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1989 Brazilian Grand Prix
Race 1 of 16 in the 1989 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	26 March 1989
Official name	XVIII Grande Prêmio do Brasil
Location	Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet Jacarepaguá, Rio de Janeiro
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.031 km (3.126 miles)
Distance	61 laps, 306.891 km (190.693 miles)
Weather	Very hot, dry, sunny
Pole position
Driver	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda
Time	1:25.302
Fastest lap
Driver	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault
Time	1:32.507 on lap 47
Podium
First	Nigel Mansell	Ferrari
Second	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda
Third	Maurício Gugelmin	March-Judd
Lap leaders

The 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Jacarepaguá, Rio de Janeiro 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 second in a McLaren-Honda and local driver Maurício Gugelmin third in a 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, 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 only time during the pre-qualifying sessions from 1988 to 1992 that 5 cars would be allowed to partake in the main qualifying session instead of the standard 4.

The FIRST team withdrew before the event, as the car had failed a mandatory FIA 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 team with their two-car entry. Also included were the two Zakspeeds and the two Osellas. This left five other cars: the sole single-car entry from EuroBrun, and the second cars of the four teams expanding from one car to two for 1989, namely AGS, Coloni, Dallara and Rial.

During the session, the two Brabhams of Martin Brundle and Stefano Modena 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. 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 in the Dallara, ahead of veteran Piercarlo Ghinzani in the other Osella. Another newcomer, German driver Volker Weidler was eighth in the Rial, with Pierre-Henri Raphanel's Coloni ninth, ahead of Joachim Winkelhock, 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

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Time	Gap
1	7	Martin Brundle	Brabham-Judd	1:27.764
2	8	Stefano Modena	Brabham-Judd	1:28.147	+0.383
3	33	Gregor Foitek	EuroBrun-Judd	1:29.604	+1.840
4	17	Nicola Larini	Osella-Ford	1:29.679	+1.915
5	34	Bernd Schneider	Zakspeed-Yamaha	1:30.417	+2.653
6	21	Alex Caffi	Dallara-Ford	1:30.747	+2.983
7	18	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Ford	1:31.150	+3.386
8	39	Volker Weidler	Rial-Ford	1:31.964	+4.200
9	32	Pierre-Henri Raphanel	Coloni-Ford	1:32.019	+4.255
10	41	Joachim Winkelhock	AGS-Ford	1:32.982	+5.218
11	35	Aguri Suzuki	Zakspeed-Yamaha	1:33.079	+5.315
12	36	Stefan Johansson	Onyx-Ford	1:35.232	+7.468
13	37	Bertrand Gachot	Onyx-Ford	1:37.932	+10.168

Qualifying report

Ayrton Senna took pole position in qualifying ahead of Riccardo Patrese, making a record-breaking 177th appearance at a Grand Prix, and Gerhard Berger 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, 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 (Benetton) and Olivier Grouillard (Ligier) both qualified for their first Formula One races.

Qualifying classification

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	1:26.205	1:25.302
2	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	1:26.172	7:12.732	+0.870
3	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	1:26.271	1:26.394	+0.969
4	5	Thierry Boutsen	Williams-Renault	1:27.367	1:26.459	+1.157
5	2	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	1:27.095	1:26.620	+1.318
6	27	Nigel Mansell	Ferrari	1:27.249	1:26.772	+1.470
7	16	Ivan Capelli	March-Judd	1:27.525	1:27.035	+1.733
8	9	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Ford	1:27.937	1:27.408	+2.106
9	11	Nelson Piquet	Lotus-Judd	1:28.423	1:27.437	+2.135
10	20	Johnny Herbert	Benetton-Ford	1:27.626	1:27.754	+2.324
11	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	1:28.394	1:27.865	+2.563
12	15	Maurício Gugelmin	March-Judd	1:27.956	1:28.581	+2.654
13	7	Martin Brundle	Brabham-Judd	1:29.138	1:28.274	+2.972
14	8	Stefano Modena	Brabham-Judd	1:28.621	1:28.942	+3.319
15	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Dallara-Ford	1:29.005	1:29.206	+3.703
16	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	1:30.077	1:29.435	+4.133
17	38	Christian Danner	Rial-Ford	1:30.460	1:29.455	+4.153
18	3	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	1:30.443	1:29.573	+4.271
19	17	Nicola Larini	Osella-Ford	1:31.341	1:30.146	+4.844
20	4	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	1:32.260	1:30.255	+4.953
21	12	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Judd	1:30.942	1:30.375	+5.073
22	26	Olivier Grouillard	Ligier-Ford	1:30.410	1:30.666	+5.108
23	24	Luis Pérez-Sala	Minardi-Ford	1:30.702	1:30.643	+5.341
24	10	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Ford	1:30.657	1:31.068	+5.355
25	34	Bernd Schneider	Zakspeed-Yamaha	1:32.346	1:30.861	+5.559
26	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Lamborghini	1:31.872	1:31.009	+5.707
27	29	Yannick Dalmas	Lola-Lamborghini	1:32.411	1:31.260	+5.958
28	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Ford	1:34.232	1:31.376	+6.074
29	33	Gregor Foitek	EuroBrun-Judd	1:31.791	1:53.570	+6.489
30	31	Roberto Moreno	Coloni-Ford	1:32.561	1:34.894	+7.259

Race

Race report

At the start, Nicola Larini was disqualified for an illegal start. Mansell became the first man since Mario Andretti 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 and March's Maurício Gugelmin, making his first and only appearance on the podium. Johnny Herbert, still recovering from his horrifying Formula 3000 crash at Brands Hatch 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 who finished 6th.

