1987 Japanese Grand Prix
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 15 of 16 in the 1987 Formula One season | |||
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|||
| Date | November 1, 1987 | ||
| Official name | XIII Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix | ||
| Location | Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Japan | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 5.859 km (3.641 mi) | ||
| Distance | 51 laps, 298.829 km (185.670 mi) | ||
| Weather | Dry | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Ferrari | ||
| Time | 1:40.042 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Alain Prost
|
McLaren-TAG | |
| Time | 1:43.844 on lap 35 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | Ferrari | ||
| Second | Lotus-Honda | ||
| Third | McLaren-TAG | ||
The 1987 Japanese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Suzuka on November 1, 1987. It was the fifteenth and penultimate round of the 1987 Formula One season. It was the 14th Japanese Grand Prix and the third to be held as part of the Formula One World Drivers Championship. It was the first Japanese Grand Prix since the 1977 and the first to be held at the Honda-owned Suzuka Circuit, which originated as a test track for Honda motorcycles and automobiles.
Soichiro Honda was extremely enthusiastic about this race, and told his racing engineers "We have to win. And we have to keep winning..." aiming for a hometown victory at Honda's home track in its native Japan. Mr. Honda had reason for optimism as four of the entrants were powered by Honda-made engines. The Lotus 99Ts of Ayrton Senna, who had won races earlier in the season and was joined on Team Lotus with national favourite Satoru Nakajima, along with the dominating Williams FW11Bs driven by Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet, who were both vying for the overall championship. However, after Nigel Mansell was taken out of contention by a qualifying crash, the other three cars of Piquet, Senna and Nakajima could only qualify in 5th, 7th and 11th places respectively, with the best finish for Honda being Senna's 2nd place.
The race was won by Austrian driver Gerhard Berger driving a Ferrari F1/87. It was the end of a 38 race-losing streak for Formula One's most famous team and Berger's second Grand Prix victory having won the Mexican Grand Prix the previous year. Berger won by 17 seconds over Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna driving a Lotus 99T. Third was the McLaren MP4/3 of Swedish driver Stefan Johansson.
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