1986 Mexican Grand Prix - Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez

October 12, 1986

There is an outward effervesence about Gerhard Berger which sometimes disguises the sheer steel and determination which suffuses his character. By any standards Berger's ascent to the upper reaches of the F1 community  was meteoric. He first sprang to prominence in the European Alfasud championship, finishing seventh at his first attempt, then breezed quickly through Formula Ford  and Formula Ford 2000 before making his mark in the hotly contested 1983 European Formula 3 championship. Although he did not win any of the individual races, he managed a couple of second places to finish joint seventh in the final points table, equal with Martin Brundle.

He then distinguished himself with some energetic drives in the European Touring Car championship at the wheel of a BMW 635. These performances attracted the attention of ATS F1 team boss Gunther Schmid, who duly invited him to Zandvoort for a test session. Berger attacked the task with an over-enthusiasm and confidence which, in retrospect, made even him shudder slightly years later. But he certainly made and a favourable impression and was invited to drive for the team at the wheel of a second car in two world championship rounds.

1984 Italian GP - Berger scores an impressive sixth place in the ATS D6.

On home ground in Austria Berger failed to finish, but at Monza a few weeks  later he stormed home sixth in the Italian Grand Prix. Sadly, as he had not originally been entered in the championship as a regular contestant he was not awarded the point normally given to a sixth place finisher.

Barely 25 years old, Berger's racing horizons seemed to be widening dramatically, but his racing career very nearly ended that winter in a serious road accident near his home at Worgl, not far from Innsbruck. He fractured a vertebra in his neck and spent most of the off-season recuperating. He recovered in time to join Thierry Boutsen in the Arrows-BMW line-up, however, highlighting his 1985 season with a fifth place in South Africa and sixth in Australia.

For 1986 he switched to the emergent Benetton-BMW team (formerly Toleman). The team was owned by clothing magnate Luciano Benetton and now with Benetton money and BMW power the team was well placed to demonstrate far more potential to challenge the top outfits of the day. It was with the B186 that Berger really began to mature, displaying considerable flair and expertise. He scored a brilliant third place in San Marino and then led his home grand prix commandingly at the Österreichring, only to be thwarted by battery problems. Unfortunately reliability seemed to be the Achilles heel of the B186 that season. 

1986 Season - Berger makes his mark

Round 15 in Mexico was to be the penultimate grand prix of the season, and excitement was high.  Not only was this the first Mexican grand prix since 1970, the championship battle was approaching it's climax. Nigel Mansell (Williams) was leading the driver's standings by 10 points over his team-mate Nelson Piquet (Williams), with Alain Prost (McLaren) and Ayrton Senna (Lotus) also in the hunt. The Englishman could clinch the title if he were to win or finish ahead of both Piquet and Prost. Considering the fact that Mansell was suffering from Montezuna's Revenge at the time, this seemed like a tall order.

With all of the Benetton's reliability woes Berger was not in the fight for the championship, but in Mexico he was ready to steal the limelight from the contenders. This race was all about tyre management, as the searing heat on race day morning revealed heavy tyre wear during the warm-up. Especially so, for the Goodyear runners. Berger, and Benetton however, were running on Pirelli tyres.

The four title contenders all qualified at the sharp end of the grid. Piquet won the pole position, with Senna joining him on the front row. Next was Mansell and Berger, then Riccardo Patrese (Brabham) and Prost. At the start Senna led off the line from Piquet and Berger. Mansell's Williams however remained motionless. It appeared almost as if his car was not in gear when the lights went gear. The Englishman fumbled in the cockpit and finally managed to find a gear, but by that time the bulk of the grid had swarmed past him and he found himself down in nineteenth position.

Senna and Piquet staged a thrilling duel into the first esses complex. With Senna on the inside line and Piquet outside the two braked as late as possible, but Piquet used the strength of his Honda engine to keep enough of the outside line to give him the advantage for the following left bend and the elder Brazilian assumed the lead. Berger in third, was being pressured by Prost and Stefan Johannson (Ferrrari). He was, however, able to open a gap to Prost and Johannson during the first few laps and as he began closing on the leaders Senna mounted a counter attack on Piquet.

The pace of the first laps was torrid. Piquet and Senna battling for the lead. Prost closed on Berger and used the power of his TAG Porsche engine to pass the young Austrian on the start-finish straight, and Mansell, charging now, was up to eleventh. But all this was taking it's toll on he Goodyear runners.

Mansell had to pit on lap 13 with heavily blistered tyres and by lap 22 the order became static at the front .... Piquet, Senna, Prost and Berger. Each could not close on the car in front for fear of losing grip in the corners and prematurely wear their tyres out.

Prost was the first of the leaders to pit for new tyres on lap 31, and a lap later, Piquet was in. Senna, now free of Piquet began building a gap to Berger, but there were clear signs of blistering on the left rear tyre of the Lotus. Despite this Senna put in some blindingly fast laps before pitting for tyres on lap 36, and he was able to rejoin in second position. The order now was Berger, Senna, Piquet and Prost. Mansell at this point had clawed his way up to eighth.

