1986 Austrian Grand Prix
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 12 of 16 in the 1986 Formula One season | |||
The Österreichring (last modified in 1977)
|
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| Date | August 17, 1986 | ||
| Official name | XIX Holiday Großer Preis von Osterreich | ||
| Location | Österreichring, Spielberg, Styria, Austria | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 5.942 km (3.692 mi) | ||
| Distance | 52 laps, 308.984 km (191.984 mi) | ||
| Weather | Dry | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Benetton-BMW | ||
| Time | 1:23.549 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Gerhard Berger
|
Benetton-BMW | |
| Time | 1:29.444 on lap 49 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | McLaren-TAG | ||
| Second | Ferrari | ||
| Third | Ferrari | ||
The 1986 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Österreichring on 17 August 1986.
While Gerhard Berger had led for a while, his teammate Teo Fabi eventually took the lead from Berger for about 5-6 seconds at the Bosch-Kurve and the BMW engine in Fabi's car failed right after he passed Berger, and Berger immediately re-took the lead through the Bosch-Kurve. Berger later pitted and lost 4 laps as his team repaired an issue with his battery.
Derek Warwick was a non-starter. In the morning warmup, the gearbox on his Brabham broke, which over-revved the BMW. The car was repaired, the BMW's cylinder head was changed, and Warwick took his place on the grid. When Riccardo Patrese took his place on the grid, the gearbox in his car broke leaving him with no 2nd or 3rd gears. As Patrese's car was in fact the spare since he had crashed his race car which was then destroyed by fire in qualifying, and as not only senior driver but the faster qualifier of the two, the decision was made on the grid to hand Warwick's car to Patrese for the race. Warwick later admitted that team owner Bernie Ecclestone had to physically drag him from the car as he refused to hand it over. Patrese promptly retired from the race after just two laps, a legacy of the over-revved engine, completing what 1976 World Champion James Hunt said in television commentary, was a "Miserable race for Brabham".
Despite Brabham's problems, the Österreichring with its lack of slow corners showed the power of the BMW and the worth of the BT55's lowline aerodynamics with Warwick's car being the fastest through the speed trap (approaching the Bosch-Kurve) at 344 km/h (214 mph) during qualifying.
Gerhard Berger (1-25), Nigel Mansell (26-28), Alain Prost (29-53)
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