Race · Round 3 of 16 · 17 May 1987

1987 Belgian Grand Prix

Alain Prost won for McLaren from 6th on the grid at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. 16 of the starters were not classified. With this win, Alain Prost equalled the record of 27 championship Grand Prix wins.

Dry, with cloud · High of 11 °C, no rain on the day (modelled, Open-Meteo)

How it is modelled

ERA5's reanalysis, through Open-Meteo, of the circuit's whole local day and not the race's hours, for the grid cell the circuit sits in and not the track, so a shower can be missing from it. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.

Circuit: Circuit de Spa-FrancorchampsStavelot, Belgium
Winner: Alain ProstMcLaren
Pole: Nigel Mansell
Fastest lap: Alain Prost
Entries: 2610 classified

Classification

Classification
Pos	Driver	Constructor	Chassis	Grid	Laps	Out	Points	FL
1	Alain Prost	McLaren	MP4/3	6	43	Finished	9	fastest lap
2	Stefan Johansson	McLaren	MP4/3	10	43	Finished	6
3	Andrea de Cesaris	Brabham	BT56	13	42	Out of fuel	4
4	Eddie Cheever	Arrows	A10	11	42	Finished	3
5	Satoru Nakajima	Team Lotus	99T	15	42	Finished	2
6	Rene Arnoux	Ligier	—	16	41	Finished	1
7	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Ligier	—	17	40	Out of fuel	0
8	Philippe Alliot	Lola	LC87	22	40	Finished	0
9	Philippe Streiff	Tyrrell	DG016	23	39	Finished	0
10	Pascal Fabre	AGS	JH22	25	38	Ignition	0
DNF	Teo Fabi	Benetton	B187	9	34	Engine	0
DNF	Martin Brundle	Zakspeed	—	18	19	Overheating	0
DNF	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton	B187	7	18	Wheel bearing	0
DNF	Nigel Mansell	Williams	FW11B	1	17	Accident	0
DNF	Ivan Capelli	March	—	21	14	Engine	0
DNF	Nelson Piquet	Williams	FW11B	2	11	Exhaust	0
DNF	Alex Caffi	Osella	—	26	11	Fuel leak	0
DNF	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	F1/87	5	9	Transmission	0
DNF	Christian Danner	Zakspeed	—	20	9	Brakes	0
DNF	Derek Warwick	Arrows	A10	12	8	Radiator	0
DNF	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham	BT56	8	5	Clutch	0
DNF	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	F1/87	4	2	Engine	0
DNF	Alessandro Nannini	Minardi	M187	14	1	Turbo	0
DNF	Adrián Campos	Minardi	M187	19	0	Gearbox	0
DNF	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell	DG016	24	0	Collision	0
DNF	Ayrton Senna	Team Lotus	99T	3	0	Collision	0

A blank chassis is a season the team ran more than one design and no source says which car raced here.

F1DB layout spa-francorchamps-2 · 6.94 km · 19 turns, F1DB’s figures
F1DB, CC BY 4.0 · drawn by Jules Roy
The outline is F1DB’s, for every layout; the trace is OpenStreetMap’s, where it exists.

Grid to flag

Lines run from grid slot to result, ending at the last lap completed. A dashed line ending in a cross is a driver not classified. Nothing between is recorded, so a crossing is not an overtake at that lap.

Grid to flag
Driver	Grid	Result	Laps
Alain Prost	6	1	43
Stefan Johansson	10	2	43
Andrea de Cesaris	13	3	42
Eddie Cheever	11	4	42
Satoru Nakajima	15	5	42
Rene Arnoux	16	6	41
Piercarlo Ghinzani	17	7	40
Philippe Alliot	22	8	40
Philippe Streiff	23	9	39
Pascal Fabre	25	10	38
Teo Fabi	9	DNF	34
Martin Brundle	18	DNF	19
Thierry Boutsen	7	DNF	18
Nigel Mansell	1	DNF	17
Ivan Capelli	21	DNF	14
Nelson Piquet	2	DNF	11
Alex Caffi	26	DNF	11
Michele Alboreto	5	DNF	9
Christian Danner	20	DNF	9
Derek Warwick	12	DNF	8
Riccardo Patrese	8	DNF	5
Gerhard Berger	4	DNF	2
Alessandro Nannini	14	DNF	1
Adrián Campos	19	DNF	0
Jonathan Palmer	24	DNF	0
Ayrton Senna	3	DNF	0

