Brazilian Grand Prix : Prost Opens Season With Easy Win

With a victory margin of 38 seconds, Frenchman Alain Prost dominated the opening race of the 1987 Formula One season here Sunday, notching nine points toward a third straight world title.

Another two-time world champion, Nelson Piquet of Brazil, finished second. Piquet was unable to threaten the lead that Prost held for the last 40 of 61 laps around Rio’s Jacarepagua course.

Sweden’s Stefan Johansson, Prost’s partner on the McLaren team, came in third, making it a banner day for the British-built cars with Porsche/TAG engines.

Prost, 32, began the race in the No. 5 position. Unerringly, he worked his way into the lead by the 15th lap.

His first pit stop put him back to sixth place, but he was again in first five laps later. No one passed him after that, even during his second stop for tires.

It was the 26th Grand Prix victory for Prost, putting him within one race of the record compiled by Jackie Stewart.

It was also Prost’s fourth win in the Brazilian Grand Prix. He and Piquet have monopolized the Brazilian crown since 1982.

Prost won it that year, Piquet won it in 1983, Prost in 1984 and 1985, and Piquet in 1986. Piquet won the Formula One world championship in 1981 and 1983.

Piquet started Sunday’s race in the No. 2 front-row position, next to his Williams teammate Nigel Mansell of England in the pole position. Mansell finished the race in sixth place.

In the 1986 world championship competition, Mansell finished second behind Prost, and Piquet finished third.

In the time trials last week for starting positions in the Brazil Grand Prix, many drivers complained about valves required this year for the first time to limit the pressure of engine turbochargers. After adjustments in the valves, they raised fewer complaints in Sunday’s race.

Last week, drivers also complained about a new entry-fee structure, temporarily refusing to pay. After organizers threatened to exclude them from the Brazilian Grand Prix and from the 16-race world championship series, the drivers paid.

Twenty-two drivers started Sunday’s race. Brazilian Ayrton Senna dropped out in the 51st lap when the Honda turbo engine in his British-built Lotus car failed.

Senna said a new computerized suspension system in the Lotus was not working well, causing undue wear on his tires. After leading the race for seven early laps, he apparently overworked the engine trying to catch up again after pit stops to change tires.