1986 Formula One World Championship

• Races by country
• Races by venue

The 1986 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 40th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1986 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1986 Formula One World Championship for Manufacturers, both of which commenced on 23 March and ended on 26 October after sixteen races. The Drivers' Championship was won by Alain Prost, Prost was the first driver to win back-to-back Drivers' Championships since Jack Brabham in 1959 and 1960. Together with Prost, Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna dominated throughout the season and formed what was dubbed as the "Gang of Four". The 1986 season also marked the final Formula One season of 1982 Drivers' Champion Keke Rosberg who retired from the sport at the end of season following a difficult season with McLaren.

After 1986, Renault left the sport as an engine supplier due to company restructuring, only to return in 1989. The Constructors' Championship was won by Williams-Honda. Honda became the first Japanese engine supplier to win a Constructors' Championship.

Drivers and constructors

The following competitors contested the 1986 Formula One World Championship.

Team changes

• Two factory-backed constructors left Formula One after the 1985 season: Renault (only staying one more year as an engine supplier) and Alfa Romeo. Two other teams had already folded during the season: RAM and Spirit.
• The Toleman team was bought by the Benetton Group and renamed Benetton Formula.
• Shortly before the season began, Frank Williams was involved in a road accident in France that left him in a wheelchair. Technical director and part-owner Patrick Head would be forced to run the team in all departments, in addition to his design and engineering work.

Mid-season changes

• When entering the sport in 1985, Haas Lola encountered delays in the development of their first car, and the specially developed Ford-Cosworth V6 turbo was not ready either. So their first chassis was adjusted to be powered by a four-cylinder Hart turbo engine and could only make its debut in September. It was not until the third race of 1986 that the team could get delivery of the Cosworth engine and switch to their second car, specifically designed around it.
• The small French constructor AGS made their debut in the Italian Grand Prix. Their track record from F2 and F3000 was not particularly promising and the team had no more than seven employees. Their first F1 car existed of as many Renault parts as was legal, bolted onto an F3000 chassis. It was powered by a well-used Motori Moderni engine and driven by Ivan Capelli, while he was still on his way to become International F3000 champion.

Driver changes

• After triple world champion Niki Lauda retired, 1982 champion Keke Rosberg took his place at McLaren. Nelson Piquet, two world championships under his belt, took the opportunity to leave Brabham after seven seasons, and move to Williams.
• Elio de Angelis had chosen to leave Lotus, frustrated that the team's efforts were being focused mostly on Ayrton Senna. He was granted Piquet's seat at Brabham. Derek Warwick was originally signed to replace the Italian, but Senna gave his preference to Johnny Dumfries, British F3 champion and European F3 runner-up in 1984.
• A lot of other driver changes happened in the lower-ranking teams.

Mid-season changes

• Derek Warwick was left without a drive after the deal with Lotus fell through. He ended up at Brabham in May 1986, after De Angelis died following a fiery crash during private testing at Circuit Paul Ricard.
• In warm-up to the Canadian Grand Prix, Patrick Tambay, driving for Haas Lola, suffered suspension failure and a huge accident injured both his feet. Team owner Carl Haas tried to get 1978 world champion Mario Andretti as a replacement, but he declined and recommended his son Michael. When Michael was unable to obtain a FIA Superlicence, however, Haas turned to the experienced Eddie Cheever. Tambay returned for French Grand Prix.
• After fives races of the F1 season, Marc Surer suffered a serious accident when competing in the 1986 ADAC Hessen-Rallye. Christian Danner moved to Arrows to replace him. Danner's seat at Osella was filled by Allen Berg. It was the Canadian's debut, after talks with Arrows, Tyrrell, RAM and Spirit had not come to fruition. When his sponsorship money ran out, he was replaced at the Italian Grand Prix by Alex Caffi, granting him a debut at his home race, but further sponsorship did mean that Berg was able to see out the season.
• At the start of the British Grand Prix, Jacques Laffite was involved in a multi-car pile-up. He broke both legs and it ended his F1 career. Philippe Alliot returned to take his seat at Ligier, after driving two seasons for RAM.

