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After setting the pace in the latter half of the previous season, Alan Jones and his no-nonsense driving style secured the World Championship and brought Williams their first constructors' title. The committed Australian took five wins and his new team mate Carlos Reutemann added another in the updated FW7B. The layout of the Cosworth engine was ideally suited to the ground effect cars of the day and Nelson Piquet used it to good use in his Brabham BT49 taking three wins on his way to second spot in the championship. A third Cosworth powered car helped Ligier to record a win each for Laffite and Pironi as the French equipe took second spot in the constructor's rankings. Ferrari had suddenly become uncompetitive with Villeneuve struggling to amass but six points all season. For Jody Scheckter it was even worse. The reigning champion finished a lowly nineteenth in the standings and even failed to qualify for the Canadian Grand Prix before hanging up his racing helmet for good. Another champion, Emerson Fittipaldi retired from driving duties planning henceforth to oversee his team's fortunes from the pit wall. He finished 15th in the final points table tied on five points with a jockey-sized new boy by the name of Alain Prost�
The racing took second place to politics as the sport threatened to tear itself apart. Only after one race (South Africa), had been stripped of championship status and another, (San Marino) contested by FISA aligned teams only, did FISA (the governing body) and FOCA (the teams) agree an uneasy compromise in the form of the Concorde Agreement. New regulations stipulated that sliding skirts where to be banned and replaced by fixed skirts where to be a minimum of 60mm above the track at all times. It was not long before the designers circumvented this rule producing cars which lowered themselves onto the road surface once in motion and re-introducing true ground-effect. When the racing finally took precedence, Nelson Piquet took the first of his three World Championships by just a single point from Carlos Reutemann. In fact the season was closely fought, boasting seven different winners from the fifteen-race calendar. Piquet took three wins and his closest title rivals were Reutemann, Jones, Lafitte and Prost. In fact, these five drivers were eventually only separated by seven points in the final standings. John Watson (Silverstone) and GillesVillenueve (Monaco and Spain) completed the winning roster. Alan Jones went out at the top, retiring after winning the season's finale in Las Vegas. (The Aussie would return with less success in the future).
Niki Lauda made a shock comeback with McLaren and was instrumental in organising a driver's strike over licence issues at the start of the year. The cars were becoming ever more difficult to handle, with almost no suspension movement and drivers being subjected to massive G-forces during cornering. Tragedy was to follow when Gilles Villeneuve was killed in a practice accident at Zolder, and another devastating accident at the start of the Canadian Grand Prix killed Italian newcomer Ricardo Paletti. Another terrible crash was to shape the course of the season after Ferrari's Didier Pironi suffered appalling foot injuries in a practice accident at Hockenheim. Pironi had looked the favourite to land the Championship crown, but the title chase was blown wide open and Keke Rosberg took his chance to overhaul the luckless Frenchman. By way of compensation, Patrick Tambay and Mario Andretti stepped into the breach to ensure that Ferrari took the Constructor's crown. In fact there were eleven different winners in an extraordinary season. Pointing to the future, the rise of the turbo finally threatened to overwhelm the normally aspirated Cosworth V8 and the innovative Brabham team introduced a pitstop during the race in order to take on fuel and replace worn tyres.
Mercifully, it was a season devoid of political strife and with the flat-bottomed cars bringing the end of the ground-force era. With cornering speeds reduced there were no major accidents. It was the last hurrah for Ford Cosworth DFV engine, which achieved its final two wins at Detroit and Monaco. In fact the year provided eight different winners and it was Brabham's Nelson Piquet, now powered by a BMW turbo who edged out the challenge from Renault's Prost and Arnoux. Other winners were Rosberg, Alboreto, Tambay, Watson and Patrese. Having failed to win the title for Renault, the tensions at Viry Chatillon weighed heavily on Prost who was unfairly criticized for his failure to take the driver's crown. After the season finished the disaffected Frenchman decamped to McLaren who could not believe their good fortune. A great track in the shape of Spa-Francorchamps returned to the schedule, albeit in truncated form. Nonetheless it was still a magnificent challenge for the modern-day man and machine.
Pitstops for refuelling were banned and race fuel allowance was limited to 220 litres on safety grounds. As the season progressed, turbo engines monopolised the grid. Only Tyrrell soldiered on, but they were to be excluded from the championship in mid-season after being found guilty of running an underweight car. McLaren had not only the driver talents of Niki Lauda and Alain Prost, but also the potent TAG-Porsche V6 turbo in their armoury. The tousle-haired Frenchman scored seven wins to his team mates five, but it was the wily Austrian who emerged as Champion by the slenderest of possible margins, of just half a point. Only Keke Rosberg, Nelson Piquet and Michele Alboreto spoilt the McLaren party, but there was plenty of new talent bubbling under in the form of three very exciting newcomers in the shape of Ayrton Senna (Toleman), Martin Brundle and Stefan Bellof (both Tyrrell). Tyre manufacturer Michelin withdrew from competition.
