The 1986 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Jerez on 13 April 1986. This was the first Formula One Spanish Grand Prix since the 1981 race was held at Jarama.
This race featured a 3 car battle for the lead over the last half of the race. Ayrton Senna (Lotus-Renault), Nigel Mansell (Williams-Honda) and reigning World Champion Alain Prost (McLaren-TAG) all had opportunities to take the win, with close nose to tail racing around the circuit. Once Mansell pitted for fresh tyres he charged back into the fight making up over 19 seconds in the final 10 laps on his fresh rubber. It was not quite sufficient to take the win, but it was very close with Senna and Mansell taking the chequered flag almost side by side, Senna only 0.014 s in front of Mansell in one of the closest finishes in Formula One history. This was the third-closest finish in Formula One history, after Mansell's spectacular charge allowed him to pull alongside Senna on the final straight.
In an interview after the race, Mansell said he had no problems with Senna's defensive driving (blocking) at the end of the race when the Williams was clearly the quicker car, saying that Senna was entitled to protect his lead. He then jokingly added that the finish was so close they should give them both 7 points each (which is the average between the winner's 9 points and second place's 6).
Classification
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault 1:21.605 1:21.924 — 2 6 Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 1:23.097 1:22.431 +0.826 3 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 1:23.024 1:22.576 +0.971 4 1 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:23.702 1:22.886 +1.281 5 2 Keke Rosberg McLaren-TAG 1:23.948 1:23.004 +1.399 6 25 René Arnoux Ligier-Renault 1:24.566 1:24.274 +2.669 7 20 Gerhard Berger Benetton-BMW 1:24.501 1:25.235 +2.896 8 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Renault 1:24.817 1:25.863 +3.212 9 19 Teo Fabi Benetton-BMW 1:25.052 1:26.196 +3.447 10 11 Johnny Dumfries Lotus-Renault 1:29.093 1:25.107 +3.502 11 28 Stefan Johansson Ferrari 1:25.466 1:25.655 +3.861 12 3 Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Renault 1:25.831 1:41.631 +4.226 13 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:26.554 1:26.094 +4.489 14 7 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 1:26.231 1:29.911 +4.626 15 8 Elio de Angelis Brabham-BMW 1:27.300 1:26.550 +4.945 16 14 Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed 1:27.600 1:26.918 +5.313 17 15 Alan Jones Lola-Hart 1:28.645 1:26.946 +5.341 18 16 Patrick Tambay Lola-Hart 1:27.045 1:26.992 +5.387 19 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 1:28.812 1:27.169 +5.564 20 4 Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Renault 1:27.637 1:28.086 +6.032 21 21 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:28.894 1:28.423 +6.818 22 17 Marc Surer Arrows-BMW 1:28.803 1:28.443 +6.838 23 22 Christian Danner Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:29.046 +7.441 24 23 Andrea de Cesaris Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:29.195 17:53.811 +7.590 25 24 Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:30.062 +8.457
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts 1 12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault 72 1:48:47.735 1 9 2 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 72 + 0.014 3 6 3 1 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 72 + 21.552 4 4 4 2 Keke Rosberg McLaren-TAG 71 + 1 lap 5 3 5 19 Teo Fabi Benetton-BMW 71 + 1 lap 9 2 6 20 Gerhard Berger Benetton-BMW 71 + 1 lap 7 1 7 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 68 + 4 laps 19 8 16 Patrick Tambay Lola-Hart 66 + 6 laps 18 11 Johnny Dumfries Lotus-Renault 52 Gearbox 10 3 Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Renault 41 Engine 12 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Renault 40 Halfshaft 8 17 Marc Surer Arrows-BMW 39 Fuel system 22 6 Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 39 Engine 2 8 Elio de Angelis Brabham-BMW 29 Gearbox 15 25 René Arnoux Ligier-Renault 29 Halfshaft 6 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 22 Wheel bearing 13 4 Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Renault 22 Engine 20 22 Christian Danner Osella-Alfa Romeo 14 Engine 23 28 Stefan Johansson Ferrari 11 Brakes 11 21 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 10 Engine 21 7 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 8 Gearbox 14 23 Andrea de Cesaris Minardi-Motori Moderni 1 Differential 24 14 Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed 0 Collision 16 15 Alan Jones Lola-Hart 0 Collision 17 24 Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 0 Differential 25
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Ayrton Senna 15 2 Nelson Piquet 9 3 Nigel Mansell 6 4 Jacques Laffite 4 4 Alain Prost 4Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Honda15 1 Lotus-Renault15 3 Ligier-Renault7 3 McLaren-TAG7 5 Benetton-BMW4Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References