1988 Brazilian Grand Prix
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 1 of 16 in the 1988 Formula One season | |||
 |
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| Date | April 3, 1988 | ||
| Official name | 17o Grande Premio do Brasil | ||
| Location | Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 5.031 km (3.126 mi) | ||
| Distance | 60 laps, 301.860 km (186.417 mi) | ||
| Weather | Cloudy and hot | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Time | 1:28.096 | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |
 Gerhard Berger
|
Ferrari | |
| Time | 1:32.943 on lap 45 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | McLaren-Honda | ||
| Second | Ferrari | ||
| Third | Lotus-Honda | ||
The 1988 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on April 3, 1988, at the renamed Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet in Rio de Janeiro. Following his 3rd World Drivers Championship in 1987 the Jacarepaguá Circuit was named after local hero Nelson Piquet. It was the first race of the 1988 Formula One season.
Winter testing had indicated Ferrari would be maintaining the edge that they had gained by winning the final two races of the 1987 season despite only having an updated version of their 1987 car, with McLaren-Honda and Williams, now with naturally aspirated Judd V8 engines, also producing cars that looked like potential race winners.
Ferrari had dominated the pre-season tests in Rio with times that were not only faster than everyone else, but faster than had been recorded at the 1987 Brazilian Grand Prix, prompting rumors that the team had either shut off the FIA's mandatory pop-off valve which in 1988 limited turbo boost pressure to just 2.5 Bar, or more likely were running the 1987 valve which had a 4.0 Bar limit (most of the team engineers agreed that in 1988 the turbo engines had lost approximately 300 bhp (224 kW; 304 PS) due to the reduction in boost). The rumors were renewed during qualifying in Brazil when neither Michele Alboreto nor Gerhard Berger could get near their test times from a month earlier and both drivers complained of engines that were down on power, too thirsty and had poor throttle response out of the slower corners. With the 1988 pop-off valve connected, both Ferraris were also significantly slower on the circuits long back straight than either the McLaren or Lotus Hondas which were all timed at over 290 km/h (180 mph).
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