Formula 1

About the season

On 15 May, during a test day at Paul Ricard, the rear wing of Elio de Angelis's Brabham broke off at high speed, sending the car cartwheeling into the barriers and bursting into flames; he died of smoke inhalation because far fewer marshals and medical resources were on hand at the test than during a race weekend. In the tragedy's aftermath, Jean-Marie Balestre and FISA tightened safety requirements for test days as well. At the season-ending Australian Grand Prix, Nigel Mansell's rear tyre exploded at close to 320 km/h on the main straight, ending his title bid on the spot, while teammate Nelson Piquet was also called into the pits as a precaution against the same failure. That dramatic swing handed the lead, and eventually his second consecutive World Championship, to Alain Prost, even though Mansell and Piquet had looked the stronger favourites for most of the season. Alain Prost won the 1986 Drivers' Championship with 72 points (McLaren), 2 points ahead of the runner-up. Williams won the Constructors' Championship with 141 points, 45 points ahead of the runner-up. Across 16 completed races this season, there were 244 retirements. 5 different drivers won a race this season. Nigel Mansell took the most race wins, 5 in total. Piquet won the season-opening race, the Brazilian Grand Prix. The most dominant win of the season came at the Brazilian Grand Prix, with a margin of 34.8 seconds. The closest finish of the season came at the Spanish Grand Prix, with a gap of just 0.014 seconds. The San Marino Grand Prix saw the most retirements of the season, with 19 drivers failing to finish. Danner made the biggest gain of the season at the Austrian Grand Prix, from grid position 22 to finishing 6 (up 16 places). The season's biggest upset win came from Piquet at the Italian Grand Prix, starting from grid position 6. Prost won the Australian Grand Prix, the final race of the season.