Race
The race was delayed for some time due to the wet conditions. At the start, Senna led the way from team-mate Prost and Berger in the Ferrari. Nigel Mansell managed to pass both Williams on the grass on the run to La Source hairpin to claim fourth position by the first corner. Early on, Berger pressured Prost but was unable find a way through. Senna comfortably led from start to finish in conditions similar to those in which he won his first Belgian Grand Prix in 1985. Behind him, Berger made his tenth consecutive retirement of the season, leaving Prost to fend off a charging Nigel Mansell who, in his efforts to pass the McLaren, made a number of unorthodox moves at the exit of La Source hairpin in an attempt to gain a better run at the McLaren through Eau Rouge and on to the long up hill straight. Senna eased up in the last few laps to allow Mansell and Prost to finish within a few seconds of the Brazilian. Boutsen finished fourth in his 100th race. Johnny Herbert, in his first race for Tyrrell, replacing Jean Alesi who was busy competing in the F3000 championship, said during the BBC commentary that in order to see the car in front it was necessary to press the helmet visor against the lens of the rear-facing visibility light from the car in front.
Read more about this topic: 1989 Belgian Grand Prix
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“I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat.”
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