1986 Mexican GP - Pace and composure allowed Berger to control the race from the front.

On new tyres now, Senna set a series of fastest laps, but Berger was able to maintain a decent pace, relative to the charging Brazilian and in this way he could control the race from the front. It slowly became clear that Berger could manage the Pirellis far better than his rivals on their Goodyears and it was perhaps possible that he would try to run the race without stopping.

This strategy had its pitfalls, of course. If Berger misjudged his pace, or was pressured into going faster than the Pirellis' could manage then a pitstop late in the race would spell disaster, dropping him down the order with little time to recover. But Gerhard was doing a magnificent job. By lap 44 he had a 25 second lead and was stretching his advantage. Piquet had to pit again for tyres and Senna's pace was dropping now due to tyre degradation. The Brazilian pitted six laps later and Berger's lead grew to 35 seconds over new second place man Prost. But the Frenchman ad well had to soon pit again for tyres.

1986 Mexican GP - Berger rewards Benetton with their first Grand Prix victory.

That is really how the race played out. Berger majestically driving on in a flawless effort, while his rivals could not seem to find any solution to their tyre degradation woes. At the flag it was Berger, 27 seconds, from Prost, Senna, Piquet and Mansell. 

It was an incredibly mature and disciplined drive, and while it is clear that the Pirellis offered Berger a decisive advantage it was the Austrian who managed those tyres and fully maximized that advantage. The Benettons were not the only Pirelli runners in the field, and at the finish, the nearest rival on similar rubber was Philippe Alliot (Ligier) in sixth, a lap down.

Even before his victory in Mexico, Berger's signature was already dry on a Ferrari contract to drive for the Scuderia, alongside Michele Alboreto, in 1987. This clearly illustrated how superbly Gerhard had driven in 1986. In fact, he scored all but two of the Benetton team's points that season, an accomplishment made all the more impressive when you consider that he had less than two years of Formula One experience.

An excellent driver and a terrific personality, it was always wonderful to see Gerhard Berger win. He was the kind of driver that you could not help but cheer for. For me he was one of Grand Prix racing's most interesting and likeable characters.

1986 Hungarian Grand Prix - Hungaroring

August 10, 1986

With ten of the sixteen races done, the 1986 World Championship battle was about to go into its decisive phase in Hungary. Nigel Mansell (Williams) was leading the championship with 51 points. Hot on his heels were Alain Prost (McLaren) with 44, looking to defend his title, Ayrton Senna (Lotus) with 42 and Nelson Piquet (Williams), who was back with the leaders after his victory at Hockenheim, which brought him up to 38 points.

In the first qualifying session, Mansell immediately showed his confidence by driving the fastest lap by far. With a time of 1:30.516, the Briton was nearly a second faster than his teammate Piquet, while qualifying ace Ayrton Senna, who had scored five pole positions in the first ten races of the season, clocked a time 1.7 seconds slower than Mansell. Gerhard Berger (Benetton) set the fourth fastest time in the first session, helped by his Pirelli tyres.

Piquet - Back in the fight for the title.

On Saturday, Senna had sorted out how the track worked, scraping a massive 2.8 seconds off his Friday time to claim pole in 1:29.450. Prost also found his rhythm, improving by over 3 seconds to claim third. Between the two wasn’t Mansell, but Piquet. The Brazilian put his Williams next to Senna with a 1:29.785. Where most drivers found at least one and a half seconds on Saturday, Mansell improved only by half a second, moving him from provisional pole to fourth.

Senna - On pole for the sixth time.

In the race, it was clear, right from the start that this was to be a two man show. The two Brazilians on the front row pulled away, and were only seen again when they showed up in the rear-view mirrors of the drivers they lapped. From the start, even Piquet had trouble keeping up with Senna. The Lotus driver took off with an amazing 1:35 opening lap. Senna managed to create a small gap of about three seconds during the opening laps of the race, but Piquet counter attacked, and after eight laps he was right back under Senna’s gearbox.

For the next four laps, Piquet tried several times to outbrake Senna, but the tight circuit made such a manoeuvre extremely difficult. However, through sheer persistence the Williams driver finally squeezed through on lap twelve, and immediately began striking a gap. While Mansell, Prost and Rosberg didn’t drive badly, the record crowd of 200,000 was in awe with the display the two Brazilians were showing them. In three laps, Piquet increased his lead to five seconds.

Piquet chased Senna down and took the lead before the pitstops.

Then, on lap 18, Senna made a rare mistake, dropping no less than three seconds in one lap. Immediately following this error, the Lotus driver recovered magnificently, driving all out for several laps. He set a blistering pace, while Piquet was suffering from excessive tyre wear. By lap 25 Senna had brought the gap from eight back to three seconds, only to fall back to seven seconds again when Piquet pulled out another fast lap, with his tyres seemingly coming back to him.

