Berger Survives Mexico, Wins World Title

Qualifying:

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Report:

Formula One knows its share of underdog victories: Jack Brabham stole the 1955 F1 World Championship at Monza. It sure is fitting that a track quite similar to Monza in its shape was able to provide a similar finish. After qualifying had Gerhard Berger the best starting position for the race. However, with him being eight points behind Brendon Cassidy, he always needed a miracle.

Cassidy gave Berger the divine gift of idiocy: a driving error very early in the race took Williams out of contention. Ayrton Senna’s retirement gave Gerhard Berger the lead. Still, the world championship was far away for the Austrian. Jéan-Étienne Voeckler was on his way to winning the championship for himself and McLaren-TAG in Porsche’s final race.

Then it was JEV who decided to lose the world title. An avoidable mistake send him into the gravel trap and forced him to give up this race. However, despite all these gifts, Berger nearly lost the race himself. A spin on the final lap, after riding a kerb too hard, nearly lost him the lead. He survived to win by less than two seconds and take the 1987 F1 World Championship.

Behind him, Alain Prost took second to give Ferrari a good result to get ready for 1988. Jonathan Palmer got third, a podium finish that could keep his Formula One career alive. With only six cars finishing, the two Marchs were able to profit from their reliability to grab four points. Philippe Alliot got fifth place to conclude a surprisingly great debut season for Larrousse.

Race:

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Fastest Lap:

Alain Prost – 1:18.986

Infinite Improbability Drive Of The Race:

Jonathan Palmer – Secures Tyrrell an extremely valueable podium finish.

Reject Of The Race:

Brendon Cassidy – Totally avoidable error costs him the world championship so early in the race.