A championship settled in Japan, a race stopped on the first lap and a wet, time-limited finish in Adelaide, where Senna's hopes ended in a collision with Brundle.
Boutsen took the 1989 Australian Grand Prix at Adelaide on 5 November, the final round, for Williams-Renault. The wet race was stopped after a first-lap collision and Prost refused to restart. Only 70 of 81 laps were covered when the time limit fell.
The 1989 Australian Grand Prix was the sixteenth and final race of the 1989 Formula One World Championship, held at Adelaide on 5 November. The race was run in wet conditions, and it was stopped after a first-lap collision. Alain Prost declined to take the restart in his McLaren-Honda, and only 70 of the scheduled 81 laps were completed before the two-hour time limit. Thierry Boutsen won for Williams-Renault.
What led to the Adelaide race?
The race came two weeks after the Japanese Grand Prix, where Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna had collided in their battle for the lead and the championship with seven laps remaining. Senna was later disqualified for cutting the chicane to return to the track, and that result confirmed Prost as a triple world champion. Senna was unhappy with the sport's governing body and threatened to boycott the event and leave Formula One altogether.
After lengthy talks with his family and McLaren boss Ron Dennis, Senna reluctantly came to Adelaide. He set the pace on the Friday. McLaren were appealing his Japanese disqualification, and if the appeal succeeded and Senna won in Adelaide he could still be declared champion. FISA had also labelled Senna a dangerous driver after a hearing in Paris and given him a six-month suspended sentence.
Prost was determined to finish his last Grand Prix for McLaren on a high note before joining Ferrari. Two drivers also said goodbye to the sport at Adelaide. Piercarlo Ghinzani announced his retirement after 76 races, and he qualified 21st for his last Grand Prix. Rene Arnoux also retired at the age of 41, qualifying 26th for what was his 149th start.
A wet race that began with a first-lap stoppage, a champion who refused the restart and a Boutsen win that settled the result in Adelaide.
How did qualifying set the grid?
Senna set the fastest time on the Saturday, taking pole overall for the race. Prost was second and Pierluigi Martini third, one tenth ahead of Alessandro Nannini in fourth. The two Williams cars were fifth and sixth, and Nigel Mansell seventh.
On the Friday Prost had been fastest ahead of Senna, with Thierry Boutsen less than a tenth of a second behind Senna in third. Martini was fourth in his Pirelli-shod Minardi, and Italians filled fourth to ninth, with Nannini fifth, Patrese sixth, Modena seventh and de Cesaris and Caffi eighth and ninth. Martin Brundle was tenth, and Berger eleventh in his last race for Ferrari before joining McLaren.
Only 24 seconds before the end of the final qualifying session, Eddie Cheever crashed his Arrows heavily at the entrance to the pit straight, which brought out the red flag. Cheever was unharmed. Jonathan Palmer, Luis Perez-Sala and the two Rials of Bertrand Gachot and Pierre-Henri Raphanel failed to qualify.
In pre-qualifying, Nicola Larini was fastest for the third race in succession, and Ghinzani was third fastest in his final Formula One event. Johansson's eighth pre-qualifying failure of the season came in the same session, and Bernd Schneider failed for the fourteenth time in 1989.
Alliot was second fastest in the Larrousse-Lola in pre-qualifying, and JJ Lehto was fourth in the Onyx, edging out Johansson by just under a tenth of a second. Alboreto was sixth in the other Lola, having failed to qualify for any of the last three races. Schneider was seventh and Roberto Moreno eighth in his final appearance for Coloni, with Oscar Larrauri ninth in his last Formula One event for EuroBrun.
Aguri Suzuki was tenth in the Zakspeed, which was leaving Formula One at the end of the year, and Yannick Dalmas was eleventh for AGS. Gabriele Tarquini was twelfth, and Enrico Bertaggia brought up the rear in the other Coloni.
Berger could not improve on his Friday time, because his car suffered an engine failure on track. He used Mansell's race car for his qualifying run, which was halted when its on-board fire extinguisher was triggered. Berger could not use the spare Ferrari, because it reportedly had a development engine that was reserved for Mansell's use.
Why was the start so controversial?
The weather was cool and overcast on the Sunday, with rain forecast for later. After the morning warm-up the rain arrived, and an extra 30-minute session was arranged for teams to set their cars up for a wet race. During that session several drivers aquaplaned off the circuit, including Prost and Berger, and Senna spun completely round at Brewery Bend before continuing undamaged.
An hour before the start the conditions worsened further. Prost, Berger and Piquet told the television audience that the race was too dangerous, and they argued for a delay in the hope that the rain would ease. Senna wanted to start despite the conditions, because the championship was not yet settled and he needed to win to keep his chances. He later privately said that he thought the race was too dangerous, but that he was contracted to race.
