1986 Australian Grand Prix
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 16 of 16 in the 1986 Formula One season | |||
.svg) |
|||
| Date | 26 October 1986 | ||
| Official name | LI Foster's Australian Grand Prix | ||
| Location |
Adelaide Street Circuit Adelaide, South Australia |
||
| Course | Temporary Street circuit | ||
| Course length | 3.780 km (2.362 mi) | ||
| Distance | 82 laps, 309.960 km (193.864 mi) | ||
| Weather | Sunny | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Williams-Honda | ||
| Time | 1:18.403 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Nelson Piquet
|
Williams-Honda | |
| Time | 1:20.787 on lap 82 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | McLaren-TAG | ||
| Second | Williams-Honda | ||
| Third | Ferrari | ||
The 1986 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 26 October 1986 at the Adelaide Street Circuit, Adelaide, Australia. It was the last of 16 races in the 1986 Formula One season, and decided a three-way tussle for the Drivers' Championship. The drivers in contention for the title were; Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet, both of whom were racing for the Williams-Honda team, and McLaren's Alain Prost.
Mansell took pole position for the race, but a poor start off the grid enabled team-mate Piquet, Ayrton Senna and Keke Rosberg to overtake him and demote him to fourth by the end of the first lap.
A few laps into the race, Finland's Keke Rosberg, in his final Grand Prix, took the lead from Piquet. However, the Finn retired with a puncture on lap 63, handing the lead back to Piquet and elevating Mansell into third place, which would have been sufficient for the Englishman to secure the championship. One lap later, Mansell's race ended as his left-rear tyre exploded on the main straight with 19 laps remaining. The title was then between Piquet and Prost with the Frenchman needing to finish ahead of the Brazilian to successfully defend his title. Following the tyre failures of Rosberg and Mansell, the Williams team called Piquet in for a precautionary tyre change leaving him 15 seconds behind. He made a late charge to close the gap to 4.2 seconds but Prost took victory to win his second of four titles.
It was not until the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix that there were again three possible drivers' title contenders entering the final race of the season.
Coming into the race, three drivers had a chance of winning the title. British driver Nigel Mansell was the leader; six points behind was defending champion Alain Prost, and one point behind Prost was Mansell's teammate at Williams, Nelson Piquet. In fourth was Ayrton Senna, who was guaranteed to finish in that position regardless of what happened. Prost was aiming to become the first driver since Jack Brabham in 1959 and 1960 to win back-to-back World Drivers' Championships.
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