After 35 laps, Piquet came in for his pitstop. At that time, his advantage was only five seconds, and so Ayrton Senna easily took over the lead. The young Brazilian then went full throttle until his own pitstop in order to build the maximum benefit from the laps between Piquet’s pitstop and his own. Senna’s plan succeeded perfectly and when his pitstop was completed on lap 42, he came out in the lead with seven seconds advantage. What followed was a frantic battle between the two countrymen on fresh rubber posting nearly identical laptimes for nearly ten consecutive laps.

Senna drove magnificently during the pitstop phase to retake the lead.

By then it became clear that Senna’s car wasn’t 100%. In a period of five laps, Piquet was able to close the gap Senna and began calmly stalking his younger countryman. As lap 53 began, with the Lotus and Williams passing the start-finish line nose to tail, with Piquet perfectly placed in Senna's slipstream. The young Brazilian, despite being in only his third full season of Grand Prix racing, instantly recognized what the wily Piquet was planning and deftly positioned his Lotus in the centre of the racing line to protect his position as best he could. As Piquet went for the inside line, Senna left him room but closed the gap enough to make Piquet's passing attempt as difficult as possible. They both went deep into the braking zone, leaving it all until the last possible second. Piquet reached the corner first, but the inside line that Piquet was on, that Senna pinned him to, was the dirty portion of the track and as Piquet got on the brakes his car immediately began slithering on the edge of adhesion. He could not make the apex of the corner, sliding wide, and this left the door open for Senna to retake the lead. It was riveting stuff from two brilliant racing drivers.

Piquet immediately slotted himself behind Senna once more and calmly took up the chase. In two laps Piquet was again under Senna's gearbox as they went across the start-finish line. The Honda power in the Williams ensured that Piquet quickly reeled in Senna's Lotus. Senna once again expected Piquet to dive for the inside and as before positioned his car in the centre of the racing line. Just as he did so, Piquet dove instead for the outside line. It was a bold move and Senna immediately realized the ruse and attempted to close the gap to the outside line in order to keep Piquet there through the turn. Piquet's bravery and determination, however, was not to be denied and with his wheels millimetres from the grass he went past the Lotus. Again the two daredevils left the braking until the last possible moment, Lotus on the inside, Williams on the outside. Again Piquet teetered on the edge of control, the back end of his car stepping out as he entered the corner, but this time he kept it together, made the apex and left no room for Senna to counter attack. It was an amazing display of car control and a stupefying pass that can surely be considered one of the best ever. In short, it was a work of art. 

Piquet goes around the outside of Senna into Turn 1.

With the job done, Piquet opened a small lead of about four seconds and looked free and clear at last. However, Senna responded yet again and what followed was a stunning race to the flag as the Williams and Lotus raced through the Hungarian hills faster and faster. There was little traffic left, as the number of cars had been reduced to just ten during the race. Each time one of the two leading Brazilians would improve their fastest lap, the other would respond right away with one of their own.

Ten laps from the end, Senna finally got his break as Piquet ran into backmarkers. The Williams driver posted a 1:35 and a 1:36, while Senna was running 1:34s at the time, allowing the Lotus driver to catch up for a grand finale. For the next seven laps there was rarely more than a foot between the two, but Piquet didn’t give Senna a chance to pass. On lap 73 Piquet set the fastest lap of the race with a ripping 1:31.001, two tenths faster than Senna during the previous lap and 1.6 seconds faster than the third fastest driver, Keke Rosberg (McLaren).

On lap 74 the great battle all of a sudden ended in an enormous anti-climax. When Piquet blasted past start-finish, the crowd waited and waited for Senna to show. The black Lotus finally showed, eight seconds behind Piquet’s Williams. As they came around again, Piquet’s victory was clear. The Williams driver had stopped pushing as Senna dropped yet another four seconds. The final lap saw Senna even registering a 1:40 lap as he crawled across the line to claim second. Piquet’s teammate and bitter rival Mansell came third, a lap and 40 seconds behind.

A thrilling display by both, but the wily veteran wins the day.

This was the first of many tough battles between two arch rivals. The rivalry between Piquet and Senna was not a subtle matter. This was Sao Paulo vs Rio de Janeiro, the old fox vs the young gun. Piquet was burning with desire to show the new kid he was still the master, but at the same time he knew that Senna was going to capture his throne as most popular Brazilian driver. This rivalry showed in every inch of the first Hungarian Grand Prix. 

Ayrton Senna, along with Alain Prost, indeed overshadowed their rivals in the Eighties to a great extent. The only man who ever really came close was Piquet, who won three World Championships and 23 Grands Prix. He was a driver full of guile and cunning with a talent that surely places him among the very greatest drivers ever in Formula One.