1987 British Grand Prix

Infobox Grand Prix race report
Type = F1

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Country = Great Britain
Grand Prix = British
Official name = Shell Oils British Grand Prix
Date = July 12
Year = 1987
Race_No = 7
Season_No = 16
Location = Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Great Britain
Course = Permanent racing facility
Course_mi = 2.969
Course_km = 4.778
Distance_laps = 65
Distance_mi = 192.979
Distance_km = 310.570
Weather = Sunny and warm
Pole_Driver = Nelson Piquet
Pole_Team = Williams-Honda
Pole_Time = 1:07.110
Pole_Country = Brazil
Fast_Driver = Nigel Mansell
Fast_Team = Williams-Honda
Fast_Time = 1:09.832
Fast_L

Fast_Country = UK
First_Driver = Nigel Mansell
First_Team = Williams-Honda
First_Country = UK
Second_Driver = Nelson Piquet
Second_Team = Williams-Honda
Second_Country = Brazil
Third_Driver = Ayrton Senna
Third_Team = Lotus-Honda
Third_Country = Brazil

The 1987 British Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on July 12, 1987 at the Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone. It was the 7th race of the 1987 Formula One season.

Race summary

As usual, Honda powered cars dominated the qualifying sessions, with Nelson Piquet on Williams beating his teammate Nigel Mansell by less than a tenth of second; Ayrton Senna was third forLotus, and fourth was the McLaren of Alain Prost. During qualifying, Piercarlo Ghinzani's Ligier ran out of fuel: his mechanics refuelled him on the track and then push-started him, but the stewards ruled against this action and he was excluded from the rest of the event.

At the start, Prost was the quickest and got the lead, only to be passed by Piquet at the second corner; Mansell soon followed his teammate. The race then became a close fight between the two Williams drivers, as Senna and Prost were no match for them. Piquet led most of the race. By lap 12 Mansell was struggling with a vibration caused by a missing wheel weight, which had become detached and fallen from the car. By lap 36 he was around 5 seconds behind his team-mate and struggling. Both Williams' drivers were scheduled to complete the race without a tyre change, but due to the worsening vibration and given a comfortable gap back to Senna in third place, Mansell and the team elected to make a stop in order to change tyres and solve the problem. Mansell rejoined the race some 29 seconds behind Piquet, with 28 laps remaining. On fresh rubber to Piquet's worn Mansell began an epic charge which saw the lap record broken on a number of occasions. By lap 58 the two cars were nose to tail and on lap 59 Mansell performed his now famous 'Silverstone Two Step' move, selling Piquet a dummy on the Hangar Straight and then diving down the inside into Stowe Corner. Mansell ran out of fuel on the slowing down lap and was engulfed by the crowd. Unknown to the outside world at the time his fuel gauge had been in the red two laps before the finish, as he crossed the line it was still showing him to be 2 litres short.

Classification

Numbers in brackets refer to positions of normally-aspirated entrants competing for the Jim Clark Trophy.

Notes

* Piercarlo Ghinzani was excluded from the race due to refuelling his car on the track.
* Viewers of BBC's coverage may recall Murray Walker cheering in the background of the English commentary after Mansell overtook Piquet.

References

* "Unless otherwise indicated, all race results are taken from cite web |title=The Official Formula 1 website |url=http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1987/285/ |accessdate=2007-07-08

F1 race report
Name_of_race = British Grand Prix
Year_of_race = 1987
Previous_race_in_season = 1987 French Grand Prix
Next_race_in_season = 1987 German Grand Prix
Previous_year's_race = 1986 British Grand Prix
Next_year's_race = 1988 British Grand Prix