Race Summary
In Friday practice, championship contender Nelson Piquet was eliminated from the race after an accident at the Tamburello corner. A tyre of his Williams FW11B failed, which resulted in a violent impact against the wall. Whilst in his opinion he had only sustained a sore ankle, he was taken to the nearby Bellaria-Igea Marina hospital, and after medical checks he was forbidden to start by FIA Medical Delegate Sid Watkins.
Alarmed by excessive blistering and the suggestion that Piquet's accident may have been caused by a tyre deflation, Goodyear withdrew all the tyres issued to teams. A replacement selection was flown in and despite the lack of Customs officials due to an Italian public holiday, the new rubber was available for all teams to race on by Sunday.
Saturday's qualifying went on smoothly, with Ayrton Senna claiming pole position on his Lotus 99T, with Nigel Mansell, in his Williams FW11B, aside him in the front row. The second row was occupied by Teo Fabi in the Benetton B187 and Alain Prost's McLaren MP4/3; "home" team Ferrari took the whole third row with Michele Alboreto ahead of Gerhard Berger.
The race required two starts as Martin Brundle (Zakspeed 871), Thierry Boutsen (Benetton B187) and Eddie Cheever (Arrows A10) stalled on the original grid. Satoru Nakajima started from the pit lane owing to a faulty battery in his Lotus 99T, and René Arnoux failed to take the second start after the suspension of his Ligier JS29B failed.
On the second start, Senna led off the line but Mansell overtook him on lap two, at the Tosa corner, and went on to dominate the race. Prost got the second place overtaking Senna on lap 6; the Brazilian was then engaged in a battle with the two Ferraris, and got back second when Prost retired with an alternator failure on lap 15. Berger retired with turbo boost failure on lap 17, and by that time Alboreto passed Senna to take second place.
On lap 22, Mansell pitted early due to a loose wheel balance weight and for three laps Alboreto led the race. Senna retook first position with Alboreto's pit stop, then before Mansell returned to the front when the Brazilian stopped. Riccardo Patrese in his Brabham BT56 was now holding second place but he retired when his alternator failed on lap 57. Simultaneously, Teo Fabi retired with engine problems. Fabi's race had been wrecked by front wing damage sustained on the first lap when he collided with Cheever, although his attempted fightback did produce the fastest lap.
Mansell took a comfortable win with Senna holding second after Alboreto's turbo experienced problems. Stefan Johansson (McLaren MP4/3) was in fourth place whilst Derek Warwick's late race retirement after his Arrows A10 ran out of fuel, handed fifth to Brundle. It was Zakspeed's first and only Formula One point score. Nakajima rounded off the points in sixth place, which meant he was the first Japanese driver to score a world championship point.
Read more about this topic: 1987 San Marino Grand Prix
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