Race · Round 5 of 16 · 21 June 1987

1987 Detroit Grand Prix

Ayrton Senna won for Team Lotus from 2nd on the grid at Detroit Street Circuit. 14 of the starters were not classified.

Wet · High of 27 °C, 16.3 mm of 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: Detroit Street CircuitDetroit, Michigan, United States of America
Winner: Ayrton SennaTeam Lotus
Pole: Nigel Mansell
Fastest lap: Ayrton Senna
Entries: 2612 classified

Classification

Classification
Pos	Driver	Constructor	Chassis	Grid	Laps	Out	Points	FL
1	Ayrton Senna	Team Lotus	99T	2	63	Finished	9	fastest lap
2	Nelson Piquet	Williams	FW11B	3	63	Finished	6
3	Alain Prost	McLaren	MP4/3	5	63	Finished	4
4	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	F1/87	12	63	Finished	3
5	Nigel Mansell	Williams	FW11B	1	62	Finished	2
6	Eddie Cheever	Arrows	A10	6	60	Finished	1
7	Stefan Johansson	McLaren	MP4/3	11	60	Finished	0
8	Christian Danner	Zakspeed	—	16	60	Finished	0
9	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham	BT56	9	60	Finished	0
10	Rene Arnoux	Ligier	—	21	60	Finished	0
11	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell	DG016	13	60	Finished	0
12	Pascal Fabre	AGS	JH22	26	58	Finished	0
DNF	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton	B187	4	52	Brakes	0
NC	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Ligier	—	23	51	NC	0
DNF	Philippe Streiff	Tyrrell	DG016	14	44	Wheel	0
DNF	Philippe Alliot	Lola	LC87	20	38	Accident	0
DNF	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	F1/87	7	25	Gearbox	0
DNF	Alessandro Nannini	Minardi	M187	18	22	Gearbox	0
DNF	Martin Brundle	Zakspeed	—	15	16	Turbo	0
DNF	Derek Warwick	Arrows	A10	10	12	Accident	0
DNF	Ivan Capelli	March	—	22	9	Electrical	0
DNF	Teo Fabi	Benetton	B187	8	6	Accident	0
DNF	Alex Caffi	Osella	—	19	3	Transmission	0
DNF	Andrea de Cesaris	Brabham	BT56	17	2	Gearbox	0
DNF	Adrián Campos	Minardi	M187	25	1	Accident	0
DNF	Satoru Nakajima	Team Lotus	99T	24	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 detroit-2 · 4.023 km · 22 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
Ayrton Senna	2	1	63
Nelson Piquet	3	2	63
Alain Prost	5	3	63
Gerhard Berger	12	4	63
Nigel Mansell	1	5	62
Eddie Cheever	6	6	60
Stefan Johansson	11	7	60
Christian Danner	16	8	60
Riccardo Patrese	9	9	60
Rene Arnoux	21	10	60
Jonathan Palmer	13	11	60
Pascal Fabre	26	12	58
Thierry Boutsen	4	DNF	52
Piercarlo Ghinzani	23	NC	51
Philippe Streiff	14	DNF	44
Philippe Alliot	20	DNF	38
Michele Alboreto	7	DNF	25
Alessandro Nannini	18	DNF	22
Martin Brundle	15	DNF	16
Derek Warwick	10	DNF	12
Ivan Capelli	22	DNF	9
Teo Fabi	8	DNF	6
Alex Caffi	19	DNF	3
Andrea de Cesaris	17	DNF	2
Adrián Campos	25	DNF	1
Satoru Nakajima	24	DNF	0