The cost of Grand Prix racing escalated once more, as engineers coaxed an incredible 1100bhp for qualifying and 900bhp in race trim for their turbocharged missiles. Although Alain Prost deservedly won his first World Championship taking five wins, he had to withstand challenges from Alboreto with the Ferrari and the Williams pair of Rosberg and Mansell whose Williams-Hondas finished the year as the pacesetters. It was a breakthrough year for Ayrton Senna who had been signed up by Lotus and he showed his incredible skill in wet-weather with a brilliant win in Portugal. Niki Lauda retired again (this time there would be no comeback) and his final year was highlighted by a win in the Dutch Grand Prix. Renault, after a couple of lacklustre years, pulled out as an entrant but would continue to provide their power plants to Lotus and Tyrrell, whilst the venerable Cosworth V8 was finally pensioned off having scored an incredible total of 155 Grand Prix wins. Germany suffered a terrible blow with the loss of both Stefan Beloff and Manfred Winkelhock who were both killed in sports car racing accidents.
Turbocharged cars were restricted to 195 litres of fuel and it was the Williams-Hondas of Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet who dominated, sharing nine victories between them. However the lack of team orders by Williams gave Alain Prost the opportunity to snatch the title for the second successive year in Adelaide. The fastest man was by general consensus, Ayrton Senna, but his Lotus was less fuel-efficient than both the McLaren and Williams cars leaving the frustrated Brazilian with little option but to ease back during the races in order to finish. Nonetheless he scored memorable victories in Jerez and Detroit. The up-and-coming Gerhard Berger scored a maiden win for both Benetton and himself in Mexico City where his Pirelli tyres worked to perfection. Former champion Keke Rosberg was largely in the shadow of Alain Prost and retired from Formula 1 after just one year at McLaren. The season was overshadowed by the death of the popular Elio de Angelis who was killed during testing at Paul Ricard.
Turbo power was limited to 4.0 bar by means compulsory pop-off valves removing qualifying engines and Goodyear were once more left as the sole tyre supplier after Pirelli's withdrawal which meant that super-soft tyres were a thing of the past as well. Paving the way for the 1989 season, a newly created 3.5 litre normally aspirated class was introduced and Tyrrell, March, Lola and AGS all contended this division, which was won by Jonathan Palmer. In the big league it was once more a Williams-Honda battle between the consistent Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell with the Brazilian taking the honours despite scoring only three wins against his team mate's six. In an effort to gain an edge, Lotus introduced a car with active suspension that helped Ayrton Senna to wins at Monaco and Detroit. The gloss was taken off Williams year when it lost its Honda engine deal to McLaren and it was the end of the road for the Brabham team under Bernie Ecclestone's control as he chose to concentrate on running the commercial aspects of the sport henceforth.
The last year of the turbos, which were further regulated to a lower 2.5 bar boost pressure and fuel restricted to 150 litres in an effort to even the playing field with the normally-aspirated machines. Ayrton Senna had been lured to McLaren to join Alain Prost in a Marlboro McLaren Honda super team. The red and white cars proceeded to decimate the opposition winning all but one of the 16 championship rounds and amassing 199 constructor points. The Brazilian scored eight wins to the Frenchman's seven and took the title by a mere three points. Their dominance was such that Ferrari's Gerhard Berger was the only non-McLaren winner with a somewhat lucky, triumph at Monza. Nonetheless it was an emotional win for the Tifosi, as the great Enzo Ferrari had just passed away at the age of 90. Grids were growing with newcomers Rial, Dallara, Coloni and Eurobrun boosting the field to the extent that pre-qualifying had to be introduced.
The spectacular turbos were consigned to history and 3.5 litre atmospheric engines were now compulsory. They ranged from V8 to V12 configurations, but Honda remained top of the pile with their V10. There were new engines from Lamborghini and Yamaha and Pirelli returned to add their tyres to the mix. Senna and Prost continued their rivalry which was only resolved at the final race in Japan when the pair collided at the Suzuka chicane. This time the title went to Prost who had already decided to leave the far from harmonious surroundings at McLaren for the chance to stamp his authority on Ferrari. The Prancing Horse had been revived by Nigel Mansell who scored a dramatic opening season win in Brazil and followed it up with a superb victory in Hungary. Williams, now back at the sharp end of the grid having secured a works engine deal with Renault, saw Thierry Boutsen take two wins, whilst Gerhard Berger scored his final win for Ferrari before a switch to McLaren. The final winner of the year was the charming Alessandro Nannini who benefited from the exclusion of Senna in Japan. There were a record number of 20 teams entered, and pre-qualifying meant early morning starts for some of the newcomers just to get the opportunity to take part in official practice.
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