Calendar

Calendar changes

• The Spanish Grand Prix returned to the calendar for the first time in five years and was held at the newly built Circuito de Jerez. (In 1984 and 1985, Formula One had tried to stage the race in Fuengirola.) The owners of the Jarama circuit tried to get the slot of the European Grand Prix, but were unsuccessful.
• The Belgian Grand Prix was moved up to May to avoid the chance of hot and dry weather, after the asphalt broke up in practice for the 1985 edition under the immense power of the cars.
• The British Grand Prix was moved from Silverstone to Brands Hatch, in keeping with the event-sharing arrangement between the two circuits. The 1986 British Grand Prix would be the last at Brands Hatch, as from 1987, it would be permanently held at Silverstone (under FISA's "one country, one circuit" rule).
• The German Grand Prix returned to the Hockenheimring after using the Nürburgring for 1985, and would be permanently held at Hockenheim (again, "one country, one circuit").
• The Hungarian Grand Prix was organised for the first time. It was the first F1 race to take place behind the Iron Curtain.
• The Portuguese Grand Prix was moved back to September.
• The Mexican Grand Prix returned for the first time since 1970. The Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City was upgraded to a new layout to improve safety. (The race was originally supposed to return in 1985 but was cancelled due to the 1985 Mexico City earthquake.)

Provisional calendar

An early version of the calendar showed 20 races. These rounds were eventually removed:

• An attempt was made to revive the Argentine Grand Prix at the Autódromo de Buenos Aires to be held on 9 March as Round 1. This was unsuccessful due to lack of sponsorship and no Argentinian driver competing in the championship.
• The Japanese Grand Prix, originally scheduled for 6 April, was cancelled as rebuilding parts of the Suzuka International Racing Course were too time-consuming. The race would only return the following year in a completely renovated Suzuka.
• The Dutch Grand Prix, originally scheduled for 31 August, was dropped after the owners, CENAV (Circuit Exploitatie Nederlandse Autorensport Vereniging), went out of business. It was replaced by the Hungarian Grand Prix.
• The South African Grand Prix, originally scheduled for 26 October, was dropped because of apartheid. FISA banned all events in South Africa until 1992.
• In the provisional calendar, the Swedish Grand Prix was earmarked to return for the first time since 1978 and was scheduled for 14 September (later than the original June slot it had between 1973 and 1978), the Italian Grand Prix was to take place on 28 September, Portuguese Grand Prix was to take place on 12 October, Mexican Grand Prix on 9 November and Australian Grand Prix on 23 November as the final round. All 4 were moved ahead when the Dutch, Swedish and South African rounds fell through.

Regulation changes

Background

Back in 1980, Renault proved that turbocharged engines were the way to success and by the half-way point in the 1985 season, all teams had followed their example. The FIA saw that the power output from turbo engines had doubled in the past six years. The 1986 F1 cars in qualifying trim proved to be the most powerful Grand Prix cars in history. Manufacturers mentioned numbers above 1,400 bhp (1,000 kW), powering cars that weighed just 540 kg (1,190 lb) giving a staggering power-to-weight ratio of 2,500 hp/ton. This power output was only seen in qualifying trim, since the specially prepared engines, tyres and gearboxes could only hold on for two to four laps under this immense force before destroying themselves, and in race trim, with the engines limited in power to conserve them to run a 190-mile (306 km) race distance, the cars were not much slower.

So after mandating turbocharged engines for 1986, the governing body decided to re-allow naturally aspirated engines for 1987, and at the same time started reining in the power of turbo engines, before banning them altogether for the 1989 season.

Technical regulations

• 1.5 litre turbocharged engines compulsory (with unlimited number of cylinders, RPM and power output).
• Fuel use during the race was limited from 220 L (58 US gal) to 195 L (52 US gal). This led to fuel saving playing a major role in team strategy during the season.

Event regulations

• Catch-fencing was banned.
• After the accident and death of Elio de Angelis in testing, a permanent team of professional firefighters, FIA medical service inspector and medevac helicopter were made mandatory at all testing and race events.

Season report

In Sky TV's "Tales from the crypt" Mansell said that at the end of year FIA Paris prizegiving, Bertie Martin, the Clerk of the Course at Adelaide, told him that had he hit the wall and debris covered the track, he would have red-flagged the race and, as two thirds race distance had been completed, Mansell would have been world champion.[citation needed]

Results and standings

Grands Prix

The 1986 Formula One World Championship was contested over a sixteen-race series.

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top six classified finishers. For the Drivers' Championship, the best eleven results were counted, while, for the Constructors' Championship, all rounds were counted.

Numbers without parentheses are championship points; numbers in parentheses are total points scored. Points were awarded in the following system:

World Drivers' Championship standings

† Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

World Constructors' Championship standings

† Car did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as it completed over 90% of the race distance.

Notes and references

External links

• Media related to 1986 in Formula One at Wikimedia Commons