Qualifying

Qualifying
Pos	Driver	Constructor	No.	Time	Gap	≈ Distance	Interval
1	Nigel Mansell	Williams	5	1:39.264	—	0 m	—
2	Ayrton Senna	Team Lotus	12	1:40.607	+1.343	54 m	+1.343
3	Nelson Piquet	Williams	6	1:40.942	+1.678	68 m	+0.335
4	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton	20	1:42.050	+2.786	113 m	+1.108
5	Alain Prost	McLaren	1	1:42.357	+3.093	125 m	+0.307
6	Eddie Cheever	Arrows	18	1:42.361	+3.097	126 m	+0.004
7	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	27	1:42.684	+3.420	139 m	+0.323
8	Teo Fabi	Benetton	19	1:42.918	+3.654	148 m	+0.234
9	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham	7	1:43.479	+4.215	171 m	+0.561
10	Derek Warwick	Arrows	17	1:43.541	+4.277	173 m	+0.062
11	Stefan Johansson	McLaren	2	1:43.797	+4.533	184 m	+0.256
12	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	28	1:43.816	+4.552	184 m	+0.019
13	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell	3	1:44.350	+5.086	206 m	+0.534
14	Philippe Streiff	Tyrrell	4	1:45.037	+5.773	234 m	+0.687
15	Martin Brundle	Zakspeed	9	1:45.291	+6.027	244 m	+0.254
16	Christian Danner	Zakspeed	10	1:45.740	+6.476	262 m	+0.449
17	Andrea de Cesaris	Brabham	8	1:46.046	+6.782	275 m	+0.306
18	Alessandro Nannini	Minardi	24	1:46.083	+6.819	276 m	+0.037
19	Alex Caffi	Osella	21	1:46.124	+6.860	278 m	+0.041
20	Philippe Alliot	Lola	30	1:46.194	+6.930	281 m	+0.070
21	Rene Arnoux	Ligier	25	1:46.211	+6.947	282 m	+0.017
22	Ivan Capelli	March	16	1:46.269	+7.005	284 m	+0.058
23	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Ligier	26	1:47.471	+8.207	333 m	+1.202
24	Satoru Nakajima	Team Lotus	11	1:48.801	+9.537	387 m	+1.330
25	Adrián Campos	Minardi	23	1:50.495	+11.231	455 m	+1.694
26	Pascal Fabre	AGS	14	1:53.644	+14.380	583 m	+3.149

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	Nigel Mansell	Williams	5	2:08.593	—	0 m	—	—
2	Derek Warwick	Arrows	17	2:10.231	+1.638	51 m	+1.638	—
3	Nelson Piquet	Williams	6	2:10.638	+2.045	64 m	+0.407	—
4	Jonathan Palmer	Tyrrell	3	2:10.875	+2.282	71 m	+0.237	—
5	Alain Prost	McLaren	1	2:11.004	+2.411	75 m	+0.129	—
6	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	28	2:11.344	+2.751	86 m	+0.340	—
7	Alessandro Nannini	Minardi	24	2:11.514	+2.921	91 m	+0.170	—
8	Philippe Alliot	Lola	30	2:11.606	+3.013	94 m	+0.092	—
9	Satoru Nakajima	Team Lotus	11	2:12.402	+3.809	119 m	+0.796	—
10	Martin Brundle	Zakspeed	9	2:12.441	+3.848	120 m	+0.039	—
11	Thierry Boutsen	Benetton	20	2:12.476	+3.883	121 m	+0.035	—
12	Ayrton Senna	Team Lotus	12	2:12.754	+4.161	130 m	+0.278	—
13	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	27	2:13.334	+4.741	148 m	+0.580	—
14	Eddie Cheever	Arrows	18	2:13.647	+5.054	158 m	+0.313	—
15	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Ligier	26	2:13.648	+5.055	158 m	+0.001	—
16	Ivan Capelli	March	16	2:13.914	+5.321	166 m	+0.266	—
17	Philippe Streiff	Tyrrell	4	2:14.048	+5.455	171 m	+0.134	—
18	Stefan Johansson	McLaren	2	2:14.108	+5.515	173 m	+0.060	—
19	Rene Arnoux	Ligier	25	2:14.375	+5.782	181 m	+0.267	—
20	Andrea de Cesaris	Brabham	8	2:15.931	+7.338	230 m	+1.556	—
21	Teo Fabi	Benetton	19	2:17.446	+8.853	277 m	+1.515	—
22	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham	7	2:17.850	+9.257	290 m	+0.404	—
23	Adrián Campos	Minardi	23	2:19.299	+10.706	335 m	+1.449	—
24	Christian Danner	Zakspeed	10	2:23.912	+15.319	479 m	+4.613	—
25	Pascal Fabre	AGS	14	2:26.634	+18.041	564 m	+2.722	—

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.

2 more photographs

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.

Where this comes from

Round: 5 of 1987
Grand Prix: Detroit Grand Prix
Dates: 21 Jun 1987
Layout raced: —
Format: Standard weekend
Constructor: Team Lotus
Entrant: Lotus-Honda
Confidence: reference

No layout is recorded for this round: this register has no layout timeline for the circuit, and a blank here is better than a guess.