Formula 1 1987 Japanese Grand Prix results

The 1987 Japanese Grand Prix was won by Gerhard Berger of Ferrari.

The race in Japan was round 15 of 16 of the 1987 season.

The 1987 Japanese Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Suzuka on 1 November 1987. It was the fifteenth and penultimate race of the 1987 FIA Formula One World Championship. It was the first Japanese Grand Prix since 1977, and the first as part of the Formula One World Championship 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. Soichiro 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.

The World Drivers' Championship was decided during practice when British driver Nigel Mansell crashed his Williams FW11B heavily at the S curves. Mansell's injuries put him out of racing for the remainder of the season, leaving Brazilian Williams driver Nelson Piquet unopposed to claim his third World Championship, adding to his victories with Brabham in 1981 and 1983.

source: Wikipedia