1985 British Grand Prix

  1985 British Grand Prix

Race details
Race 8 of 16 in the 1985 Formula One season
Date	July 21, 1985
Official name	XXXVIII Marlboro British Grand Prix
Location	Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire, Great Britain
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.719 km (2.932 mi)
Distance	65 laps, 306.735 km (190.569 mi)
Scheduled Distance	66 laps, 311.454 km (193.529 mi)
Weather	Cool, overcast
Pole position
Driver	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda
Time	1:05.591
Fastest lap
Driver	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG
Time	1:09.886 on lap 43
Podium
First	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG
Second	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari
Third	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Renault

The 1985 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 21 July 1985. It was the eighth round of the 1985 Formula One season.

At an average speed of 160.9 mph (258.9 km/h), Keke Rosberg's qualifying lap remained the fastest in F1 history until 2002.

On the first lap right after the start, 4 cars went out at Copse. Patrick Tambay touched Stefan Johansson, and Tambay lost his front right wheel and was out immediately but Johansson was able to make it back to the pits. Piercarlo Ghinzani and Philippe Alliot also crashed into each other and were out immediately.

After intentionally dropping to 6th in order to save fuel, Alain Prost stormed through the field, passed 5 leading cars (Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell, Andrea De Cesaris, Keke Rosberg and Ayrton Senna) and battled with Senna (who made an excellent start from fourth on the grid, had been leading almost every lap since lap 1, but eventually retired with fuel problems) for much of the second half of the race. By the time Prost had finished and won the race, he had lapped every running car in the field. Prost's teammate Niki Lauda also put up a notable drive; he started 10th; dropped to 15th at the start, and by the time he retired with an alternator failure he was up to 3rd.

The race was scheduled for 66 laps, but was stopped 1 lap early in error. Nelson Piquet who finished 4th in his Brabham, was particularly angry with the error. Jacques Laffite, who finished 3rd in his Ligier, had ran out of fuel half way around what was meant to be the last lap and would have been passed by Piquet who did have enough fuel to finish the scheduled distance. If the error had not been made, Piquet would have finished on the podium.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	1:06.107	1:05.591	—
2	7	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	1:08.933	1:06.249	+0.658
3	2	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	1:06.308	1:08.532	+0.717
4	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault	1:06.324	1:06.794	+0.733
5	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	1:09.080	1:06.675	+1.084
6	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	1:06.793	1:07.427	+1.202
7	25	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier-Renault	1:11.082	1:07.448	+1.857
8	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	1:07.581	1:07.696	+1.990
9	19	Teo Fabi	Toleman-Hart	1:07.678	1:07.871	+2.087
10	1	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG	1:07.743	1:09.001	+2.152
11	28	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	1:08.169	1:07.887	+2.296
12	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	1:08.238	1:08.604	+2.647
13	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	1:09.898	1:08.240	+2.649
14	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	1:08.384	1:10.110	+2.793
15	8	Marc Surer	Brabham-BMW	1:09.572	1:08.587	+2.996
16	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Renault	1:10.756	1:08.656	+3.065
17	17	Gerhard Berger	Arrows-BMW	1:09.870	1:08.672	+3.081
18	9	Manfred Winkelhock	RAM-Hart	1:10.299	1:09.114	+3.523
19	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	1:09.413	1:09.131	+3.540
20	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Renault	1:10.718	1:09.242	+3.651
21	10	Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart	1:11.162	1:09.609	+4.018
22	23	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	1:11.072	1:10.345	+4.754
23	29	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Motori Moderni	1:13.645	1:15.363	+8.054
24	30	Jonathan Palmer	Zakspeed	1:17.856	1:13.713	+8.122
25	24	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	1:16.400		+10.809
26	4	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell-Ford	1:17.009	1:16.596	+11.005

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	2	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	65	1:18:10.436	3	9
2	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	64	+ 1 Lap	6	6
3	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Renault	64	+ 1 Lap	16	4
4	7	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	64	+ 1 Lap	2	3
5	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	64	+ 1 Lap	12	2
6	8	Marc Surer	Brabham-BMW	63	+ 2 Laps	15	1
7	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Renault	63	+ 2 Laps	20
8	17	Gerhard Berger	Arrows-BMW	63	+ 2 Laps	17
9	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	62	+ 3 Laps	14
10	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault	60	Fuel injection, electronics	4
11	4	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell-Ford	59	+ 6 Laps	26
Ret	1	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG	57	Electrical	10
Ret	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	57	Spun Off	19
Ret	25	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier-Renault	41	Clutch	7
Ret	29	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Motori Moderni	38	Transmission	23
NC	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	37	Not Classified	8
Ret	9	Manfred Winkelhock	RAM-Hart	28	Turbo	18
Ret	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	21	Exhaust	1
Ret	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	17	Clutch	5
Ret	23	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	17	Turbo	22
Ret	30	Jonathan Palmer	Zakspeed	6	Engine	24
Ret	19	Teo Fabi	Toleman-Hart	4	Transmission	9
Ret	28	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	1	Accident	11
Ret	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	0	Collision	13
Ret	10	Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart	0	Accident	21
Ret	24	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	0	Accident	25

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Michele Alboreto	37
2	Alain Prost	35
3	Elio de Angelis	26
4	Keke Rosberg	18
5	Stefan Johansson	16

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Ferrari	56
2	McLaren-TAG	38
3	Lotus-Renault	35
4	Williams-Honda	23
5	Renault	15

• 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". Retrieved 2007-06-17. 

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