The drivers' argument failed and the race went ahead. Senna later said that Prost had done the right thing by not taking the restart, although the protest against starting had failed.
Boutsen had approached Senna while Senna was still in his car, to ask for his view on starting. Senna reportedly thought the race should not go ahead, yet he felt bound by his contract and the title situation.
As the cars waited on the grid, drivers argued over whether the race should be restarted. Berger, Mansell, Patrese, Boutsen, Piquet and Nannini wanted it abandoned, while Martini, Brundle, Alesi, de Cesaris and Caffi argued for a restart. Bernie Ecclestone pressed the organisers to restart and told Barry Sheene that he believed Prost would take the second start. He said he had driven a course car around the circuit and found the conditions had improved, although a slow lap in a road car is not the same as a lap at speed in a Formula One car.
Prost later told reporters that Ecclestone had said the puddles had been cleared from the Brabham Straight. Prost did not believe him, because it was still raining.
How did the race unfold?
The green lights came on before the grid had properly lined up. Prost passed Senna at the start, but Senna braked later into the first corner and retook the lead. On the first lap Lehto crashed just after the first chicane and partly blocked the road, and the race was stopped.
Prost had pitted during the stoppage and withdrew for reasons of safety. He had said before the race that he would start, pit after one lap and retire, and he kept to that. Ron Dennis tried to persuade him otherwise, but he did not contest the restart. Ecclestone also pressed the organisers to restart, and Larini stalled before reaching his grid slot at the second start.
| Finish | Driver | Team | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thierry Boutsen | Williams-Renault | Second wet-weather win of the season |
| 2 | Alessandro Nannini | Benetton-Ford | 28 seconds behind the winner |
| 3 | Riccardo Patrese | Williams-Renault | Third in the other Williams |
| 4 | Satoru Nakajima | Lotus | Fastest lap of the race |
| 5 | Emanuele Pirro | Benetton | Last race for Benetton |
| 6 | Pierluigi Martini | Minardi | Three laps down |
Martini had fishtailed on his Pirelli wets, which were considered not as good as the Goodyear tyres on the cars around him, and Nannini overtook him for third. Eddie Cheever had been slow away on the warm-up lap and was only just coming off the Brabham Straight when the lights went green.
Senna led from the restart and was nearly nine seconds ahead after the first lap, while Martini briefly held second. The Williams pair and Nannini then passed Martini and began to match Senna's pace. Arnoux was the first retirement, after Cheever pushed him into a spin and he was beached on a high kerb.
Berger and Alliot collided at the East Terrace bend, and Derek Warwick spun into the turn seven and eight esses when his throttle stuck open. Within two laps six cars had retired. Both Dallaras spun at Brewery Bend and de Cesaris was beached on a kerb, while Mansell, Nannini, Piquet and Cheever had off-track excursions.
The most serious incident came when Senna ran into the back of Brundle, whom he was lapping along with Piquet. Senna went out with major front suspension damage, and Brundle also retired. Boutsen and Patrese were then running one and two for Williams, with Nannini still third.
Mansell spun at Stag Turn. Piquet ran into the back of Ghinzani's braking Osella at the hairpin by the Brabham Straight, and a rear tyre from that car struck Piquet's helmet, though he was not hurt. Ghinzani limped away from a broken Osella and ended his Grand Prix career with an injured ankle. Eddie Cheever retired on lap 42, in what was his 143rd and last Grand Prix.
Satoru Nakajima set the fastest lap of the race and finished fourth, having made his way through the field after a spin at the chicane. Nannini closed on Boutsen in the middle stages, helped by his team-mate Pirro, who ignored flags telling him he was about to be lapped and held Boutsen up for just over three laps. Boutsen eventually passed Pirro, who then let Nannini through, but Nannini could not respond and Boutsen drew away steadily.
After two hours the race was declared finished, with 70 of the 81 scheduled laps completed. Boutsen won his second wet-weather race of the season, Nannini was second and Patrese third. Gugelmin and Modena finished outside the points.
What did the result mean for the title?
Prost had already been confirmed as champion after the Japanese result, and his refusal to take the restart did not change that. Senna needed to win to keep his title chances alive, and he did not. Patrese said afterwards that he had driven for third place, knowing that Mansell's failure to finish would let him pass Mansell in the championship.
James Hunt, commentating live during the race, praised Nakajima's drive as a star performance and said it was the finest race of his career. Hunt admitted that he had to eat some of the criticism he had made of Nakajima in the past, though he thought it had been justified at the time.
The race was the final Formula One event for Arnoux, Cheever and Ghinzani. It was also the last race entered by Jonathan Palmer, who had failed to qualify, and the final race for the Zakspeed and Rial teams.
