1986 German Grand Prix

In the run-up to the race, Keke Rosberg announced that he would be retiring from Formula One at the end of the season, while Lotus announced that they would be using Honda engines in 1987, following Renault's withdrawal from the sport, with Japanese driver Satoru Nakajima replacing Johnny Dumfries. Meanwhile, Ligier drafted in Philippe Alliot to replace the injured Jacques Laffite.

• The McLarens of Keke Rosberg and Alain Prost both ran out of fuel on the final lap. Rosberg was running second, just behind Nelson Piquet's Williams, when his car stopped just after the Ostkurve chicane. Prost was running third, behind Piquet and Ayrton Senna's Lotus, when his car came to a halt on the finishing straight. The Frenchman got out of his car and tried to push it over the finish line, to great applause from the crowd, but was unsuccessful. Both drivers were passed by Nigel Mansell's Williams and René Arnoux's Ligier, who thus finished third and fourth respectively. Rosberg was eventually classified fifth with Prost sixth, as Rosberg had been ahead of Prost at the start of the final lap (although Prost had made it further around the final lap than Rosberg did), while the seventh-placed car, Derek Warwick's Brabham, was a lap behind.
• Piquet and Senna were also running out of fuel at the end of the race: Piquet had to turn his Honda engine's boost way down after the Ostkurve chicane in order to get his car to the finish, while Senna had to swerve sideways on the finishing straight to get the last drops of fuel into his car's Renault engine.
• The grid saw the first all-McLaren front row since Peter Revson and Denny Hulme at the 1972 Canadian Grand Prix. It was also Keke Rosberg's only pole position with the team, and the fifth and last pole of his F1 career.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Nigel Mansell 51 2 Alain Prost 44 3 Ayrton Senna 42 4 Nelson Piquet 38 5 Keke Rosberg 19 Source: [3]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Honda 89 2 McLaren-TAG 63 3 Lotus-Renault 42 4 Ligier-Renault 28 5 Ferrari 13 Source: [3]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.