1985 European Grand Prix

  1985 European Grand Prix

Race details
Race 14 of 16 in the 1985 Formula One season
Date	October 6, 1985
Official name	XXXVII European Grand Prix
Location	Brands Hatch, Kent, United Kingdom
Course	Permanent Racing Facility 4.206 km (2.61 mi)
Distance	75 laps, 315.5 km (195.8 mi)
Pole position
Driver	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault
Time	1:07.169
Fastest lap
Driver	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Renault
Time	1:11.526 on lap 55
Podium
First	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda
Second	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault
Third	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda
Lap leaders

The 1985 European Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Brands Hatch on October 6, 1985. It was the fourteenth round of the 1985 Formula One season.

Ayrton Senna got pole position for the 6th time in the season, averaging 140.106 mph (225.479 km/h). Second was Nelson Piquet, followed by the Williams-Hondas of Nigel Mansell and Keke Rosberg.

McLaren's defending World Champion Niki Lauda was still unfit to race due to the wrist injury he suffered in Belgium and was replaced by former driver John Watson in what would be his last start in Formula One. Watson qualified 21st and in his first F1 race since 1983 finished 7th, only 2 laps down and less than a second behind 6th placed Thierry Boutsen. Tyrrell were back to a two car team for the race with Italian rookie Ivan Capelli replacing the late Stefan Bellof for his first start in Formula One.

After a very poor start that dropped him to 14th, Alain Prost climbed 8 places in 10 laps, went down the field again to 9th, and climbed another 5 places, breaking the lap record 3 times in the process. He eventually went up to 4th place and in the process, clinched his first World Drivers' Championship, and Nigel Mansell took his first race win. Keke Rosberg took 3rd despite losing a full lap after a collision with Nelson Piquet caused by Ayrton Senna, who finished 2nd. Marc Surer was in second position for Brabham until a late, and dramatic turbo failure.

Michele Alboreto saw his World Championship dream go up in flames on lap 13. After stopping to replace a flat-spotted tyre on lap 11, his Ferrari blew its turbo half way through lap 13. Alboreto, frustrated that Ferrari's late season reliability had cost him the World Championship (he led the points table until the Dutch Grand Prix) drove his Ferrari 156/85 back to the pits with the rear of the car on fire. He drove the on-fire car into the pits and straight to his Ferrari pit. Many observers saw this as Alboreto's way of showing that the Ferrari's unreliability had cost him the World Championship, which Prost won by finishing 4th.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault	1:08.020	1:07.169	—
2	7	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	1:09.204	1:07.482	+0.097
3	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	1:10.537	1:08.059	+0.890
4	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	1:09.277	1:08.197	+1.028
5	25	Philippe Streiff	Ligier-Renault	1:10.396	1:09.080	+1.911
6	2	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	1:10.345	1:09.429	+2.260
7	8	Marc Surer	Brabham-BMW	1:09.762	1:09.913	+2.593
8	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	1:11.014	1:09.904	+2.735
9	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	1:11.530	1:10.014	+2.845
10	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Renault	1:11.312	1:10.081	+2.912
11	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	1:10.963	1:10.251	+3.082
12	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	1:10.918	1:10.323	+3.154
13	28	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	1:11.309	1:10.517	+3.348
14	20	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Toleman-Hart	1:13.517	1:10.570	+3.401
15	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	1:10.877	1:10.659	+3.490
16	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Renault	1:11.296	1:10.731	+3.562
17	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	1:13.048	1:10.934	+3.765
18	23	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	1:12.766	1:11.500	+4.331
19	17	Gerhard Berger	Arrows-BMW	1:11.608	1:11.638	+4.439
20	19	Teo Fabi	Toleman-Hart	1:13.024	1:12.090	+4.921
21	1	John Watson	McLaren-TAG	1:12.496	1:12.516	+5.327
22	33	Alan Jones	Lola-Hart	1:14.050	1:13.084	+5.915
23	9	Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart	1:14.355	1:13.537	+6.368
24	4	Ivan Capelli	Tyrrell-Renault	1:16.879	1:13.721	+6.552
25	30	Christian Danner	Zakspeed	1:15.947	1:15.054	+7.885
26	29	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Motori Moderni	1:16.642	1:15.127	+9.473
DNQ	24	Huub Rothengatter	Osella-Alfa Romeo	1:16.994	1:18.022	+9.825

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	75	1:32:58.109	3	9
2	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault	75	+ 21.396	1	6
3	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	75	+ 58.533	4	4
4	2	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	75	+ 1:06.121	6	3
5	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	74	+ 1 Lap	9	2
6	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	73	+ 2 Laps	12	1
7	1	John Watson	McLaren-TAG	73	+ 2 Laps	21
8	25	Philippe Streiff	Ligier-Renault	73	+ 2 Laps	5
9	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	73	+ 2 Laps	11
10	17	Gerhard Berger	Arrows-BMW	73	+ 2 Laps	19
11	23	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	73	+ 2 Laps	18
12	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	72	+ 3 Laps	17
13	8	Marc Surer	Brabham-BMW	62	Turbo	7
Ret	28	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	59	Electrical	13
Ret	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Renault	58	Engine	10
Ret	30	Christian Danner	Zakspeed	55	Engine	25
Ret	4	Ivan Capelli	Tyrrell-Renault	44	Accident	24
Ret	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Renault	40	Water leak	16
Ret	19	Teo Fabi	Toleman-Hart	33	Engine	20
Ret	9	Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart	31	Engine	23
Ret	20	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Toleman-Hart	16	Engine	14
Ret	33	Alan Jones	Lola-Hart	13	Radiator	22
Ret	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	13	Turbo	15
Ret	7	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	6	Collision	2
Ret	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	4	Injection	8
Ret	29	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Motori Moderni	3	Accident	26

Notes

• Pole position: Ayrton Senna - 1:07.169^[1]
• Fastest lap: Jacques Laffite - 1:11.526 on lap 55^[2]
• First Win: Nigel Mansell
• First Race: Ivan Capelli
• Last Race: John Watson
• Alain Prost's 4th place took him the Driver's Championship with two races left.

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Alain Prost 72 2 Michele Alboreto 53 3 Ayrton Senna 38 4 Elio de Angelis 33 5 Keke Rosberg 25

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 McLaren-TAG 86 2 Ferrari 77 3 Lotus-Renault 71 4 Williams-Honda 47 5 Brabham-BMW 26

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

References

Unless otherwise indicated, all race results are taken from "The Official Formula 1 website". http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1985/307/. Retrieved 2007-06-17. 

External links

• Grand Prix Archives Video