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1985 European Grand Prix

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1985 European Grand Prix
Race 14 of 16 in the 1985 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 6 October 1985
Official name Shell Oils Grand Prix of Europe
Location Brands Hatch, Kent, United Kingdom
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.206 km (2.61 miles)
Distance 75 laps, 315.5 km (195.8 miles)
Pole position
Driver
Lotus-Renault
Time 1:07.169[1]
Fastest lap
Driver France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Renault
Time 1:11.526 on lap 55[2]
Podium
First
Williams-Honda
Second
Lotus-Renault
Third
Williams-Honda
Lap leaders
Nigel Mansell, driving for Williams, took his first Formula One victory.
Ayrton Senna finished second for Lotus having started from pole position.
Mansell's teammate Keke Rosberg completed the podium.
Alain Prost fought his way to a fourth-place finish, thus securing his first Drivers' Championship.

The 1985 European Grand Prix (formally the Shell Oils Grand Prix of Europe[3]) was a Formula One motor race held at Brands Hatch on 6 October 1985. It was the fourteenth race of the 1985 Formula One World Championship.

The 75-lap race was won by Nigel Mansell, driving a Williams-Honda. It was Mansell's first Formula One victory in his 72nd race start. Ayrton Senna finished second in a Lotus-Renault, having started from pole position, while Mansell's teammate Keke Rosberg finished third. Alain Prost finished fourth in his McLaren-TAG which, combined with Michele Alboreto's retirement with a turbo failure, secured the Frenchman his first Drivers' Championship.

Qualifying

Qualifying report

Ayrton Senna took his sixth pole position of the season in his Lotus-Renault, averaging 140.106 mph (225.479 km/h), the first time anyone had lapped the Brands Hatch circuit faster than 140 mph. Compatriot Nelson Piquet was second in his Brabham-BMW, 0.3 seconds behind, followed by the Williams-Hondas of Nigel Mansell and Keke Rosberg. Philippe Streiff was a surprise fifth in his Ligier, ahead of Alain Prost's McLaren; the top ten was completed by Marc Surer in the second Brabham, Derek Warwick in the Renault, Elio de Angelis in the second Lotus and Jacques Laffite in the second Ligier. Prost's Drivers' Championship rival, Michele Alboreto, could only manage 15th in his Ferrari.

Prost's teammate Niki Lauda was unfit to race due to the wrist injury he had suffered at the previous race in Belgium. His place was taken by former McLaren stalwart John Watson, in his first F1 race since the end of 1983; the Ulsterman qualified 21st, over five seconds behind Senna. Watson's participation marked the last time to date a Formula One driver raced with number 1 without having been World Champion the previous season.[4] Tyrrell had re-expanded to two cars, with Martin Brundle joined by Italian newcomer Ivan Capelli, who qualified 24th.

Qualifying classification

Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 12 Brazil Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault 1:08.020 1:07.169
2 7 Brazil Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 1:09.204 1:07.482 +0.313
3 5 United Kingdom Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 1:10.537 1:08.059 +0.890
4 6 Finland Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda 1:09.277 1:08.197 +1.028
5 25 France Philippe Streiff Ligier-Renault 1:10.396 1:09.080 +1.911
6 2 France Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:10.345 1:09.429 +2.260
7 8 Switzerland Marc Surer Brabham-BMW 1:09.762 1:09.913 +2.593
8 16 United Kingdom Derek Warwick Renault 1:11.014 1:09.904 +2.735
9 11 Italy Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 1:11.530 1:10.014 +2.845
10 26 France Jacques Laffite Ligier-Renault 1:11.312 1:10.081 +2.912
11 22 Italy Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo 1:10.963 1:10.251 +3.082
12 18 Belgium Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 1:10.918 1:10.323 +3.154
13 28 Sweden Stefan Johansson Ferrari 1:11.309 1:10.517 +3.348
14 20 Italy Piercarlo Ghinzani Toleman-Hart 1:13.517 1:10.570 +3.401
15 27 Italy Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:10.877 1:10.659 +3.490
16 3 United Kingdom Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Renault 1:11.296 1:10.731 +3.562
17 15 France Patrick Tambay Renault 1:13.048 1:10.934 +3.765
18 23 United States Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo 1:12.766 1:11.500 +4.331
19 17 Austria Gerhard Berger Arrows-BMW 1:11.608 1:11.638 +4.439
20 19 Italy Teo Fabi Toleman-Hart 1:13.024 1:12.090 +4.921
21 1 United Kingdom John Watson McLaren-TAG 1:12.496 1:12.516 +5.327
22 33 Australia Alan Jones Lola-Hart 1:14.050 1:13.084 +5.915
23 9 France Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart 1:14.355 1:13.537 +6.368
24 4 Italy Ivan Capelli Tyrrell-Renault 1:16.879 1:13.721 +6.552
25 30 West Germany Christian Danner Zakspeed 1:15.947 1:15.054 +7.885
26 29 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:16.642 1:15.127 +9.473
DNQ 24 Netherlands Huub Rothengatter Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:16.994 1:18.022 +9.825

