The 1986 San Marino Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Imola on 27 April 1986. The race was the third round of the year's World Championship. As with the previous year's event, fuel consumption was a big issue, changing the points finishers in the closing laps.
The Autodromo Dino Ferrari had received safety upgrades from the previous year, including slight track modifications after the Variante Alta chicane and extended runoff areas at the Rivazza complex.
Alain Prost (McLaren-TAG) dominated the race after Ayrton Senna (Lotus-Renault) and Nigel Mansell (Williams-Honda) retired early, before almost running out of fuel, three corners from the chequered flag. Frantically weaving the car back and forth to slosh the last drops of fuel into the pickup, he managed to keep it running just long enough to creep over the line and win the race (his McLaren teammate Keke Rosberg was classified 5th despite running dry 2 laps from the finish, a problem attributed to Rosberg using too much boost). Nelson Piquet brought his Williams home in second place only 7.645 seconds behind Prost, while Austrian Gerhard Berger finished third to score his and the Benetton team's first Formula One podium finish.
This race saw the long-awaited debut of Ford's replacement for the old Cosworth DFV in the form of a new , turbocharged V6 engine designed by Keith Duckworth who had also designed the DFV. In its debut race in the also new Lola THL2 and driven by World Champion Alan Jones, the new Cosworth built Ford qualified in 21st place and completed 28 laps in the race before Jones was forced to retire with overheating.
Classification
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault 1:25.050 1:25.286 — 2 6 Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 1:25.890 1:25.569 +0.519 3 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 1:26.752 1:26.159 +1.109 4 1 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:26.273 1:26.176 +1.126 5 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:26.428 1:26.263 +1.213 6 2 Keke Rosberg McLaren-TAG 1:26.956 1:26.835 +1.335 7 28 Stefan Johansson Ferrari 1:27.497 1:27.009 +1.959 8 25 René Arnoux Ligier-Renault 1:28.362 1:27.403 +2.353 9 20 Gerhard Berger Benetton-BMW 1:28.559 1:27.444 +2.394 10 19 Teo Fabi Benetton-BMW 1:29.328 1:27.538 +2.488 11 16 Patrick Tambay Lola-Hart 1:29.665 1:27.860 +2.810 12 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 1:29.931 1:28.022 +2.972 13 3 Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Renault 1:29.687 1:28.329 +3.279 14 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Renault 1:28.411 1:28.389 +3.339 15 17 Marc Surer Arrows-BMW 1:30.156 1:28.637 +3.587 16 7 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 1:30.641 1:28.828 +3.778 17 11 Johnny Dumfries Lotus-Renault 1:29.244 1:26.607 +4.194 18 24 Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:29.985 1:29.244 +4.194 19 8 Elio de Angelis Brabham-BMW 1:30.881 1:29.713 +4.663 20 14 Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed 1:33.352 1:30.024 +4.974 21 15 Alan Jones Lola-Ford 1:30.087 1:30.517 +5.037 22 4 Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Renault 1:30.123 1:32.358 +5.073 23 23 Andrea de Cesaris Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:31.956 1:30.131 +5.081 24 29 Huub Rothengatter Zakspeed 1:40.903 1:31.953 +6.903 25 22 Christian Danner Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:37.485 1:33.806 +8.756 26 21 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:34.461 +9.411
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 1 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 60 1:32:28.408 4 9 2 6 Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 60 + 7.645 2 6 3 20 Gerhard Berger Benetton-BMW 59 + 1 Lap 9 4 4 28 Stefan Johansson Ferrari 59 + 1 Lap 7 3 5 2 Keke Rosberg McLaren-TAG 58 Out of Fuel 6 2 6 7 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 58 Out of Fuel 16 1 7 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 58 + 2 Laps 12 8 3 Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Renault 58 + 2 Laps 13 9 17 Marc Surer Arrows-BMW 57 + 3 Laps 15 10 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 56 Turbo 5 21 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 52 Out of Fuel 26 25 René Arnoux Ligier-Renault 46 Wheel 8 4 Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Renault 41 Transmission 22 19 Teo Fabi Benetton-BMW 39 Engine 10 14 Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed 38 Brakes 20 22 Christian Danner Osella-Alfa Romeo 31 Electrical 25 15 Alan Jones Lola-Ford 28 Overheating 21 23 Andrea de Cesaris Minardi-Motori Moderni 20 Engine 23 8 Elio de Angelis Brabham-BMW 19 Engine 19 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Renault 14 Transmission 14 12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault 11 Wheel Bearing 1 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 8 Engine 3 11 Johnny Dumfries Lotus-Renault 8 Wheel Bearing 17 29 Huub Rothengatter Zakspeed 7 Turbo 24 16 Patrick Tambay Lola-Hart 5 Engine 11 24 Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 0 Accident 18 Source:
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Ayrton Senna 15 1 Nelson Piquet 15 3 Alain Prost 13 4 Nigel Mansell 6 5 Gerhard Berger 6Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Honda21 2 McLaren-TAG18 3 Lotus-Renault15 4 Benetton-BMW8 5 Ligier-Renault7Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References