1989 Italian Grand Prix

Championship standings

Prost leads Senna by 11 points after Spa, where Senna won for the fifth time this season. McLaren’s dominance has been near-total; the only gap has been Mansell’s wins at Brazil and Hungary and Boutsen’s wet-weather win in Canada.

Previous race

At Spa, Senna won for the fifth time in wet conditions reminiscent of his first Belgian Grand Prix victory in 1985. Prost was second, Mansell third — he closed to within two seconds of Senna in his efforts to pass the McLaren. Boutsen finished fourth; it was his 100th Formula One race. Berger spun out on lap 10 for his tenth consecutive retirement of the season.

Between-race developments

Before the Italian Grand Prix, Prost formally announces he has signed with Ferrari for the 1990 season. His departure from McLaren — expected since his announcement at France that he was leaving — is now confirmed.

Prost’s announcement frees Williams to re-sign Riccardo Patrese for 1990. Lotus announces it will use the Lamborghini V12 engine in 1990 and confirms its driver line-up: Derek Warwick and test driver Martin Donnelly. Nelson Piquet confirms he is leaving Lotus at the end of the season, citing his belief that the underdeveloped Lamborghini V12 will not be competitive — a view he traces back to his experience developing the BMW turbo in 1982.

Milestones

Prost starts his 150th Grand Prix at Monza.