGS,
Coloni,
Dallara
Dallara is an Italian race car manufacturer, founded by its current President, Gian Paolo Dallara. After working for Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and De Tomaso, in 1972 in his native village of Varano de' Melegari (Parma), Italy he created ...
and
Rial.
During the session, the two Brabhams of
Martin Brundle
Martin John Brundle (born 1 June 1959) is a British former racing driver, best known as a Formula One driver and as a commentator for ITV Sport from 1997 to 2008, the BBC from 2009 to 2011, and Sky Sports since 2012.
Brundle contested the 1 ...
and
Stefano Modena
Stefano Modena (born 12 May 1963) is a former racing driver from Italy. He participated in 81 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on November 15, 1987. He achieved 2 podiums, and scored a total of 17 championship points.
Career
Modena was born in ...
were considerably faster than the other entrants, securing a comfortable 1–2. Third was the EuroBrun driven by debutant Swiss driver
Gregor Foitek, and fourth was the Osella of
Nicola Larini
Nicola Larini (born 19 March 1964) is an Italian racing driver. He participated in 75 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 6 September 1987. He finished second in the tragic 1994 San Marino Grand Prix on a substitute outing for Ferrari, but only s ...
. The fortunate fifth fastest runner, who also went through to qualifying on this occasion, was Zakspeed's
Bernd Schneider.
Missing out in sixth was
Alex Caffi
Alessandro "Alex" Caffi (born 18 March 1964) is an Italian racing driver, former Formula One driver, and team owner. He participated in 75 Grands Prix, debuting on 7 September 1986. In 2006 he raced in the inaugural season of the Grand Prix Mas ...
in the Dallara, ahead of veteran
Piercarlo Ghinzani
Piercarlo Ghinzani (born 16 January 1952) is a former racing driver from Italy. He currently manages his own racing team, Team Ghinzani, which was created in 1992 and is currently involved in several Formula Three championships.
Early career
Be ...
in the other Osella. Another newcomer, German driver
Volker Weidler
Volker Hermann Weidler (born 18 March 1962) is a retired racing driver from Germany, best known for winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1991.
Career
Formula racing
In 1985, he became German Formula Three champion.
In the 1989 Formula One seaso ...
was eighth in the Rial, with
Pierre-Henri Raphanel
Pierre-Henri Raphanel (born 27 May 1961) is a French former racing driver.
He participated in 17 Formula One Grands Prix for Larrousse, Coloni and Rial, debuting on 13 November 1988. He only qualified for one race, the 1989 Monaco Grand Prix, ...
's Coloni ninth, ahead of
Joachim Winkelhock
Joachim Winkelhock (born 24 October 1960) is a German motor racing driver.
The younger brother of the late Manfred Winkelhock, Winkelhock was born in Waiblingen, near Stuttgart. The youngest brother, Thomas Winkelhock, and Manfred's son Mark ...
, also competing in Formula One for the first time, in the AGS. Eleventh was the second Zakspeed of
Aguri Suzuki, with the Onyx drivers a little way adrift at the bottom of the time sheets, having had little time to test their new car.
Stefan Johansson was faster than his Belgian team-mate
Bertrand Gachot, the other driver in the session to make his Formula One debut, but was still over seven seconds slower than Brundle's time.
Pre-qualifying classification
Qualifying report
Ayrton Senna
Ayrton Senna da Silva (; 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver who won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in , , and . Senna is one of three Formula One drivers from Brazil to win the World Championship and ...
took
pole position in qualifying ahead of
Riccardo Patrese
Riccardo Gabriele Patrese (born 17 April 1954) is an Italian former racing driver, who raced in Formula One from to .
He became the first Formula One driver to achieve 200 Grand Prix starts when he appeared at the 1990 British Grand Prix, and ...
, making a record-breaking 177th appearance at a Grand Prix, and
Gerhard Berger
Gerhard Berger (born 27 August 1959) is an Austrian former Formula One racing driver. He competed in Formula One for 14 seasons, twice finishing 3rd overall in the championship ( and ), both times driving for Ferrari. He won ten Grands Prix, ach ...
in the new
Ferrari 640, which featured the first semi-automatic gearbox in Formula One. For Patrese it was actually his first front row start since he started second at the
1983 European Grand Prix at
Brands Hatch
Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently host ...
, a gap of 81 races. On his debut for Ferrari, Berger's teammate
Nigel Mansell qualified sixth. After the race Mansell joked that he was so convinced of his new car's unreliability that he had booked an early flight home.
Johnny Herbert
John Paul "Johnny" Herbert (born 25 June 1964) is a British former racing driver and current television announcer for Sky Sports F1. He raced in Formula One from 1989 to 2000, for seven different teams, winning three races and placing 4th in ...
(
Benetton) and
Olivier Grouillard
Olivier Grouillard (born 2 September 1958) is a racing driver from France. He started racing go-karts from the age of fourteen competing in events such as the Volant Elf. He progressed to Formula Renault winning the title before Grouillard compet ...
(
Ligier
Ligier (() is a French automobile and minibus maker created by former racing driver and rugby player Guy Ligier (1930–2015), specialized in the manufacturing of microcars.
