1985 French Grand Prix

March 2019 F1 France French Paul Ricard 1970.png 71e Grand Prix de FranceMotor Racing Programme Covers: 1985 http://www.progcovers.com/motor/paulricard85.jpg The Programme Covers Project 21 October 2017 7 July 1985 7 16 Circuit Paul RicardLe Castellet, Var, France Permanent racing facility 3.610 5.810Jenkinson Denis Denis Jenkinson August 1985 The French Grand Prix – Normality returns https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/august-1985/35/french-grand-prix Motor Sport LXI 8 849–852 29 August 2018 53 191.338 307.928 Dry, hot Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda 1:32.462 Finland Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda 1:39.914 46 Finland Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW Brazil 1968 Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda Finland Alain Prost McLaren-TAG France FRA The 1985 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Paul Ricard on 7 July 1985. It was the seventh race of the 1985 Formula One World Championship. It was the 63rd French Grand Prix and the ninth to be held at Paul Ricard. The race was held over 53 laps of the 5.81 km mi on circuit for a total race distance of 307.93 km mi. The race was won by Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet, driving a Brabham-BMW, his only victory of the season. It was the 35th and final Formula One victory for the Brabham team, as well as the first F1 victory for Italian tyre manufacturer Pirelli since 1957. Finn Keke Rosberg finished second in a Williams-Honda, having started from pole position, with local driver Alain Prost third in a McLaren-TAG. Prost moved to within five points of Drivers' Championship leader, Italian Michele Alboreto, who retired on lap 6 with a turbo failure in his Ferrari. This was to be the last French Grand Prix held on the full Paul Ricard circuit until 2018. A shorter, 3.813 km mi on circuit would be used from 1986 until 1990, following Elio de Angelis's fatal accident during a test session in May 1986. Qualifying report Qualifying saw Keke Rosberg take pole position in his Williams-Honda with a time of 1:32.462, averaging 140.561 mph km/h on, with Ayrton Senna alongside him on the front row in his Lotus-Renault. On the second row were Michele Alboreto in the Ferrari and Alain Prost in the McLaren, and on the third were Nelson Piquet in the Brabham and Niki Lauda in the second McLaren. Completing the top ten were Elio de Angelis in the second Lotus, Gerhard Berger in the Arrows, and the two factory Renaults of Patrick Tambay and Derek Warwick, Tambay driving a 'B' specification of the RE60. Rosberg's Williams teammate, Nigel Mansell, had set a time good enough for eighth on the grid when he had a high-speed crash at the Signes corner, located at the end of the 1.8 km mi on long Mistral Straight. A puncture caused the car to plunge off the track at over 200 mph km/h 0 on and into catch fencing; one of the poles struck Mansell on the head, giving him a concussion which forced him to miss the race. The race was also the first in which the Tyrrell team used Renault turbo engines, thus becoming the last F1 team to go over from naturally aspirated engines to turbos. However, only Martin Brundle drove the new Renault-powered 014 car, while teammate Stefan Bellof continued to use the Cosworth-powered 012. Brundle could only qualify 20th, but was still over four seconds faster than Bellof in 25th. After qualifying, Brundle described one lap coming onto the Mistral about 50 metres behind Bellof in the Cosworth car (with Bellof also on a quick lap), and by the time the 014 got to Signes, the older car was just a dot in his mirror. While only running the oldest and slowest of the available Renault turbo engines (the Renault EF4 turbo was putting out around 800 bhp kW 0 on, which was a significant upgrade on the 540 bhp kW 0 on from the Cosworth), Brundle was speed trapped at 310 km/h mph 0 on, significantly faster than Bellof in the non-turbo who could only reach 278 km/h mph 0 on. During qualifying, Marc Surer in his Brabham BMW recorded a seasons high 335 km/h mph 0 on on the 1.8 km (1.1 mi) long Mistral Straight.Nigel Roebuck John Townsend Grand Prix - 1985 Formula One World Championship 1985 Garry Sparke & Associates Glen Waverly, Victoria, Australia 0 908081 66 9 92 Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 6FIN Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda 1:33.484 1:32.462 2 12BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault 1:32.835 1:33.677 +0.373 3 27ITA Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:35.421 1:33.267 +0.805 4 2FRA Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:33.547 1:33.335 +0.873 5 7BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 1:33.981 1:33.812 +1.350 6 1AUT Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG 1:33.860 1:34.166 +1.398 7 11ITA Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 1:34.022 1:34.227 +1.560 8 5GBR Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 1:34.191 n/a +1.729 9 17AUT Gerhard Berger Arrows-BMW 1:34.674 1:37.445 +2.212 10 15FRA Patrick Tambay Renault 1:34.680 1:36.339 +2.218 11 16GBR Derek Warwick Renault 1:34.976 1:35.190 +2.514 12 18BEL Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 1:36.051 1:35.488 +3.026 13 25ITA Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault 1:37.335 