Qualifying

Qualifying
Pos	Driver	Constructor	No.	Time	Gap	≈ Distance	Interval
1	Nigel Mansell	Williams	5	1:52.026	—	0 m	—
2	Nelson Piquet	Williams	6	1:53.416	+1.390	87 m	+1.390
3	Ayrton Senna	Team Lotus	12	1:53.426	+1.400	88 m	+0.010
4	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	28	1:53.451	+1.425	89 m	+0.025
5	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	27	1:53.511	+1.485	93 m	+0.060
6	Alain Prost	McLaren	1	1:54.186	+2.160	135 m	+0.675
7	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton	20	1:54.300	+2.274	142 m	+0.114
8	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham	7	1:55.064	+3.038	190 m	+0.764
9	Teo Fabi	Benetton	19	1:55.339	+3.313	207 m	+0.275
10	Stefan Johansson	McLaren	2	1:55.781	+3.755	235 m	+0.442
11	Eddie Cheever	Arrows	18	1:55.899	+3.873	242 m	+0.118
12	Derek Warwick	Arrows	17	1:56.359	+4.333	271 m	+0.460
13	Andrea de Cesaris	Brabham	8	1:57.101	+5.075	317 m	+0.742
14	Alessandro Nannini	Minardi	24	1:58.132	+6.106	382 m	+1.031
15	Satoru Nakajima	Team Lotus	11	1:58.649	+6.623	414 m	+0.517
16	Rene Arnoux	Ligier	25	1:59.117	+7.091	443 m	+0.468
17	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Ligier	26	1:59.291	+7.265	454 m	+0.174
18	Martin Brundle	Zakspeed	9	2:00.433	+8.407	526 m	+1.142
19	Adrián Campos	Minardi	23	2:00.763	+8.737	546 m	+0.330
20	Christian Danner	Zakspeed	10	2:01.072	+9.046	566 m	+0.309
21	Ivan Capelli	March	16	2:02.036	+10.010	626 m	+0.964
22	Philippe Alliot	Lola	30	2:02.347	+10.321	645 m	+0.311
23	Philippe Streiff	Tyrrell	4	2:03.098	+11.072	692 m	+0.751
24	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell	3	2:04.677	+12.651	791 m	+1.579
25	Pascal Fabre	AGS	14	2:07.361	+15.335	959 m	+2.684
26	Alex Caffi	Osella	21	2:12.086	+20.060	1,254 m	+4.725

Before knock-out qualifying arrived in 2006 there is one time per driver; from 2006, the best lap of each of the three sessions.

How it is derived: distance

Distance at the session-best lap’s average speed, on the layout raced that year.

Pit stops

Pit stops are recorded from 1994. F1DB, the source of every stop here, holds none before then, so this race has no stints to draw.

Practice sessions Warm-up

Warm-up

Warm-up
Pos	Driver	Constructor	No.	Best lap	Gap	≈ Distance	Interval	Laps
1	Alain Prost	McLaren	1	1:58.278	—	0 m	—	—
2	Stefan Johansson	McLaren	2	1:59.705	+1.427	85 m	+1.427	—
3	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	28	1:59.859	+1.581	94 m	+0.154	—
4	Nigel Mansell	Williams	5	1:59.909	+1.631	97 m	+0.050	—
5	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton	20	2:00.354	+2.076	123 m	+0.445	—
6	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	27	2:00.463	+2.185	129 m	+0.109	—
7	Nelson Piquet	Williams	6	2:00.693	+2.415	143 m	+0.230	—
8	Teo Fabi	Benetton	19	2:01.165	+2.887	171 m	+0.472	—
9	Derek Warwick	Arrows	17	2:01.466	+3.188	189 m	+0.301	—
10	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham	7	2:01.612	+3.334	197 m	+0.146	—
11	Andrea de Cesaris	Brabham	8	2:01.762	+3.484	206 m	+0.150	—
12	Ayrton Senna	Team Lotus	12	2:02.000	+3.722	220 m	+0.238	—
13	Eddie Cheever	Arrows	18	2:02.503	+4.225	250 m	+0.503	—
14	Rene Arnoux	Ligier	25	2:02.518	+4.240	251 m	+0.015	—
15	Martin Brundle	Zakspeed	9	2:02.870	+4.592	272 m	+0.352	—
16	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Ligier	26	2:05.077	+6.799	403 m	+2.207	—
17	Christian Danner	Zakspeed	10	2:05.295	+7.017	416 m	+0.218	—
18	Alessandro Nannini	Minardi	24	2:05.300	+7.022	416 m	+0.005	—
19	Satoru Nakajima	Team Lotus	11	2:05.371	+7.093	420 m	+0.071	—
20	Philippe Alliot	Lola	30	2:05.779	+7.501	444 m	+0.408	—
21	Adrián Campos	Minardi	23	2:06.350	+8.072	478 m	+0.571	—
22	Alex Caffi	Osella	21	2:06.559	+8.281	490 m	+0.209	—
23	Philippe Streiff	Tyrrell	4	2:07.320	+9.042	535 m	+0.761	—
24	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell	3	2:07.794	+9.516	564 m	+0.474	—
25	Pascal Fabre	AGS	14	2:11.657	+13.379	792 m	+3.863	—
26	Ivan Capelli	March	16	2:15.345	+17.067	1,011 m	+3.688	—

Each driver’s best lap of the session and the laps they ran: a classification, not lap timing.

How it is derived: distance

Distance at the session-best lap’s average speed, on the layout raced that year.

The cars in this race

The photograph each car's Wikipedia article leads with, from Wikimedia Commons: taken wherever and whenever that was, not necessarily at this race.

A photograph marked unchecked has a file name that does not name the car it is shown for. Most are still the right car, filed under the driver rather than the machine — but nobody has confirmed these one by one.

2 more photographs

Where this comes from

Round: 3 of 1987
Grand Prix: Belgian Grand Prix
Dates: 17 May 1987
Layout raced: Modern circuit · 7.004 km · 19 turns
Format: Standard weekend
Constructor: McLaren
Entrant: McLaren-TAG
Confidence: reference

The layout raced and its figures are this register’s, from its own sources; the figures under the race’s drawing are F1DB’s, and at some circuits the two disagree.