The 1986 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 26 October 1986 at the Adelaide Street Circuit, Adelaide, Australia. It was the last of 16 races in the 1986 Formula One season. The event itself was remembered as the race that decided the Drivers' Championship for that season, particularly for it being a three-way tussle for the title and the dramatic manner in which it was settled. The drivers in contention for the title were; Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet, both of whom were racing for the Williams-Honda team, and McLaren's Alain Prost.
Mansell took pole position for the race, but this advantage was cancelled out following a poor start off the grid, with teammate Piquet, Ayrton Senna and Keke Rosberg all overtaking him and demoting the Brit down to fourth by the end of the first lap.
A few laps into the race, Finland's Keke Rosberg, in his final Grand Prix, took the lead from Piquet. However, the Finn retired with a tyre puncture on lap 63, handing the lead back to Piquet and elevating Mansell into second place, which would have been sufficient for the Englishman to secure the championship. One lap later, Mansell's race ended as his left-rear tyre exploded on the main straight with only 19 laps remaining. The title was then between Piquet and Prost with the Frenchman needing to finish ahead of the Brazilian if he wanted to successfully defend his title. Following the tyre failures of Rosberg and Mansell, the Williams team called Piquet in for a pre-cautionary stop and he came out of the pits 15 seconds behind Prost. Piquet made a late charge to close the gap to 4.2 seconds but Prost took victory to win his second of four titles.
It was not until the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix that there were again three possible drivers' title contenders entering the final race of the season.
Read more about 1986 Australian Grand Prix: Background, Race Summary, Lap Leaders, Standings After Grand Prix
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