#hockenheimring
The 1989 German Grand Prix, otherwise officially known as the LI Mobil 1 Großer Preis von Deutschland, was the ninth round of the 1989 FIA Formula One World Championship, staged at the Hockenheimring in Baden-Württemberg, West Germany, on the 30 July 1989. The race would see Ayrton Senna lead home a dominant one-two for McLaren-Honda, after a gearbox issue for team-mate Alain Prost two laps before finish handed him victory.
The old super fast Hockenheimring was a perfect natural dyno. 1986 turbo cars with unrestricted boost were long considered the most powerful F1 cars ever. But the 1989 naturally aspirated cars came immediately very close to them (lap time-wise). Let’s compare the pole position lap times at Hockenheimring form 1986 to 1991:
1986 1:42.013 (Saturday Q2, Rosberg, Mclaren MP4/2C, TAG-Porsche 1,499 cc V6, turbo) 1,350+ hp at 5.5 bar (unlimited) boost (79.7 psi) during qualifying, 195 litre limit for turbos
1987 1:42.616 (Friday Q1, Mansell, Williams FW11B, Honda RA167-E 1.5 L V6 turbo) turbos had to feature a pop-off valve which restricted boost to 4.0 bar, 195 litre limit for turbos
1988 1:44.596 (Friday Q1, Senna, Mclaren MP4/4, Honda RA168-E, 1.5 L V6 turbo) turbo boost further reduced to only 2.5 bar, 150 litre limit for turbos
19891:42.300 (Friday Q1, Senna, Mclaren MP4/5, Honda RA109-E, 3,490 cc V10), 3.5 litre normally aspirated, turbochargers banned
1990 1:40.198 (Friday Q1, Senna, Mclaren MP4/5B, Honda RA100-E, 3,490 cc V10), 3.5 litre normally aspirated, turbochargers banned
1991 1:37.087 (Saturday Q2, Mansell, Williams FW14, Renault RS3C, 3,493 cc V10), 3.5 litre normally aspirated, turbochargers banned
The speed of development of F1 cars for that period was incredible. In 1992 the layout of the circuit was changed.
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The 1989 German Grand Prix, otherwise officially known as the LI Mobil 1 Großer Preis von Deutschland, was the ninth round of the 1989 FIA Formula One World Championship, staged at the Hockenheimring in Baden-Württemberg, West Germany, on the 30 July 1989. The race would see Ayrton Senna lead home a dominant one-two for McLaren-Honda, after a late gearbox issue for teammate Alain Prost handed him victory.
Race results:
1 Ayrton Senna, McLaren-Honda
2 Alain Prost, McLaren-Honda
3 Nigel Mansell, Ferrari
4 Riccardo Patrese, Williams-Renault
5 Nelson Piquet, Lotus-Judd
6 Derek Warwick, Arrows-Ford
Photo credit: unfortunately I don´t know who took these great-light-and-colour photos on that sunny day at Hockenheimring in 89 but all credit to the person behind the camera.
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