1987 Italian Grand Prix

Championship standings

Piquet’s championship lead continues to grow after back-to-back wins at Hungary and a Mansell victory at Austria — where Piquet still finished second. Mansell closed the gap in Austria, but Piquet remains clearly ahead in the standings with four races remaining.

Previous race

At the Österreichring, the race required three attempts to start — a first-start accident involving Martin Brundle’s Zakspeed, then a second more severe pile-up when Mansell crawled away with clutch problems and the narrow front straight compacted the field behind him, causing a multi-car collision. Mansell won once racing was finally underway, with Piquet second. Senna, Prost and Alboreto all started from the pitlane after various problems and charges through from the back.

Between-race developments

Honda has announced it will not supply Williams with engines in 1988, despite having one year remaining on its contract. Honda has decided to move to McLaren. This raises questions about whether Honda will treat both Williams drivers equally in the remaining races — Piquet has already signed for Lotus-Honda for 1988, while Mansell will not have a Honda-powered car next season.

Entrants

Scuderia Coloni makes their Formula One debut, entering a single car for Nicola Larini. Osella expands to two cars, with Swiss driver Franco Forini joining Alex Caffi. The expanded entry means that for the first time in 1987, there will be drivers who fail to qualify.

Car upgrades

Williams debuts their own active suspension system — named “Williams Reactive Ride” — with Piquet choosing to race it. Mansell opts for the conventional passive car, having had difficult experiences with Lotus active suspension in 1982–83. Piquet completed a full race-distance test at Imola before committing to the system.