1989 Portuguese Grand Prix

Championship standings

Prost leads Senna by 20 points with four races remaining after his Italian Grand Prix victory. However, since only the best eleven results count, Prost has now scored major points in eleven races and will begin dropping scores — meaning Senna can still score from all four remaining rounds while Prost cannot add many more. Senna could conceivably score a maximum of 36 points and win the championship if he won the last four rounds.

McLaren-Honda clinched the Constructors’ Championship at Monza with four races to spare.

Previous race

At Monza, Prost won his first Italian Grand Prix since 1985 after Senna’s Honda V10 blew apart spectacularly at the Parabolica with nine laps remaining, dumping oil on his rear tyres and sending him into a gentle spin. Prost, who had been vocal throughout the weekend about his engine being down on power compared to Senna’s, still managed to set the fastest lap. Berger recorded his first finish of the season with second place — ending ten consecutive retirements. Boutsen was third.

Having announced he was leaving for Ferrari, Prost dropped his winner’s trophy from the podium into the Tifosi crowd. Team boss Ron Dennis hurled his own trophy at his driver’s feet and stormed off, unhappy at Prost giving away property that contractually belonged to the team.

Between-race developments

Williams introduces the new FW13 at Estoril, replacing the FW12C that has been used since the opening race.

Bertrand Gachot has been fired from Onyx after openly criticising the team; Finnish driver JJ Lehto replaces him for Portugal and beyond. Gachot had been a reliable pre-qualifier throughout the season.