1985 German Grand Prix

  1985 German Grand Prix

Race details
Race 9 of 16 in the 1985 Formula One season
Date	August 4, 1985
Official name	XLII Großer Preis von Deutschland
Location	Nürburgring, Nürburg, West Germany
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.54 km (2.82 mi)
Distance	67 laps, 304.18 km (188.94 mi)
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Teo Fabi	Toleman-Hart
Time	1:17.429
Fastest lap
Driver	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG
Time	1:22.806 on lap 53
Podium
First	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari
Second	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG
Third	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Renault

Michele Alboreto won the race for Ferrari.

Alain Prost finished second, only eleven seconds behind.

The 1985 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Nürburgring on August 4, 1985. It was the ninth round of the 1985 FIA Formula One World Championship.

This was the first German Grand Prix that was held on the new GP-Strecke section of the track that replaced the old Südschleife section that had not been used since 1970. It was also the first time in nine years the German GP was held at Nürburgring; previously the German GP was held on the dangerous and very long Nordschleife section of the track up until 1976, and at that race Niki Lauda had a near-fatal accident in his Ferrari that forced the Formula One circus to move to the safer, shorter and faster Hockenheimring. The GP-Strecke would not host another Grand Prix until it hosted the 1995 European Grand Prix, and would not host the German Grand Prix again until 2009.

Michele Alboreto won the race, his fifth and last F1 victory. This event was the first occasion on which an onboard camera was used in a race; one was attached to François Hesnault's Renault. That car was not eligible for championship points, and this race marked the last time, as of the 2016 season, that an F1 team entered three cars for a race.

As it was the German Grand Prix (and that the team still only had 1 new car built) Tyrrell team boss Ken Tyrrell gave his German driver Stefan Bellof use of the Renault powered Tyrrell 014 for the weekend instead of the car's usual driver Martin Brundle who was given Bellof's Cosworth powered 012 to drive. To get around a FISA rule that a team and driver can not run more than 2 engines in the one chassis during a season (with the 012 running the Cosworth and 014 the Renault), Tyrrell simply switched the drivers from one car to the other but not their car numbers meaning Bellof drove in car #3 and Brundle in car #4. Bellof qualified the turbo powered car 19th while Brundle was 26th and last with the Cosworth V8, some 10.2 seconds of Fabi's pole time and 6.4 seconds slower than his team mate in his usual car, something Brundle was reported to be not happy with.

It would be Manfred Winkelhock's last ever Formula One Grand Prix. The German was killed after he crashed his Porsche 962C sportscar at the 1000 km of Mosport in Canada just a week after the German Grand Prix.

Classification

Qualifying

A surprise pole position went to Teo Fabi, the first of his career, and the only pole for Toleman Motorsport. This was a time he set during Friday's qualifying session; during Saturday it rained and none of the drivers could improve on their times.

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	19	Teo Fabi	Toleman-Hart	1:17.429		—
2	28	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	1:18.616	1:46.919	+1.187
3	2	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	1:18.725	1:43.088	+1.296
4	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	1:18.781	1:39.547	+1.352
5	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault	1:18.792	1:36.471	+1.363
6	7	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	1:18.802	1:49.347	+1.373
7	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	1:19.120	1:29.714	+1.691
8	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	1:19.194	1:41.490	+1.765
9	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	1:19.338		+1.909
10	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	1:19.475	1:42.050	+2.046
11	8	Marc Surer	Brabham-BMW	1:19.558	1:38.330	+2.129
12	1	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG	1:19.562	1:44.330	+2.133
13	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Renault	1:19.656		+2.227
14	25	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier-Renault	1:19.738	1:39.623	+2.309
15	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	1:19.781	1:54.674	+2.352
16	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	1:19.917	1:33.373	+2.488
17	17	Gerhard Berger	Arrows-BMW	1:20.666	1:41.131	+3.237
18	23	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	1:21.074	1:32.376	+3.645
19	3	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell-Renault	1:21.219	14:04.270	+3.790
20	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	1:21.237	1:08.604	+3.808
21	10	Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart	1:22.017		+4.588
22	9	Manfred Winkelhock	RAM-Hart	1:22.607	1:51.109	+5.178
23	14	François Hesnault	Renault	1:23.161		+5.732
24	30	Jonathan Palmer	Zakspeed	1:24.217	1:51.833	+6.788
25	24	Huub Rothengatter	Osella-Alfa Romeo	1:26.478		+9.049
26	4	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Ford	1:27.621	1:47.820	+10.192
DNQ	29	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Motori Moderni		1:40.506	+23.077

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	67	1:35:31.337	8	9
2	2	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	67	+ 11.661	3	6
3	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Renault	67	+ 51.154	13	4
4	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	67	+ 55.279	15	3
5	1	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG	67	+ 1:13.972	12	2
6	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	67	+ 1:16.820	10	1
7	17	Gerhard Berger	Arrows-BMW	66	+ 1 Lap	17
8	3	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell-Renault	66	+ 1 lap	19
9	28	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	66	+ 1 Lap	2
10	4	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Ford	63	+ 4 Laps	26
11	29	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Motori Moderni	62	Engine	27
12	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	61	Brakes	4
Ret	23	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	45	Turbo	18
Ret	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	40	Engine	7
Ret	24	Huub Rothengatter	Osella-Alfa Romeo	32	Gearbox	25
Ret	19	Teo Fabi	Toleman-Hart	29	Clutch	1
Ret	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault	27	CV joint[1]	5
Ret	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	25	Ignition	20
Ret	7	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	23	Turbo	6
Ret	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	19	Spun Off	16
Ret	8	Marc Surer	Brabham-BMW	15	Engine	11
Ret	9	Manfred Winkelhock	RAM-Hart	8	Engine	22
Ret	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	8	Gearbox	9
Ret	14	François Hesnault	Renault	8	Clutch	23
Ret	10	Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart	8	Oil Pressure	21
Ret	30	Jonathan Palmer	Zakspeed	7	Alternator	24
Ret	25	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier-Renault	0	Collision	14
Source:[2]

Lap Leaders

Keke Rosberg 33 (1-15, 27-44), Ayrton Senna 11 (16-26), Michele Alboreto 23 (45-67)

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Michele Alboreto 46 2 Alain Prost 41 3 Elio de Angelis 26 4 Keke Rosberg 18 5 Stefan Johansson 16

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 65 2 McLaren-TAG 46 3 Lotus-Renault 35 4 Williams-Honda 24 5 Renault 15

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

References

1. Anthony, Pritchard (March 2006). Lotus: The Competition Cars. Haynes Publishing. p. 245. ISBN 1-84425-006-7.
2. "1985 German Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 17 February 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.