1988 Formula One Season

## 1988 FIA Formula One World Championship

1988 World Champion, Ayrton Senna

The **1988 Formula One season** was the 39th season of the FIA Formula One World Championship. The championship comprised of 16 races, with the World Drivers' Championship won by Brazil's Ayrton Senna, and McLaren–Honda won the Constructors' Championship.

Senna and McLaren teammate, reigning triple World Champion Alain Prost, produced one of the most dominant Formula One seasons of all-time, with McLaren victorious in fourteen out of sixteen rounds. Senna completed the unprecedented feat of qualifying on pole position in every race of the season. One season after Williams took their single-season points scoring record in the Constructors' Championship, McLaren regained the record, scoring nearly double the points of the team in second place.

Of the two races that neither McLaren driver won, the season opening Brazilian Grand Prix (won by Brazilian Nelson Piquet driving a Lotus) was won with a Honda powertrain. The only victory for a non Honda-powered car was the Portuguese Grand Prix. Nigel Mansell's victory in the race was the first for Ferrari following the death of *Il Commendatore* Enzo Ferrari six weeks earlier.

## Technical and rules changes

Although the turbo engine era entered it's final year, there were further changes to limit their power output. The boost-control valve was further reduced to a maximum of 2.5 bar (36 psi) and maximum fuel consumption of turbo cars reduced to 150 litres (40 US gallons) per race. Changes were also made to the design of the cars. In any design, the driver's feet must not extend beyond the front wheel axle, and the minimum weight of cars increased to 540 kg (1,190 lb). Mandatory static crash tests of survival cell and fuel cell were also introduced.

## Drivers and constructors

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1988 FIA Formula One World Championship. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Goodyear.

### Team changes

With the turbocharged engines being banned for 1989 onwards, a number of engine suppliers left the sport. The few remaining turbo engines would be under severe restrictions this season, so many teams gambled on using either the new Judd *CV*, or 1987's Cosworth *DFZ* (badged as Ford) V8 engines, to give themselves an extra year to get used to the new regulations.

* Turbocharged engine suppliers Alfa Romeo, BMW, Motori Moderni, and TAG left the sport. The BMW *M12/13* engine remained in the sport, as they were rebadged as Megatron engines.
* Five new teams joined the grid, all citing the turbo ban as a significant reason as to their entries:
	+ Henri Julien's Automobiles Gonfaronnaises Sportives outfit, who previously competed in European Formula Two and International Formula 3000, and had a brief appearance in 1986 using Motori Moderni turbo power, progressed to a full-time entry.
	+ Günter Schmid, ex-owner of the ATS company that competed in Formula One for eight years, embarked on the same strategy that he used at his previous team with his newest venture. In 1987, he bought German alloy wheels and rim producer Rial, and entered a team under the Rial name to advertise the brand.
	+ Scuderia Coloni, who ran Ivan Capelli's successful 1984 Italian Formula 3 campaign, and had recently appeared in International Formula 3000.
	+ A combination of two outfits - the mechanical manpower and skill of Giampaolo Pavanello's Euroracing team, who had also run the factory-backed Alfa Romeo Formula One team from 1982–85, and the financial muscle and organisational skill of Swiss slot machine magnate and former touring car driver Walter Brun, who owned and ran the Brun Motorsport sports car team. This team was christened EuroBrun.
	+ Former World Touring Car Championship entrants BMS Scuderia Italia joined the grid, using a chassis constructed by Dallara.
* Honda continued to run turbocharged engines, supplying both Lotus, and now McLaren instead of Williams. Honda produced a brand new engine, the *RA168E*, which was specifically designed to cope with the 1988 rules regarding turbo and fuel limits. The other turbo teams - Ferrari, Zakspeed, and Arrows - ran modified versions of their 1987 units.
* March were the first team to sign up to use the 3.5-litre Judd *CV*, which was based on Judd's successful CART power train, and they led the development of the new unit. Williams and Ligier later signed up to use the new engines.
* Ford supplied AGS, BMS Scuderia Italia, Benetton, Coloni, EuroBrun, Larrousse, Minardi, Osella, Rial, and Tyrrell. As they had a contract with Ford, Benetton had exclusive use of the Cosworth *DFR* engine, the other teams used the Cosworth *DFZ*.
* Notable by their absence were the Brabham team. 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. As late as the week before the Brazilian Grand Prix, the entry list still had Brabham listed, and "Reserved by Mr. B. Ecclestone" for the team. Ecclestone later sold the team to Walter Brun (part owner of the EuroBrun team), who in turn sold it to Swiss financier Joachim Luhti who returned the team to F1 in 1989. No team used Brabham's 1987 car numbers 7 and 8. This was the first season without Brabham since 1961.

