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Championship Watch

1988 Standings

Ayrton Senna won the 1988 Drivers' Championship for McLaren. Final 1988 standings — every driver and constructor ranked by points and wins.

Driver Leader
Ayrton Senna
90 pts · McLaren
Title Gap
3 pts
Ayrton Senna over Alain Prost
Constructors
McLaren
199 pts · gap 134
Most Wins
8
Ayrton Senna
Control Tower
Drivers Championship
Season
1988 Season Report

Ayrton Senna won the 1988 Formula 1 World Drivers' Championship driving for McLaren, finishing on 90 points, 3 clear of Alain Prost. Senna won 8 races that season.

McLaren took the Constructors' Championship with 199 points, 134 ahead of Ferrari.

3 different drivers won a Grand Prix, and 17 drivers scored championship points.

Championships in this era were decided on a "best results" basis — drivers counted only their highest-scoring finishes towards the title, so season totals can differ from the sum of every race result. Dropped scores were abolished from 1991.

Standings compiled from the Ergast/Jolpica Formula 1 results archive. Spotted an error? Tell us.

Live Table

1988 Driver Order

Pos
Driver
Form
Points
Wins
P1
Ayrton Senna
McLaren
Championship Pace100%
Championship Leader
90
Points
8
Wins
P2
Alain Prost
McLaren
Championship Pace97%
3 pts off the lead.
87
Points
7
Wins
P3
Gerhard Berger
Ferrari
Championship Pace46%
49 pts off the lead.
41
Points
1
Wins
P4
Thierry Boutsen
Benetton
Championship Pace30%
63 pts off the lead.
27
Points
0
Wins
P5
Michele Alboreto
Ferrari
Championship Pace27%
66 pts off the lead.
24
Points
0
Wins
P6
Nelson Piquet
Team Lotus
Championship Pace24%
68 pts off the lead.
22
Points
0
Wins
P7
Ivan Capelli
March
Championship Pace19%
73 pts off the lead.
17
Points
0
Wins
P8
Derek Warwick
Arrows
Championship Pace19%
73 pts off the lead.
17
Points
0
Wins
P9
Nigel Mansell
Williams
Championship Pace13%
78 pts off the lead.
12
Points
0
Wins
P10
Alessandro Nannini
Benetton
Championship Pace13%
78 pts off the lead.
12
Points
0
Wins
P11
Riccardo Patrese
Williams
Championship Pace9%
82 pts off the lead.
8
Points
0
Wins
P12
Eddie Cheever
Arrows
Championship Pace7%
84 pts off the lead.
6
Points
0
Wins
P13
Maurício Gugelmin
March
Championship Pace6%
85 pts off the lead.
5
Points
0
Wins
P14
Jonathan Palmer
Tyrrell
Championship Pace6%
85 pts off the lead.
5
Points
0
Wins
P15
Andrea de Cesaris
Rial
Championship Pace3%
87 pts off the lead.
3
Points
0
Wins
P16
Satoru Nakajima
Team Lotus
Championship Pace1%
89 pts off the lead.
1
Points
0
Wins
P17
Pierluigi Martini
Minardi
Championship Pace1%
89 pts off the lead.
1
Points
0
Wins
P18
Yannick Dalmas
Larrousse
Championship Pace0%
90 pts off the lead.
0
Points
0
Wins
P19
Alex Caffi
Dallara
Championship Pace0%
90 pts off the lead.
0
Points
0
Wins
P20
Martin Brundle
Williams
Championship Pace0%
90 pts off the lead.
0
Points
0
Wins
P21
Philippe Streiff
AGS
Championship Pace0%
90 pts off the lead.
0
Points
0
Wins
P22
Luis Pérez-Sala
Minardi
Championship Pace0%
90 pts off the lead.
0
Points
0
Wins
P23
Gabriele Tarquini
Coloni
Championship Pace0%
90 pts off the lead.
0
Points
0
Wins
P24
Philippe Alliot
Larrousse
Championship Pace0%
90 pts off the lead.
0
Points
0
Wins
P25
Stefan Johansson
Ligier
Championship Pace0%
90 pts off the lead.
0
Points
0
Wins
P26
Julian Bailey
Tyrrell
Championship Pace0%
90 pts off the lead.
0
Points
0
Wins
P27
Nicola Larini
Osella
Championship Pace0%
90 pts off the lead.
0
Points
0
Wins
P28
René Arnoux
Ligier
Championship Pace0%
90 pts off the lead.
0
Points
0
Wins
P29
Stefano Modena
Euro Brun
Championship Pace0%
90 pts off the lead.
0
Points
0
Wins
P30
Jean-Louis Schlesser
Williams
Championship Pace0%
90 pts off the lead.
0
Points
0
Wins
About the 1988 championships · How F1 points work

Ayrton Senna leads the 1988 Drivers Championship with 90 points, holding a 3-point advantage over Alain Prost (McLaren). A gap of fewer than 25 points — one race win — means the title race remains mathematically open every single weekend.

In the 1988 Constructors Championship, McLaren leads with 199 points — a 134-point margin over Ferrari. The Constructors title is decided by the combined points haul of a team's two drivers from every race, making car reliability, pit stop execution, and strategic pairing as important as raw pace.

The current FIA points system awards points to the top ten finishers in every Grand Prix: 25–18–15–12–10–8–6–4–2–1. An additional point goes to the driver who sets the fastest lap of the race, provided they finish inside the top ten. Sprint events — held on Saturday at select rounds — offer a separate points structure: 8–7–6–5–4–3–2–1 for the top eight finishers, counting toward both championships independently of the main race result.

A driver must hold an FIA Super Licence and score at least one championship point to register on the standings. DNFs score zero, but a classified finish — completing at least 90% of the race distance — earns the driver’s finishing position even without a points reward.