British Grand Prk, Silverstone, England

Pmt's, yes. But certainly not Senna's By Nigel Roebuck

... or Mansell's

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NiilMmsensbmrdnglyenoethroughfar McLamdomirstan.TkybdfamdM accoad, bm tk day belollgod m olr driver. cnceucnt b.lma far t k am, they slid. ~ b r b a i t i a M o n t o C a d o ; i f k Ifkolrestktitk,hcwokithac. Couldtbcygetitbslrrginin~ rinril,mddtbuhewcmit ' I b e ~ d . y l r p m a s h o c k t d u s ~ .f a ~ G n t d R h r ? T h e y d w t . It S i I v u E t o n c . Sinoe Rio, it bu b a maae~ of which 0umc~day~yrmwim"mviCk!adny*coDwonscorrditiarrm~ McLmmdcivuMuld1.tctkpola:~y sionrs." These involved new turbo inleta rtocawALinRatsimplytoamrada dwaysitdbeSama,mdevcytimcit (within t k sidepods) and a r e v i d jamfo~.Sclmaarsin.hsolu(cmmrrmd w u a 1-2 for the turn. Doubtleas. the c o o k r ~ , m d t k s o l e ~ o f d l h i s ~ ~ t o l ~ m ~ ~ ~ l k ~ ' ~ v h b u U y ~ . ~ t k d . Y b r npttsmainbcpicLcduprginshorlly.But . ratPlemightbnbculdi&rezlc,faal U S i l v ~ a k u p s a 0 v a o n c i . p kh" (which namslly ptmk from tk SifvontoacMclaml'sactw~mtawe --cbc Fararis uwe it. Michele Albacto, t o p 0 f t k p o d s ) ~ t k a i r t l o w ."Tbae's h . v a a r e r m e x p c t . ' I b e c a ' h d h g doubtl~s.ngaa5byhisforthcomingrc- mwgineg.infmmtkchanga,"BtidRoa a p r m e r p r t m . i n ~ a n o c , m d p ~ b y ~ . a r s h d a ( m t Dennis. k "They're purely t o improve che fOrtklir*timmisyatl~m~~~~Ol fint b C day, I and only nnurowly s h d e d by d y m n i c l . " And thge b g e s , you UtmSrrrmaRostsmkdhtkpdc. Dlllrmtc~ootkatfood. a6ould how, mot cloce to SM0,oOO. ' m e chsssis is waking reasoDlbly well Race dny, mnyb, ars Aytton-mdc. Hc Maamr, l k y lastal bui oae d a y f a DOI CM far slippery md ~ ~ O U S hen," John B a m d said, "and Ferrari now, anyway. By Saturday d l madimy ny mxe MYDllC e h , bllt - Q ~ Y d Y -g top ~ M c L a n n s w e r e ~ t o ~ ~ they rr: mrmp t o him, bring au dl his cad-+ idul for Silvrrstom." H e m , a ficatioa, tbe bc bavmg decided th.1 r(iaty.RomfrnttoIPdmSunday,k hianneuo 1-2, with the McLmms 3-4. "mactdng"wnn&ded.Aadmtk Aftcr testing a week csrlia, Rat md a t f o o d d a y , b o ( h d l i i ~ . ~ . l h e ~ omr made a mistate, IIOI lmLed like it. Scsma had g a r away well-satisti& S i l v e r - felt k u u 4 U ~ a g by b m mar6 good. In (iemardBagattacwhr~fwlwom~Wmc nonc ww no diikca from my &I cir- m e t i n a l ~ i d p l i o a , h a c c d . S r r r m t Stowe-165 mph, give or rLdrmdmdcafightofitfaawhilc,md cuit: It would fall into the pattern of miice spun a

f Ayrton S e m lows the World

amph&plhisyat,wewilluy

A V T O W W N L Y IS. 1988

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~ k w m second and '25th. mprctlwly, on VI. grid, mn Mlkd 17thnd lm thrn lapa behind 5 . n In ~ nee; Albomto ran