Race

Race report

Senna led off the line from a fast-starting Mansell, while Prost slid onto the grass and fell to 14th. Mansell then ran wide at Druids, allowing Rosberg and Piquet past.

On lap 7, Rosberg attempted to overtake Senna, but the Brazilian blocked the move causing Rosberg to spin at Surtees Corner and was unavoidably hit by Piquet in third. The Brabham was out on the spot with a broken front suspension, while Rosberg limped back to the pits with a puncture, losing a full lap in the process. Mansell was now second again, followed by de Angelis, Stefan Johansson in the second Ferrari and Surer, with Prost up to seventh following a charge through the field. When Rosberg exited the pits, he rejoined in front of the leaders. An aggrieved Rosberg blocked Senna (who he felt was responsible for the earlier incident). Rosberg cleverly positioned his car which allowed teammate Mansell to catch up to the Lotus before getting past at Surtees. Rosberg then allowed Mansell through, and the Englishman then set about building a lead, while Rosberg continued to hold up Senna.

On lap 14 Alboreto, who had made a good start and had run as high as sixth, suffered a fiery turbo failure, effectively ending his Championship challenge. Prost, running sixth at this point, now only needed to finish fifth to secure the title. Surer had moved ahead of Johansson by this stage and was closing on de Angelis, while Laffite was also on a charge, passing Prost and Johansson in quick succession.

Surer overtook de Angelis on lap 21, followed soon after by Laffite. The two then closed up to Senna, Surer getting past on lap 35 and Laffite one lap later. At this point, Mansell's lead was 14 seconds, while Prost was still seventh.

On lap 51, having just been re-passed by Senna, Laffite pitted for new tyres, dropping to eighth and promoting Johansson to fourth. Shortly afterwards, Prost passed de Angelis for fifth as the two were lapping Watson; this became fourth when Johansson started to suffer an electrical problem. Laffite retired on lap 59 with an engine failure, followed one lap later by Johansson.

Surer was still running second when on lap 63, he suffered a turbo failure similar to Alboreto's. This left Mansell around 20 seconds clear of Senna, with Prost now third, de Angelis fourth and Rosberg back up to fifth. Rosberg soon passed de Angelis before Prost, taking no chances, allowed the Finn through into the final podium position.

Up front, Mansell cruised to his first Formula One victory, his final margin over Senna being 21.4 seconds. Rosberg finished 37 seconds behind Senna and eight ahead of Prost, who celebrated becoming France's first Formula One Drivers' Champion. De Angelis and the Arrows of Thierry Boutsen rounded out the top six, Boutsen holding off Watson for the final point in what would turn out to be the Ulsterman's last F1 race.

Race classification

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

Championship standings after the race

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

References

  1. ^ Hamilton, Maurice, ed. (1985). AUTOCOURSE 1985-86. Hazleton Publishing. p. 256. ISBN 0-905138-38-4.
  2. ^ Hamilton, Maurice, ed. (1985). AUTOCOURSE 1985-86. Hazleton Publishing. p. 257. ISBN 0-905138-38-4.
  3. ^ "Motor Racing Programme Covers: 1985". The Programme Covers Project. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  4. ^ "John Watson · RaceFans".
  5. ^ "1985 European Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 23 June 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  6. ^ "1985 European Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive". GPArchive.com. 6 October 1985. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Europe 1985 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
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Previous race:
1985 Belgian Grand Prix 		FIA Formula One World Championship
1985 season 		Next race:
1985 South African Grand Prix
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1984 European Grand Prix 		European Grand Prix Next race:
1993 European Grand Prix
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