Formula 1 historical archive

Ayrton Senna won the 1988 Belgian Grand Prix

Ayrton Senna won the 1988 Belgian Grand Prix for McLaren, ahead of Alain Prost and Ivan Capelli at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

Browse the full classification, related season, driver, team, circuit, and championship history.

Race recap

Winner
Ayrton Senna
Team
McLaren
Top listed
Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, and Ivan Capelli
Race date
August 28, 1988
Pole
Ayrton Senna
Fastest lap
Gerhard Berger
Classified drivers
31
Circuit
Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

The decisive result

Ayrton Senna finished first for McLaren. Alain Prost is listed 2 for McLaren, with Ivan Capelli 3 for March.

Grid to finish

Bernd Schneider from P25 to P13 (+12), Ivan Capelli from P14 to P3 (+11), and Stefan Johansson from P20 to P11 (+9) recorded the largest positive grid-to-finish changes in the classification. Ayrton Senna started from the listed P1 grid position.

Status and fastest lap

The classification lists 5 +1 lap, 5 Engine, 5 Finished, 4 DNQ, and 2 Collision. Gerhard Berger holds the fastest-lap entry at 2:00.772 on lap 10. It records the result without speculating about incidents or strategy.

This summary sticks to the classification and does not speculate about incidents, strategy, weather, or causes. Source: F1DB (CC BY 4.0) · updated Jul 26, 2026.

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Race classification
PosDriverConstructorTime / statusPoints
1Ayrton SennaMcLaren1:28:00.5499
2Alain ProstMcLaren1:28:31.0196
3Ivan CapelliMarch1:29:16.3174
4Nelson PiquetTeam Lotus1:29:24.1773
5Derek WarwickArrows1:29:25.9042
6Eddie CheeverArrows+1 lap1
7Martin BrundleWilliams+1 lap0
8Alex CaffiDallara+1 lap0
9Philippe AlliotLola+1 lap0
10Philippe StreiffAGS+1 lap0
11Stefan JohanssonLigierEngine0
12Jonathan PalmerTyrrellThrottle0
13Bernd SchneiderZakspeedGearbox0
NCGabriele TarquiniColoni+7 laps0
DNFMichele AlboretoFerrariEngine0
DNFRiccardo PatreseWilliamsEngine0
DNFMaurício GugelminMarchSpun off0
DNFPiercarlo GhinzaniZakspeedOil leak0
DNFSatoru NakajimaTeam LotusEngine0
DNFNicola LariniOsellaFuel system0