1986 Italian Grand Prix

Lore & Background

The 51-lap race was won by Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet, driving a Williams-Honda. Piquet's British teammate and Drivers' Championship rival, Nigel Mansell, finished second, with Swede Stefan Johansson third in a Ferrari. The other two championship challengers, Frenchman Alain Prost and Brazilian Ayrton Senna, both failed to finish, Senna suffering a transmission failure in his Lotus-Renault at the very start of the race and Prost being disqualified halfway through for illegally switching to his spare McLaren-TAG after the start of the formation lap. The win moved Piquet into second place in the Drivers' Championship, five points behind Mansell and three ahead of Prost, with three races remaining.

In Their Own Story

The Tifosi roar shakes the grandstands as the grid lines up under the Italian sun. Inside the FW11B, Nigel Mansell grips the wheel, feeling the Honda engine vibrate through his gloves. The lights go out, and the cars surge forward into the Variante del Rettifilo.

Reader's Guide

Qualifying saw Teo Fabi take his second consecutive pole position in a Benetton-BMW, with Alain Prost alongside on the front row. Nigel Mansell qualified third, Gerhard Berger fourth, and Ayrton Senna and Nelson Piquet made up the third row. At the start of the formation lap, Fabi was forced to start from the back of the grid and Prost had to start from the pit lane in the spare car. Gerhard Berger led early but lost positions to Mansell, Piquet, and Michele Alboreto. Senna was out with a broken gearbox at the start. The race became a close fight between the two Williams drivers, with Piquet hunting down Mansell to take the victory by 9.828 seconds. Prost was disqualified for changing cars after the start of the formation lap, and his engine blew up a lap after he was flagged anyway. Johansson finished third, Berger fifth, and Alan Jones scored the final point.

Did You Know?

• The race saw the debut of local driver Alex Caffi, deputising for Allen Berg at Osella, as well as the debut of the French AGS team.
• Michele Alboreto qualified 9th despite missing the first day of qualifying after injuring his arm in a motorcycle crash.
• With 27 entries, FISA decided to allow all cars to start; Caffi started 27th.