Race Summary
Senna led from the start, with Berger overtaking Prost when the Frenchman missed a gearchange. The first corner at St.Devote saw a variety of accidents: Alex Caffi in his new Dallara hit the wall, AGS's Philippe Streiff retired from a stunning 12th place on the grid when an accelerator cable broke, and Nelson Piquet retired after colliding with Eddie Cheever.
The running order of Senna-Berger-Prost-Mansell-Alboreto-Nannini was maintained until lap 33 when Alboreto took Mansell off at the Swimming Pool with a late passing manoeuvre. On lap 51, there were some dramatic moments when, at the Mirabeau turn, Philippe Alliot in the Lola had a violent collision with Riccardo Patrese's Williams. By lap 54 Prost had finally got past Berger on the run to the first corner and took second place, some 50 seconds behind Senna. He then started trading fastest laps with Senna, who maintained the gap around 50 seconds. With Prost apparently settling for the second place and both McLarens slowing down the pace, Senna spun into the barrier at Portier on lap 65. Immediately after the crash, Senna went to his home at Monaco to contemplate losing a race he had dominated from the first time he took to the track for free practice on Thursday morning. The race was won, for the 4th time in 5 years, by Prost.
The Ferraris took 2nd and 3rd with Derek Warwick in the Arrows-Megatron putting in a fine drive to finish 4th after a race-long battle with the Tyrrell-Ford of Jonathan Palmer. Patrese recovered from his collision to gain the final point by passing the other Lola of Yannick Dalmas on the last lap. Patrese's single point was also the first ever World Championship point scored by a Judd powered car.
Years later, former McLaren Team Coordinator Jo Ramirez revealed that Senna's crash had been caused by the steering wheel coming out of his hands when he was driving to the absolute limit to beat Prost.
Read more about this topic: 1988 Monaco Grand Prix
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