Formula 1 historical archive

Alain Prost won the 1988 French Grand Prix

Alain Prost won the 1988 French Grand Prix for McLaren, ahead of Ayrton Senna and Michele Alboreto at Circuit Paul Ricard.

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

Race recap

Winner
Alain Prost
Team
McLaren
Top listed
Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, and Michele Alboreto
Race date
July 3, 1988
Pole
Alain Prost
Fastest lap
Alain Prost
Classified drivers
31
Circuit
Circuit Paul Ricard

The decisive result

Alain Prost finished first for McLaren. Ayrton Senna is listed 2 for McLaren, with Michele Alboreto 3 for Ferrari.

Grid to finish

Maurício Gugelmin from P16 to P8 (+8), Pierluigi Martini from P22 to P15 (+7), and Yannick Dalmas from P19 to P13 (+6) recorded the largest positive grid-to-finish changes in the classification. Alain Prost started from the listed P1 grid position.

Status and fastest lap

The classification lists 6 +1 lap, 4 +2 laps, 3 DNQ, 3 Finished, and 2 +3 laps. Alain Prost holds the fastest-lap entry at 1:11.737 on lap 45. 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
1Alain ProstMcLaren1:37:37.3289
2Ayrton SennaMcLaren1:38:09.0806
3Michele AlboretoFerrari1:38:43.8334
4Gerhard BergerFerrari+1 lap3
5Nelson PiquetTeam Lotus+1 lap2
6Alessandro NanniniBenetton+1 lap1
7Satoru NakajimaTeam Lotus+1 lap0
8Maurício GugelminMarch+1 lap0
9Ivan CapelliMarch+1 lap0
10Andrea de CesarisRial+2 laps0
11Eddie CheeverArrows+2 laps0
12Alex CaffiDallara+2 laps0
13Yannick DalmasLola+2 laps0
14Stefano ModenaEuroBrun+3 laps0
15Pierluigi MartiniMinardi+3 laps0
NCLuis Pérez-SalaMinardi+10 laps0
DNFOscar LarrauriEuroBrunClutch0
DNFNicola LariniOsellaHalfshaft0
DNFBernd SchneiderZakspeedGearbox0
DNFNigel MansellWilliamsSuspension0