1986 Formula One Season

The 1986 Formula One season was the 37th FIA Formula One World Championship season. It commenced on March 23, 1986, and ended on October 26 after sixteen races.

The season culminated in a points battle between the Williams duo of Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell versus McLaren's Alain Prost at the final race, the 1986 Australian Grand Prix. Mansell's tyre blew in spectacular fashion and Piquet, in the lead at the time of the incident, was brought in for an unscheduled pit stop soon afterward by Williams to prevent the same happening to his tyres. This enabled Prost to take the lead and the race victory (his 4th of the season) and to secure his second consecutive drivers championship.

For the first (and to date only) year, turbocharged engines were compulsory due to a ban on naturally aspirated (atmospheric) engines. The law banning atmospheric engines was rescinded in 1987, in preparation for a ban on all forced induction engines for 1989. As a result most races became economy runs, with many drivers running out of fuel at the end of a number of races.

Drivers who retired from F1 racing at the end on 1986 were Patrick Tambay as well as 1980 World Champion Alan Jones and 1982 champion Keke Rosberg while injuries suffered at the British Grand Prix forced the retirement of Jacques Laffite. Those who never drove in an F1 race again after 1986 were Johnny Dumfries, Huub Rothengatter and Allen Berg while Marc Surer suffered a serious rally crash following his 9th place finish in the Belgian Grand Prix which forced his retirement from driving altogether. Elio de Angelis was killed in a testing accident at the Circuit Paul Ricard after the Monaco Grand Prix - the last driver to die in an F1 crash until Roland Ratzenberger in 1994.

The 1986 Formula One calendar featured 2 new events, the Hungarian Grand Prix and the Mexican Grand Prix, returning to the calendar after 16 years absence. The 2 exits were the Dutch Grand Prix after 33 years of being on the calendar and the South African Grand Prix after being on the calendar for 21 years.