Formula 1 1988 Season Updated May 2026

| Race | Key Moment | | :--- | :--- | | | Senna wins his home GP. Prost finishes 2nd. The tone is set. | | Monaco (Rd. 3) | Senna dominates qualifying by 1.4 seconds. He crashes while leading by 50 seconds, handing the win to Prost. | | France (Rd. 7) | Prost wins his home GP. | | Britain (Rd. 8) | Senna passes Prost on track. Prost famously waves his finger at Senna afterward—a sign of growing tension. | | Portugal (Rd. 13) | Senna pushes Prost toward the pit wall at 180 mph. Prost later said, "He tried to kill me." The rivalry turned toxic. | | Japan (Rd. 15) | Prost stalls on the grid. Senna wins the race, clinching the title with one round to spare. | The Final Championship Standings In the 1988 points system, only your 11 best results counted (a "drop score" rule). Drivers' Championship | Position | Driver | Team | Points (Best 11) | Wins | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | 1 | Ayrton Senna | McLaren-Honda | 90 | 8 | | 2 | Alain Prost | McLaren-Honda | 87 | 7 | | 3 | Gerhard Berger | Ferrari | 41 | 1 | | 4 | Thierry Boutsen | Benetton-Ford | 16 | 0 | | 5 | Michele Alboreto | Ferrari | 13 | 0 | Key Fact: Senna and Prost combined won 15 of 16 races. Senna won more races (8), but Prost actually scored more total points (105 vs 94) before the "drop score" rule was applied. The rule favored drivers with more wins, handing Senna the title. Constructors' Championship | Position | Team | Points | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | 1 | McLaren-Honda | 199 | | 2 | Ferrari | 65 | | 3 | Benetton-Ford | 39 | | 4 | Lotus-Honda | 23 | | 5 | Arrows-Megatron | 20 |