1987 Japanese Grand Prix

Championship standings

Nelson Piquet leads Nigel Mansell by 12 points with two races remaining. Piquet needs only to outscore Mansell by one point to secure the title.

Previous race

The Mexican Grand Prix was divided into two heats after Derek Warwick suffered a massive accident at the high-speed Peraltada corner on lap 31 — the rear suspension of his Arrows had been weakened when Nakajima ran into the back of the car earlier in the race. Mansell won on aggregate. Piquet collided with Prost at the first corner, dropping to the back, but recovered to second — sufficient to maintain his championship lead.

Between-race developments

AGS has replaced Pascal Fabre with Roberto Moreno for the final two rounds.

Entrants

Nigel Mansell crashed heavily at the fast Snake section during Friday qualifying while attempting to better Piquet’s time. The accident left him with severe bruising to his backbone, re-triggering an old injury. After spending Friday night in hospital, Mansell flew back to Europe on Saturday evening and will take no further part in the season. Nelson Piquet is the 1987 World Champion before Sunday’s race begins.

Circuit

Formula One returns to Japan for the first time since James Hunt won at Fuji in 1977. The race is held at the Honda-owned Suzuka Circuit near Nagoya — a twisting, technically demanding layout that began life as a test track for Honda motorcycles and automobiles. Four of the cars entered are powered by Honda engines. Soichiro Honda told his racing engineers ahead of the weekend: “We have to win. And we have to keep winning.”