### Driver changes

* McLaren retained three-time defending World Champion, Alain Prost and signed Ayrton Senna to partner him. Senna's experience of the Honda engines from his 1987 campaign at Lotus would prove invaluable to the team.
* Tyrrell retained Dr. Jonathan Palmer. His partner would be Julian Bailey, who attracted the attention of Ken Tyrrell by winning in only his third International Formula 3000 race at Brands Hatch the previous year. This was the first all-British line-up in the sport since Toleman fielded Derek Warwick and Brian Henton in 1981.
* Williams lost both Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell along with the Honda power. Left without a seat following Brabham's withdrawal, Riccardo Patrese was joined by Martin Brundle.
* Zakspeed fielded a new line-up, with 1987 German Formula 3 champion Bernd Schneider joined by Piercarlo Ghinzani, who left Ligier.
* Nelson Piquet moved from Williams to Lotus, remaining with a Honda powertrain, giving further credence to the rumour that the Japanese marque paid a significant portion of his Williams salary. Piquet also gained the role of undisputed team number one, a role he craved after the previous two seasons at Williams where it failed to materialise. Honda insisted that Satoru Nakajima retain the second seat as part of the deal to use their engines.
* Teo Fabi left Benetton to return to the CART World Series, and was replaced by Alessandro Nannini, who moved over from Minardi.
* Osella opted for an all-new pairing of rookie Nicola Larini, and Frenchman Yannick Dalmas, who left Larrousse.
* After considering retirement after not being retained at Ferrari, Michele Alboreto sensationally joined Italian minnows Minardi, bringing Marlboro sponsorship money with him.
* Ferrari kept Gerhard Berger, a favourite of the team's technical director, John Barnard. He was paired with Nigel Mansell. Mansell became the last Ferrari driver to be personally selected by Enzo Ferrari before his death in August 1988, an honour Mansell described as "one of the greatest in my entire career".
* Philippe Alliot returned to Larrousse. The French outfit signed 1987 International Formula 3000 runner-up, Luis Pérez-Sala, to be his partner.
* Philippe Streiff joined the new AGS team after leaving Tyrrell. Fresh from a third place finish at the 1987 24 Hours of Le Mans, Pierre-Henri Raphanel would occupy the second seat.
* Rial selected Maurício Gugelmin, whose stellar junior career included victories in Formula Ford, Formula 3, Formula 3000, and the Macau Grand Prix, for the first seat. The second seat was occupied by Jean-Louis Schlesser, who returned to the sport for the first time since failing to qualify at the 1983 French Grand Prix. Schlesser was a regular in the World Sportscar Championship.
* Coloni hired two men who drove for Osella in 1987: Franco Forini, and his replacement, Gabriele Tarquini.
* EuroBrun hired Andrea de Cesaris, with his significant Marlboro sponsorship, and the 1987 International Formula 3000 champion, Stefano Modena.
* BMS Scuderia Italia signed compatriot Alex Caffi as the lead driver, and Roberto Moreno was finally signed to a full-time drive, after making substitute appearances in both 1982 for Lotus, and 1987 for Larrousse.

## Season calendar

Sixteen races were scheduled for the 1988 season.

### Calendar changes

* The Austrian Grand Prix was dropped on safety grounds, with particular emphasis given to its narrow pit straight. The Belgian Grand Prix was moved from mid-May to late-August as a result.
* The Spanish Grand Prix was discontinued, and replaced by the Birmingham Superprix, a street race in the city of Birmingham, England. As the British Grand Prix remained on the calendar, the Birmingham race was given the European Grand Prix moniker. The race would take place in mid-May.
* After missing the 1987 season as result of a dispute over sponsorship, the Canadian Grand Prix returned to the calendar. The lull in activities in 1987 allowed time for circuit upgrades, including the construction of new pit facilities, so the startline was resited.
* The Detroit round was renamed the United States Grand Prix.

## Season Results

### Points scoring system

Points were awarded to the top six finishers in each race as follows:

### World Drivers' Championship standings

Only the best eleven results counted towards each driver's championship total; total points scored are displayed within parentheses.

### World Constructors' Championship standings

Points towards the 1988 FIA Formula One World Championship for Constructors were awarded on a 9–6–4–3–2–1 basis for the top six placed cars at each round. All results were counted (not just best eleven rounds).