1987 Formula One World Championship
[citation needed] The first race in April at the fast, rough and abrasive Jacarepagua Riocentro Autodrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil resulted in a dominant showing from Williams-Honda with Mansell ahead of Piquet.
But come the San Marino Grand Prix held at the fast Autodromo Dino Ferrari in Italy, Nelson Piquet had a huge accident at the flat out Tamburello corner when he suffered a tire failure during qualifying and was forbidden from racing by F1 doctor Sid Watkins.
Nelson Piquet was back in action after his huge crash at Imola while Zakspeed had two 871 chassis for Martin Brundle and Christian Danner, the German having used an older car in the two previous races.
At the start of the second lap Philippe Streiff lost control of his Tyrrell at Raidillon and smashed into the barriers, the impact tearing the engine from the car.
Piquet went out with an engine failure after 10 laps and with Alboreto stopping with a broken CV joint, Prost went into the lead with Boutsen second and Johansson third, the Swede having overtaken Fabi.
Boutsen finally retired with a broken CV joint which left fourth place to Eddie Cheever (Arrows-Megatron) with Satoru Nakajima's Lotus-Honda and Rene Arnoux sixth in the Ligier-Megatron.
Sixth place was a surprise in the form of Eddie Cheever's Arrows-Megatron while the top 10 was completed by Stefan Johansson (McLaren-TAG), Gerhard Berger (Ferrari), Thierry Boutsen (Benetton-Ford) and Riccardo Patrese (Brabham-BMW).
The Canadian Grand Prix had been cancelled due to a dispute over local sponsors Molson and Labatt's; so Detroit was the only North American round in the middle of the European season.
The entry was unchanged from the field that had raced at Monaco three weeks earlier and as usual the battle for pole position was between the Honda-powered cars with Nigel Mansell fastest on this occasion with his Williams.
There was then a big gap back to Thierry Boutsen's Benetton-Ford, Alain Prost's McLaren-TAG, Eddie Cheever's Arrows-Megatron and Michele Alboreto's Ferrari.
The Mansell-Piquet intra-team battle continued at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone with victory in qualifying going to Nelson Piquet who beat his Williams teammate Nigel Mansell to pole by less than a tenth of a second.
Going into the German Grand Prix at the very fast Hockenheimring with its forested straights, the World Championship was finely balanced at the midseason with Nelson Piquet leading on 39 points, Ayrton Senna second with 35, Nigel Mansell third with 30 and Alain Prost fourth with 26.
The top 10 was completed by Andrea de Cesaris (Brabham-BMW), Stefan Johansson (McLaren), Teo Fabi (Benetton) and Gerhard Berger (Ferrari).
The narrow pit straight – which had caused problems at Grands Prix for years and one that the organizers had failed to widen – became the center topic of the debate of safety.
At the start Piquet got away ahead of a fast-starting Fabi but the race was stopped when Martin Brundle's Zakspeed went out of control, hit a barrier and bounced back into the middle for the track.
At the Estoril Autodrome near the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, the Coloni team did not reappear in Portugal but Osella continued to run a second car for Franco Forini.
Ferrari's progress throughout the summer months was confirmed with Gerhard Berger taking pole position ahead of Nigel Mansell's Williams-Honda, Alain Prost's McLaren and Nelson Piquet's Williams.
Ayrton Senna was fifth in his Lotus-Honda and the top 10 was completed by Michele Alboreto in the second Ferrari, Riccardo Patrese's Brabham, Stefan Johansson's McLaren and the two Benetton-Fords of Thierry Boutsen and Teo Fabi.
Derek Warwick spun his Arrows to avoid them and then Satoru Nakajima (Lotus) collided with Martin Brundle (Zakspeed) and the rest of the field piled into the wrecks.
The result was that Adrian Campos (Minardi), Christian Danner (Zakspeed), Rene Arnoux (Ligier), Philippe Alliot (Larrousse Lola) and Eddie Cheever (Arrows) were also involved.
Teo Fabi was sixth in his Benetton-Ford with Alain Prost (McLaren), Thierry Boutsen (Benetton) and the two Brabhams of Riccardo Patrese and Andrea de Cesaris rounding off the top 10.
This race, held at the high-altitude and very bumpy Hermanos Rodriguez Autodrome located within a recreational public park in the middle of Mexico City was the 450th Formula One Grand Prix, and the field was much as it had been all season, the only changes being that Osella had gone back to one car and Larrousse has expanded to two with Yannick Dalmas joining Philippe Alliot.
In qualifying the drivers found that thanks to the geologically active land the Mexico City track, already made challenging by the humid heat, dust and smog had become more bumpy than last year and there were a series of big accidents, including one of Mansell, and another for Ayrton Senna.
Mansell was on pole from Gerhard Berger second in his Ferrari ahead of Piquet, Thierry Boutsen (Benetton-Ford), Alain Prost (McLaren), Teo Fabi (Benetton) and Senna.
Mansell had moved up to third, and there were further incidents down through the field with Stefan Johansson being spinning and being eliminated when he was hit by Christian Danner, and Nakajima crashing into the back of Derek Warwick's Arrows at the end of the main straight.
Then there were red flags after Warwick (Arrows-Megatron) had a huge accident at the final corner when something broke at the back of his car as a result of Nakajima running into him earlier.
During qualifying Mansell crashed heavily at the fast Snake sweepers behind the paddock, the accident left him with severe bruising to his backbone, re-triggering an old injury and it was decided that he should not be allowed to race.
Then came Piquet and Teo Fabi (Benetton) with the top 10 completed by Ayrton Senna (Lotus), Riccardo Patrese (Brabham-BMW), Stefan Johansson's McLaren and the second Brabham of Andrea de Cesaris.
Japanese GP winner Gerhard Berger was on pole position in his Ferrari from Alain Prost's McLaren-TAG/Porsche, Nelson Piquet's Williams-Honda and the Lotus-Honda of Ayrton Senna.
Thierry Boutsen was fifth quickest in his Benetton-Ford ahead of Michele Alboreto's Ferrari, Patrese's Williams, Stefan Johansson's McLaren, Teo Fabi's Benetton and Andrea de Cesaris's Brabham.
