1986 Italian Grand Prix

During the second qualifying session at Monza, the Benetton-BMW of Gerhard Berger was recorded as being the fastest car along the start-finish straight, with a top speed of 351.22 km/h (218.24 mph). He was followed by four more BMW-powered cars: teammate Teo Fabi, the Brabhams of Derek Warwick and Riccardo Patrese, and the Arrows of Thierry Boutsen.^[2] The fastest non-BMW powered car was the Williams-Honda of Nigel Mansell, with a top speed 10 km/h (6 mph) slower than that of Berger.

Despite this, Berger could only qualify fourth, while Fabi took his second consecutive pole position. Alain Prost lined up alongside Fabi on the front row, despite being nearly half a second slower in his McLaren-TAG and recording a top speed over 16 km/h (10 mph) slower than Berger's.^[2] Drivers' Championship leader Mansell was third, ahead of Berger, while Brazilian pair Ayrton Senna (Lotus-Renault) and Nelson Piquet (Williams-Honda) made up the third row. The top 10 was completed by Warwick, Keke Rosberg in the second McLaren, Michele Alboreto in the Ferrari and Patrese; Alboreto's position was notable as he had missed the first day of qualifying after injuring his arm in a motorcycle crash.^[3]

The race saw the debut of local driver Alex Caffi, deputising for Allen Berg at Osella, as well as the debut of the French AGS team, whose Motori Moderni-powered JH21C was driven by another local driver, Ivan Capelli. With the number of entries increased to 27 at both this race and the next race in Portugal, FISA decided to allow all the cars to start. Caffi was the beneficiary of this decision, starting 27th behind Capelli and Osella teammate Piercarlo Ghinzani.^[4]

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	19	Teo Fabi	Benetton-BMW	1:26.019	1:24.078
2	1	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	1:26.885	1:24.514	+0.436
3	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	1:26.181	1:24.882	+0.804
4	20	Gerhard Berger	Benetton-BMW	1:25.580	1:24.885	+0.807
5	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault	1:25.363	1:24.916	+0.838
6	6	Nelson Piquet	Williams-Honda	1:26.614	1:25.137	+1.059
7	8	Derek Warwick	Brabham-BMW	7:12.970	1:25.175	+1.097
8	2	Keke Rosberg	McLaren-TAG	1:26.742	1:25.378	+1.300
9	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	no time	1:25.549	+1.471
10	7	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW	1:27.438	1:26.111	+2.033
11	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Renault	1:27.928	1:26.187	+2.109
12	28	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	1:26.517	1:26.422	+2.344
13	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	1:28.051	1:26.754	+2.676
14	26	Philippe Alliot	Ligier-Renault	1:27.287	1:27.269	+3.191
15	16	Patrick Tambay	Lola-Ford	1:29.744	1:27.808	+3.730
16	17	Christian Danner	Arrows-BMW	1:30.397	1:27.923	+3.845
17	11	Johnny Dumfries	Lotus-Renault	1:28.857	1:28.024	+3.946
18	15	Alan Jones	Lola-Ford	7:40.132	1:28.403	+3.965
19	24	Alessandro Nannini	Minardi-Motori Moderni	1:29.239	1:28.690	+4.612
20	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Renault	1:31.266	1:29.125	+5.047
21	23	Andrea de Cesaris	Minardi-Motori Moderni	1:31.375	1:29.561	+5.483
22	14	Jonathan Palmer	Zakspeed	1:32.064	1:29.659	+5.581
23	4	Philippe Streiff	Tyrrell-Renault	1:30.199	1:30.976	+6.121
24	29	Huub Rothengatter	Zakspeed	1:32.726	1:30.904	+6.826
25	31	Ivan Capelli	AGS-Motori Moderni	58:12.143	1:33.844	+9.766
26	21	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	1:36.128	1:36.334	+12.050
27	22	Alex Caffi	Osella-Alfa Romeo	1:36.900	1:38.493	+12.822

Following problems at the start of the formation lap, pole position man Teo Fabi was forced to start from the back of the grid and Alain Prost, alongside him on the front row, had to start from the pit lane in the spare car. At the green light, Gerhard Berger took the lead, but on lap eight lost positions to first Mansell, Piquet, and an on-form Alboreto in the Ferrari. Ayrton Senna was out with a broken gearbox at the start. Alboreto looked to be in challenging the Williams duo for the lead having overtaken Rosberg, Arnoux and Berger before spinning at the exit of the first chicane. Like the British Grand Prix, the race became a close fight between the two Williams drivers, but this time Piquet hunted down his teammate British driver Nigel Mansell to take the victory. Piquet defeated Mansell in a straight fight, leading the Briton home by 9.828 seconds. The Brazilian managed to pass Mansell at the Curva Grande to go on and claim his fourth win of the season. Behind, Fabi and Prost had charged from the rear and by lap 12 were running 8th and 9th. Prost was disqualified for changing cars after the start of the formation lap, which was illegal, but his engine blew up a lap after he was flagged anyway. Johansson charged early in the race, passing Rosberg and Arnoux on lap five to go on to finish third. Berger survived to finish 5th one lap down, while Alan Jones scored the final point in the Haas team's anniversary race having made their F1 debut in Italy in 1985.

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	6	Nelson Piquet	Williams-Honda	51	1:17:42.889	6	9
2	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	51	+ 9.828	3	6
3	28	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	51	+ 22.915	12	4
4	2	Keke Rosberg	McLaren-TAG	51	+ 53.809	8	3
5	20	Gerhard Berger	Benetton-BMW	50	+ 1 lap	4	2
6	15	Alan Jones	Lola-Ford	49	+ 2 laps	18	1
7	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	49	+ 2 laps	13
8	17	Christian Danner	Arrows-BMW	49	+ 2 laps	16
9	4	Philippe Streiff	Tyrrell-Renault	49	+ 2 laps	23
10	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Renault	49	+ 2 laps	20
NC	22	Alex Caffi	Osella-Alfa Romeo	45	+ 6 laps	27
Ret	19	Teo Fabi	Benetton-BMW	44	Puncture	1
Ret	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	33	Engine	9
Ret	23	Andrea de Cesaris	Minardi-Motori Moderni	33	Engine	21
Ret	31	Ivan Capelli	AGS-Motori Moderni	31	Puncture	25
Ret	25	René Arnoux	Ligier-Renault	30	Gearbox	11
Ret	14	Jonathan Palmer	Zakspeed	27	Engine	22
DSQ	1	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	27	Illegal car change	2
Ret	26	Philippe Alliot	Ligier-Renault	22	Engine	14
Ret	11	Johnny Dumfries	Lotus-Renault	18	Gearbox	17
Ret	8	Derek Warwick	Brabham-BMW	16	Spun off	7
Ret	24	Alessandro Nannini	Minardi-Motori Moderni	15	Electrical	19
Ret	21	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	12	Suspension	26
Ret	16	Patrick Tambay	Lola-Ford	2	Accident	15
Ret	7	Riccardo Patrese	Brabham-BMW	2	Accident	10
Ret	29	Huub Rothengatter	Zakspeed	1	Engine	24
Ret	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault	0	Transmission	5
Source:[5]

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1   Nigel Mansell 61 2   Nelson Piquet 56 3   Alain Prost 53 4   Ayrton Senna 48 5   Keke Rosberg 22 Source: [6]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1   Williams-Honda 117 2   McLaren-TAG 75 3   Lotus-Renault 50 4   Ferrari 30 5   Ligier-Renault 28 Source: [6]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.