| 1985 British Grand Prix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 8 of 16 in the1985 Formula One World Championship | |||
 | |||
| Race details | |||
| Date | 21 July 1985 | ||
| Official name | XXXVIII Marlboro British Grand Prix | ||
| Location | Silverstone Circuit Northamptonshire, Great Britain | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 4.719 km (2.932 miles) | ||
| Distance | 65 laps, 306.735 km (190.569 miles) | ||
| Scheduled distance | 66 laps, 311.454 km (193.529 miles) | ||
| Weather | Cool, overcast | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Williams-Honda | ||
| Time | 1:05.591[1] | ||
| Fastest lap | |||
| Driver |  Alain Prost | McLaren-TAG | |
| Time | 1:09.886[2] on lap 43 | ||
| Podium | |||
| First | McLaren-TAG | ||
| Second | Ferrari | ||
| Third | Ligier-Renault | ||
Lap leaders | |||
The1985 British Grand Prix (formally theXXXVIIIMarlboro British Grand Prix) was aFormula One motor race held atSilverstone on 21 July 1985. It was the eighth race of the1985 Formula One World Championship.
The 65-lap race was won byAlain Prost, driving aMcLaren-TAG, after he started from third position.Michele Alboreto finished second in aFerrari, withJacques Laffite third in aLigier-Renault. The win, Prost's third of the season, moved him to within two points of Alboreto at the top of the Drivers' Championship.
Silverstone, a circuit located on a former World War II airfield located between London andBirmingham in England was known for being the fastest circuit used by Formula One; it was even faster than Monza and the Österreichring. The circuit's layout back then was quite different and simpler compared to the current layout used from 2010 onwards. Silverstone alternated the British Grand Prix with Brands Hatch and each circuit would host it every 2nd year.
Qualifying sawKeke Rosberg underline Silverstone's incredibly high speed laps by taking pole in hisWilliams with a lap of 1:05.591. At an average speed of 160.9 mph (259 km/h), it stood as the fastest qualifying lap in F1 history for 17 years. Alongside Rosberg on the front row wasNelson Piquet in theBrabham, whileAlain Prost in theMcLaren andAyrton Senna in theLotus were on the second row.Nigel Mansell in the second Williams and championship leaderMichele Alboreto in theFerrari filled the third row, while on the fourth wereAndrea de Cesaris in theLigier andElio de Angelis in the second Lotus.Teo Fabi in theToleman andNiki Lauda in the second McLaren completed the top ten.
At the start of the race, Senna made a superb start and passed Prost, the slow-starting Piquet and Rosberg to take the lead, while Mansell moved up to third and de Cesaris to fifth. Behind them, four cars were eliminated at the first corner, Copse, asPatrick Tambay in theRenault lost control and was hit by the second Ferrari ofStefan Johansson, which also caused theOsella ofPiercarlo Ghinzani and theRAM ofPhilippe Alliot to crash into each other.
Back at the front, de Cesaris passed Prost and then Mansell to be third, before Prost repassed the Ligier on lap 9. Prost later admitted he was apprehensive about being behind the Ligier thanks to the unpredictable de Cesaris' reputation for crashing. Mansell dropped out on lap 18 with a clutch failure, before team-mate Rosberg suffered a broken exhaust four laps later. Senna continued to lead, with Prost now second and Lauda up to third ahead of de Cesaris, Piquet and Alboreto. Prost and Lauda's McLaren-TAG/Porsche MP4/2B's performance through high-speed corners was far superior to that of any other car competing that year – something that was a feature of all of the original Silverstone's 8 corners (10 if the 3-turn sequence of the Woodcote chicane is counted).
Alboreto passed Piquet for fifth, before moving up to fourth on lap 42 when de Cesaris's clutch failed. By then, Senna and Prost were running nose-to-tail. The Frenchman finally passed the Brazilian on lap 58, Lauda's electrics failing on the same lap. Then Senna's fuel injection failed, promoting Alboreto to second, whileJacques Laffite in the second Ligier moved up to third ahead of Piquet.
The chequered flag was erroneously shown at the end of lap 65, one lap early, with Prost having lapped the entire field. Halfway around what was meant to have been the final lap, Laffite ran out of fuel, which annoyed Piquet – he would have thus taken the final podium place had the error not been made. The final points were taken byDerek Warwick in the second Renault andMarc Surer in the second Brabham.
In the Drivers' Championship, Prost moved to within two points of Alboreto, while in the Constructors' Championship McLaren moved up to second, 18 points behind Ferrari.
| 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 | no time | +10.809 |
| 26 | 4 | Stefan Bellof | Tyrrell-Ford | 1:17.009 | 1:16.596 | +11.005 |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Previous race: 1985 French Grand Prix | FIA Formula One World Championship 1985 season | Next race: 1985 German Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1984 British Grand Prix | British Grand Prix | Next race: 1986 British Grand Prix |