Ligier is best known for its involvement in the Formula 1 World Champ ...
) both qualified for their first Formula One races.
Qualifying classification
Race
Race report
At the start,
Nicola Larini
Nicola Larini (born 19 March 1964) is an Italian racing driver. He participated in 75 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 6 September 1987. He finished second in the tragic 1994 San Marino Grand Prix on a substitute outing for Ferrari, but only s ...
was disqualified for an illegal start. Mansell became the first man since
Mario Andretti
Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is an Italian-born American former racing driver. One of the most successful drivers in the history of motorsports, Andretti is one of only two drivers to have won races in Formula One, IndyCar, t ...
in 1971 to win on his Formula One debut for Ferrari, a feat that was not matched until
Kimi Räikkönen won for Ferrari at the
2007 Australian Grand Prix. It was also the first race ever to be won by a car with a semi-automatic gearbox. Mansell cut his hands on the trophy following the race.
He was joined on the podium by
McLaren's
Alain Prost
Alain Marie Pascal Prost (; born 24 February 1955) is a French retired racing driver and Formula One team owner. A four-time Formula One World Drivers' Champion, from 1987 until 2001 he held the record for most Grand Prix victories until Micha ...
and
March's Maurício Gugelmin
Maurício Gugelmin (born 20 April 1963) is a Brazilian former racing driver. He took part in both Formula One and Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART). He participated in 80 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting in for the March team. Gugelmin achi ...
, making his first appearance on the podium. Johnny Herbert, still recovering from his horrifying
Formula 3000
Formula 3000 (F3000) was a type of open wheel, single seater formula racing, occupying the tier immediately below Formula One and above Formula Three. It was so named because the cars were powered by 3.0 L engines.
Formula 3000 championships
...
crash at
Brands Hatch
Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently host ...
six months earlier, finished 4th on his Formula 1 debut for Benetton, 1.123 seconds behind Gugelmin and 7.748 seconds in front of teammate
Alessandro Nannini
Alessandro "Sandro" Nannini (born 7 July 1959) is a former racing driver from Italy. He is the younger brother of singer Gianna Nannini. His five-year F1 career resulted in his one and only win at the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix but ended less than ...
who finished 6th.
The hard luck of the story of the race was
Arrows driver
Derek Warwick
Derek Stanley Arthur Warwick (born 27 August 1954) is a British former professional racing driver from England, who lives in Jersey. He raced for many years in Formula One, collecting four podiums but never winning a Grand Prix. He did, however, ...
. There was a problem fitting a rear wheel during his second stop for tyres which lost him over 25 seconds. He eventually finished in fifth place, less than 18 seconds behind Mansell suggesting that the pit stop may have cost Warwick his maiden Grand Prix victory.
Warwick's Arrows teammate
Eddie Cheever
Edward McKay "Eddie" Cheever Jr. (born January 10, 1958) is an American former racing driver who raced for almost 30 years in Formula One, sports cars, CART, and the Indy Racing League. Cheever participated in 143 Formula One World Championshi ...
collapsed after exiting his car following the collision involving the
Zakspeed
Zakspeed () is a motor racing team from Germany, founded in 1968 by Erich Zakowski and after that run by his son Peter Zakowski. It is based in Niederzissen, Rhineland-Palatinate, around from the Nürburgring circuit.
1973 to 1981: Saloon and s ...
of
Bernd Schneider that ended his race. Arrows actually had to modify Cheever's car after he failed the
FIA
FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used.
Fia or FIA may also refer to: People
* Fia Backs ...
safety check where a driver had five seconds to be able to exit their car. The new
Ross Brawn designed
Arrows A11
The Arrows A11 was a Formula One car with which the Arrows team competed in the and Formula One seasons, and at the start of the season (badged as a Footwork).
Designed by Ross Brawn, the A11 was the first Arrows car following the ban on tur ...
was a tight fit for the tall American and he had trouble fitting into the car before practice. Schneider, whose car carried the new
Yamaha Yamaha may refer to:
* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below).
** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...
V8 engine
A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration.
The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and u ...
, only got into the race after Philippe Streiff's crash and the FIA had allowed five pre-qualifiers to enter the main field instead of four. Schneider did not qualify for another race until the season's penultimate round in
Japan some seven months later. His new teammate
Aguri Suzuki ultimately failed to qualify for all 16 rounds of the 1989 season.
This was the last Formula One race at Jacarepaguá and in Rio de Janeiro. From 1990, the Brazilian Grand Prix would be held at a shortened
Interlagos
Interlagos is a neighborhood located in the district of Socorro in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Its name comes from the fact that the region is located between two large reservoirs, Guarapiranga and Billings, built in the early 20th century ...
in
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...
, the home town of Ayrton Senna, where it is today.
Race classification
Championship standings after the race
;Drivers' Championship standings
;Constructors' Championship standings
*
References
* Pre-qualifying results from FIA Yearbook 1989
{{F1GP 80-89
Brazilian Grand Prix
Brazilian Grand Prix
Grand Prix
Brazilian Grand Prix