History of Ferrari F187 – Formula 1 – Video
Ferrari’s F1 team had been through a rough couple of years by the late 80s. It was down to the F187 Formula 1 car to turn that around.
The Ferrari F1/87 is a Formula One racing car used by the Ferrari team during the 1987 Formula One season. The car was driven by Michele Alboreto (number 27) and Gerhard Berger (number 28) and replaced the Ferrari F1/86 used in 1986.
Former ATS and RAM designer, Austrian Gustav Brunner, designed the all new Ferrari F1/87 with assistance from the teams new Technical Director John Barnard who had joined Ferrari after six highly successful years at McLaren where he was responsible for the McLaren MP4/2 and the turbocharged TAG-Porsche engine which had won the 1984, 1985 and 1986 Drivers’ Championships and the 1984 and 1985 Constructors Championships. Barnard later told that had he been in charge of designing the car from the start (design had started in 1986 while he was still at McLaren), that he would have come up with a different looking car. However, as he did arrive after construction had already started he could not change the design without considerable expense and loss of time.
The F1/87 was much sleeker looking than its predecessor, the Harvey Postlethwaite designed F1/86 despite no reduction in fuel tank size for 1987. It featured a six speed gearbox and an all-new 90° 1.5 litre turbocharged V6 engine called the Tipo 033 which replaced the old 120° V6 Tipo 032 which had been in use since 1981. Power for the new engine, which had to be fitted (as were all turbo engines) with the FIA’s controversial pop-off valves which restricted turbo boost to 4.0 Bar, was rated at approximately 950 bhp (708 kW; 963 PS) for qualifying and 880 bhp (656 kW; 892 PS) for races.
Gerhard Berger scored two victories in the F1/87 at the 1987 Japanese Grand Prix and 1987 Australian Grand Prix and three pole positions. The car demonstrated flashes of its potential early in the season with Alboreto for a short time leading the San Marino Grand Prix. However, reliability issues were a major concern. From the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards, Ferrari looked to have a car as quick as any of their rivals. Berger challenged Mansell for the lead at the Hungarian Grand Prix before being forced to retire. The Austrian also nearly won the Portuguese Grand Prix before spinning and handing McLaren’s Alain Prost his record 28th Grand Prix win, and the Mexican Grand Prix which he was leading before reliability issues forced him out once again.
The season finished on a high with dominating victories for Berger in the final two rounds and Alboreto made it a Ferrari 1-2 in Adelaide after Ayrton Senna’s Lotus-Honda was disqualified for oversized brake ducts. Berger’s wins also gave Ferrari first back to back wins for the first time since the late Gilles Villeneuve had won the Monaco and Spanish Grands Prix (Rounds 6 and 7) in 1981. As a result, Ferrari went into 1988 as one of the favourites for the championship.