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M each lime he came out of the spin weather. You've still got a horsepower batW i g the proper way, and with the engine tle. haven't you? And so long as you've got alive. "No mystery," he said. "% car that, you've got a fuel problem. I don't see wasn't handling that well, and I was push- the rain making any difference at all." ing too hard." So to the start. Alboreto gM the power "Here," Prost concluded. "we just down slightly better than Berger, and haven't got it right. But even so. I think it loaked like snatching the lead into the fusl will be a McLaren win again." comer. but Gethard held his line and his Such optimism as there was came from place, and within half a mile Michele had speculation about fuel. If the qualifying beto passed by Senna,clearly net of a mood days were largely dry, they were also mol. to hang around today. Prost, on the other hand, had got away Cool weather means better horsepower, and bettu homepower means worse fuel con- hesitantly, and in the quick spray was sumption. On the question of fuel, Honda swamped on all sides during that f i t lap. was concerned, but F e e was downright He completed it in l lth place, and the resigned. "If we try and run with the Honda V6 sounded not quite clean. During McLarens," Alboreto said, "we'll be the morning session it had cut momentarily, watching the last five laps from the pits." then again in the fdwarm-up laps. But Senna and Rost were lhus not too con- later h o s t said he had simply "bogged cerned a h Femri. More of a worry were down" at the start. let the revs drop. some of the normally aspirated cars, which Every succeeding lap seemed to drop the an not restricted on fuel. At this, the fastest World Championship leader furlher down track in Formula One use, y w might have the order, so that he was passed in lime by expected the turbos to be on a separate such as Modena and Cafti! After 24 laps he plane, but not so: Silversto~bwith the ex- came in, climbed out, explained with reception of the chicane at Woodcote-is markable candor his retirement. shaighU and fast c o r m s all the way. You It was reminiscent of Niki Lauda's celeget up to speed. and stay there. 11 is vital to bmml withdrawal at Fuji in 1976; then, as have a well-balanced car, and the best of now, the World Champiwhip was at stake. these were undoubtedly the March-ludds of "The bandling of my car was terrible from Mauricio Gugelmin and Ivan Capelli, which the start," Alain said. "Understeer here, qualified fiW and sixth, and rather shook oversteer there ... 1 was getting into huge d ' the Estnblishmnt. Add to that a " slides, taking huge risks, to run 15th. Why Williams (without reactive suspension) for risk a big accident, maybe break a leg or Mansell, and you had the makings of a race. something, and put myself out for the rest of There were the Benetlons, too. the year-so I can maybe be 12th or someMansell was hoping for rain. he said, and thing? Everyone does what he wants with Sunday morning will have pleased him: his own car and his own life. I know maybe Gray and forbidding. the wet was clearly in 1 lost the championship today, but I decided for the day. Frank Williams, however, said to stop." So now the scene was set for Aytton to he doubted it would be to the atmospherics' advantage: "As soon as you have rain, the make major inroads into Rost's points lead turbo guys* fuel worries disappear. Thcy over h k I 5 going into this race. And have a considerable power advantage. so during the first laps he truly hounded they just crank on more wing than we canBerger, sitting right on the F e d in what and that helps them lhmugh the corms. I amounted to dead reckoning. If you were don't lhink the rain will help us at all." behindsomone, youcouldn't see a n m g . Gahard Berger didn't a m : "Fuel conOn the f i t lap Senna nied lo put a move sumption is a problem, whatever the on Berger into Stowe, but the Ferrari
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chopped over to claim the line, and Gcrhard -fuel worries or no-was clearly determined to stay put, at least fora while. The two of them left the rest behind. After only five laps there were 16 wconds between Senna and third man Alboreto. who was followed by a very confident Gugelmin, Alessandro Nannini, a charging Mansell and an oversteering Capelli. Then we had Derek Wanvick and the L o w s , Satoru Nakajima keeping embarrassingly close to Nelson Piquet. For some time then was relative stalemate but, as the rain ceascd and a dry line of sorts began to emerge, new strengths and weaknesses came to light. Piquet, for example, gained in confidence, passed Warwick's Armws and put space b e e n himself and his No. 2. Gugelmin, Nannini and Mansell closed into a battling trio. And at the front, quite divorced from the rest, Berger and Senna were suddenly much closer. After his aggressive opening laps, why had Aynon allowed the Ferrari to go clear for a while? "At the speed he was running," the Brazilian explained, "I knew that if I kept with him, I couldn't make the fiish on fuel. I was preny sure he coulda't either, but I thought I'd sit back for a bit. I couldn't see much when the rain was reslly bad, and 1 was getling water behind my visor, which made it mist up." As conditions began slightly to dry, though. Senna was swiftly filling krger's mirrors again. On lap 15, as they prepad to lap host-to lap Prost!--on the run down to the Woodcote chicane, Aynon went by the F e d . It was chancy. as his moves sometimes are, for it also meant i teammate into the chicane. ducking by h In the spray, Pmst hadn't seen h i m and bmed in on his normal line. Fomnately. Alain flicked his wheel right, gave his teammate mom. The two McLarens might otherwise have been out on the spot. At all events, Senna was through and gone. the result of the British Orand Rix now a foregone conclusion. % last wet
AUTOWEEK JULY 18. 1988