The 1986 Mexican Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Mexico City on October 12, 1986.
The first Mexican Grand Prix since 1970 was held at the newly renamed Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, located in the Magdalena Mixhuca recreational sports park in the middle of Mexico City. The track had been slightly shortened and modified from its previous layout; although Mexico City was located on a geologically active surface; so the circuit was very bumpy- and the most fearsome and spectacular corner on the circuit, the banked 275 km/h, 180-degree Peraltada turn remained from before, but with more run-off area and less banking than before.
It was the first win for Gerhard Berger and the first win for the Benetton team. Benetton ran on Pirelli tyres, and their relative durability compared to competitors on Goodyear tyres played to the team's advantage. Berger won this race due to not having to make a pit stop for a fresh set of tyres. It would also prove to be the final win for the turbocharged BMW engine.Hutchinson, Jeff, Autosport, October 16, 1986
Starting from third on the grid, Nigel Mansell could have wrapped up his first World Drivers' Championship with a win. However, it all went wrong on the grid when he went to select first gear for the start, and was still fumbling trying to get it in when the lights went green. By the time he got his Williams-Honda into gear more than two thirds of the field had gone past and he finished the first lap in 18th place. He would ultimately finish in 5th place meaning that the following Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide would see a three-way shootout for the championship between Mansell, defending champion Prost looking to be the first driver to win back-to-back championships since Jack Brabham in –, and Mansell's own Williams teammate Nelson Piquet looking to win his 3rd championship after winning the and titles.
Classification
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault 1:18.367 1:16.990 — 2 6 Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 1:18.037 1:17.279 +0.289 3 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 1:18.269 1:17.514 +0.524 4 20 Gerhard Berger Benetton-BMW 1:17.780 1:17.609 +0.619 5 7 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 1:21.241 1:18.285 +1.295 6 1 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:19.294 1:18.421 +1.431 7 8 Derek Warwick Brabham-BMW 1:19.713 1:18.527 +1.537 8 16 Patrick Tambay Lola-Ford 1:20.492 1:18.839 +1.849 9 19 Teo Fabi Benetton-BMW 1:18.971 1:18.893 +1.903 10 26 Philippe Alliot Ligier-Renault 1:20.372 1:19.257 +2.267 11 2 Keke Rosberg McLaren-TAG 1:19.342 +2.352 12 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:19.628 1:19.388 +2.398 13 25 René Arnoux Ligier-Renault 1:19.624 1:20.458 +2.634 14 28 Stefan Johansson Ferrari 1:20.303 1:19.769 +2.779 15 15 Alan Jones Lola-Ford 1:20.525 1:20.090 +3.100 16 3 Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Renault 1:21.587 1:20.198 +3.208 17 11 Johnny Dumfries Lotus-Renault 1:20.479 1:21.491 +3.489 18 14 Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed 1:21.154 1:20.668 +3.678 19 4 Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Renault 1:20.946 1:21.174 +3.956 20 17 Christian Danner Arrows-BMW 1:21.069 1:21.461 +4.079 21 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 1:21.171 1:21.361 +4.181 22 23 Andrea de Cesaris Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:22.470 1:22.521 +5.480 23 29 Huub Rothengatter Zakspeed 1:23.812 1:22.524 +5.534 24 24 Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:25.179 1:23.457 +6.467 25 21 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:25.767 1:24.176 +7.186 26 22 Allen Berg Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:26.573 1:27.209 +9.583
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 20 Gerhard Berger Benetton-BMW 68 1:33:18.700 4 9 2 1 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 68 +25.438 6 6 3 12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault 68 +52.513 1 4 4 6 Nelson Piquet Williams-Honda 67 +1 lap 2 3 5 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 67 +1 lap 3 2 6 26 Philippe Alliot Ligier-Renault 67 +1 lap 10 1 7 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 66 +2 laps 21 8 23 Andrea de Cesaris Minardi-Motori Moderni 66 +2 laps 22 9 17 Christian Danner Arrows-BMW 66 +2 laps 20 10 14 Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed 65 Out of fuel 18 11 3 Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Renault 65 +3 laps 16 12 28 Stefan Johansson Ferrari 64 Turbo 14 13 7 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 64 Spun off 5 14 24 Alessandro Nannini Minardi-Motori Moderni 64 +4 laps 24 15 25 René Arnoux Ligier-Renault 63 Engine 13 16 22 Allen Berg Osella-Alfa Romeo 61 +7 laps 26 11 Johnny Dumfries Lotus-Renault 53 Electrical 17 8 Derek Warwick Brabham-BMW 37 Engine 7 15 Alan Jones Lola-Ford 35 Tyre 15 2 Keke Rosberg McLaren-TAG 32 Puncture 11 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 10 Turbo 12 21 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 8 Turbo 25 4 Philippe Streiff Tyrrell-Renault 8 Turbo 19 19 Teo Fabi Benetton-BMW 4 Engine 9 16 Patrick Tambay Lola-Ford 0 Accident 8 29 Huub Rothengatter Zakspeed 0 Accident 23
Championship standings after the race Bold text indicates the World Champions.
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Nigel Mansell 70 (72) 2 Alain Prost 64 (65) 3 Nelson Piquet 63 4 Ayrton Senna 55 5 Keke Rosberg 22Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Honda 135 2 McLaren-TAG 87 3 Lotus-Renault 57 4 Ferrari 33 5 Ligier-Renault 29Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References
External links Grand Prix Archives Video Formula 1 1986 Mexican Grand Prix Video