The hard luck of the story of the race was Arrows driver Derek Warwick. 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 and Arrows their maiden Grand Prix victories.

Warwick's Arrows teammate Eddie Cheever collapsed after exiting his car following the collision involving the Zakspeed of Bernd Schneider that ended his race. Arrows actually had to modify Cheever's car after he failed the FIA safety check where a driver had five seconds to be able to exit their car. The new Ross Brawn designed Arrows A11 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 V8 engine, 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 in São Paulo, the home town of Ayrton Senna, where it is today.

Race classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	27	Nigel Mansell	Ferrari	61	1:38:58.744	6	9
2	2	Alain Prost	McLaren-Honda	61	+ 7.809	5	6
3	15	Maurício Gugelmin	March-Judd	61	+ 9.370	12	4
4	20	Johnny Herbert	Benetton-Ford	61	+ 10.493	10	3
5	9	Derek Warwick	Arrows-Ford	61	+ 17.866	8	2
6	19	Alessandro Nannini	Benetton-Ford	61	+ 18.241	11	1
7	3	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell-Ford	60	+ 1 lap	18
8	12	Satoru Nakajima	Lotus-Judd	60	+ 1 lap	21
9	26	Olivier Grouillard	Ligier-Ford	60	+ 1 lap	22
10	4	Michele Alboreto	Tyrrell-Ford	59	+ 2 laps	20
11	1	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	59	+ 2 laps	1
12	30	Philippe Alliot	Lola-Lamborghini	58	+ 3 laps	26
13	22	Andrea de Cesaris	Dallara-Ford	57	+ 4 laps	15
14	38	Christian Danner	Rial-Ford	56	Gearbox	17
Ret	6	Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	51	Alternator	2
Ret	10	Eddie Cheever	Arrows-Ford	37	Collision	24
Ret	34	Bernd Schneider	Zakspeed-Yamaha	36	Collision	25
Ret	7	Martin Brundle	Brabham-Judd	27	Halfshaft	13
Ret	16	Ivan Capelli	March-Judd	22	Suspension	7
Ret	11	Nelson Piquet	Lotus-Judd	10	Fuel system	9
DSQ	17	Nicola Larini	Osella-Ford	10	Illegal start	19
Ret	8	Stefano Modena	Brabham-Judd	9	Halfshaft	14
Ret	5	Thierry Boutsen	Williams-Renault	3	Engine	4
Ret	23	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	2	Chassis	16
Ret	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	0	Collision	3
Ret	24	Luis Pérez-Sala	Minardi-Ford	0	Collision	23
DNQ	29	Yannick Dalmas	Lola-Lamborghini
DNQ	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Ford
DNQ	33	Gregor Foitek	EuroBrun-Judd
DNQ	31	Roberto Moreno	Coloni-Ford
DNPQ	21	Alex Caffi	Dallara-Ford
DNPQ	18	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Ford
DNPQ	39	Volker Weidler	Rial-Ford
DNPQ	32	Pierre-Henri Raphanel	Coloni-Ford
DNPQ	41	Joachim Winkelhock	AGS-Ford
DNPQ	35	Aguri Suzuki	Zakspeed-Yamaha
DNPQ	36	Stefan Johansson	Onyx-Ford
DNPQ	37	Bertrand Gachot	Onyx-Ford
Source:

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Nigel Mansell 9 2 Alain Prost 6 3 Maurício Gugelmin 4 4 Johnny Herbert 3 5 Derek Warwick 2 Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 9 2 McLaren-Honda 6 3 March-Judd 4 4 Benetton-Ford 4 5 Arrows-Ford 2 Source:

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

1. "Brazil 1989: 'Il Leone' roars to win on Ferrari debut". 8 November 2015.
2. ^ Walker, Murray (1989). Murray Walker's Grand Prix Year. First Formula Publishing. pp. 13–20. ISBN 1-870066-22-7.
3. Benson, Andrew (7 October 2009). "Pick your classic Brazilian Grand Prix". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
4. "Do you remember when Mansell cut his hands on the podium?". F1 Racing. No. 141. Derwent Howard. December 2008. p. 39.
5. "1989 Brazilian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
6. ^ "Brazil 1989 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.

• Pre-qualifying results from FIA Yearbook 1989

• 1989 Formula One races
• Brazilian Grand Prix
• 1989 in Brazilian motorsport
• March 1989 sports events in South America