1:35.571 +3.109 14 8SUI Marc Surer Brabham-BMW 1:35.572 1:35.640 +3.110 15 26FRA Jacques Laffite Ligier-Renault 1:38.173 1:36.133 +3.671 16 28SWE Stefan Johansson Ferrari 1:37.546 1:36.140 +3.678 17 22ITA Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo 1:36.729 1:38.745 +4.267 18 23USA Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo 1:36.931 1:38.489 +4.469 19 19ITA Teo Fabi Toleman-Hart 1:37.142 1:37.657 +4.680 20 9FRG Manfred Winkelhock RAM-Hart 1:37.654 1:45.628 +5.192 21 3GBR Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Renault 1:40.486 1:40.015 +7.553 22 30GBR Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed 1:40.647 1:40.289 +7.827 23 10FRA Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart 1:41.647 1:44.221 +9.185 24 24ITA Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:42.136 1:42.968 +9.674 25 29ITA Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:47.523 1:44.350 +11.888 26 4FRG Stefan Bellof Tyrrell-Ford 1:44.404 1:45.478 +11.942 Race report At the start, Rosberg led away from Senna and Piquet, while Prost slipped to eighth. The early laps saw both Ligiers retire, Jacques Laffite suffering a turbo failure on lap 3 and Andrea de Cesaris dropping out with steering problems two laps later. Alboreto also suffered a turbo failure on lap 6 while running fourth. On lap 7, Piquet overtook compatriot Senna on the Mistral Straight. He then closed up to Rosberg, who was struggling for grip, before passing him for the lead at Beausset on lap 11. At the same time, Lauda and Prost moved up to third and fourth respectively, ahead of de Angelis. On lap 21, Berger collided with the Minardi of Pierluigi Martini, putting both drivers out. Senna, who had dropped down the order due to gearbox problems, retired in dramatic fashion on lap 27, when his engine failed and oil from it leaked onto his rear tyres, causing him to spin off backwards into the catch fencing and crash massively at Signes. He escaped with bruises, while his Lotus caught fire. Lauda retired on lap 31 when his own gearbox failed, promoting Prost to third; Brundle also suffered a gearbox failure on lap 33. On lap 38, by which time Piquet had extended his lead to over 20 seconds, Prost overtook Rosberg for second at the Verrerie bends. The Finn promptly pitted for new tyres, emerging in fourth behind de Angelis. He then made a charge, quickly passing the Lotus and setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 46, before retaking second from Prost on the final lap. Up front, Piquet cruised to victory, taking the chequered flag 6.6 seconds ahead of Rosberg. Prost finished 44 seconds ahead of the second Ferrari of Stefan Johansson, who passed de Angelis for fourth on the final lap, with Tambay taking the final point for sixth. Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 7 BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 53 1:31:46.266 5 9 2 6 FIN Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda 53 + 6.660 1 6 3 2 FRA Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 53 + 9.285 4 4 4 28 SWE Stefan Johansson Ferrari 53 + 53.491 15 3 5 11 ITA Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 53 + 53.690 7 2 6 15 FRA Patrick Tambay Renault 53 + 1:15.167Hamilton Maurice 1985 AUTOCOURSE 1985–86 Hazleton Publishing 242 0-905138-38-4 9 1 7 16 GBR Derek Warwick Renault 53 + 1:44.212 10   8 8 SUI Marc Surer Brabham-BMW 52 + 1 lap 13   9 18 BEL Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 52 + 1 lap 11   10 23 USA Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo 52 + 1 lap 17   11 22 ITA Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo 52 + 1 lap 16   12 9 FRG Manfred Winkelhock RAM-Hart 50 + 3 laps 19   13 4 FRG Stefan Bellof Tyrrell-Ford 50 + 3 laps 25   14 19 ITA Teo Fabi Toleman-Hart 49 Fuel system 18   15 24 ITA Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 49 + 4 laps 23   Ret Retired 3 GBR Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Renault 32 Gearbox 20   Ret Retired 1 AUT Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG 30 Gearbox 6   Ret Retired 12 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault 26 EnginePritchard Anthony March 2006 Lotus: The Competition Cars Haynes Publishing 245 1-84425-006-7 2   Ret Retired 17 AUT Gerhard Berger Arrows-BMW 20 Accident 8   Ret Retired 29 ITA Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Motori Moderni 19 Accident 24   Ret Retired 10 FRA Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart 8 Fuel system 22   Ret Retired 30 GBR Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed 6 Engine 21   Ret Retired 27 ITA Michele Alboreto Ferrari 5 Turbo 3   Ret Retired 25 ITA Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault 4 Steering 12   Ret Retired 26 FRA Jacques Laffite Ligier-Renault 2 Turbo 14   DNS Did not start 5 GBR Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda Driver injured  Source:1985 French Grand Prix http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1985/301/ formula1.com https://web.archive.org/web/20140218000554/http://www.formula1.com/results/season/1985/301/ 18 February 2014 23 December 2015 Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 ITA Michele Alboreto 31 2 FRA Alain Prost 26 3 ITA Elio de Angelis 26 4 FIN Keke Rosberg 18 5 SWE Stefan Johansson 16Source:France 1985 - Championship • STATS F1 https://www.statsf1.com/en/1985/france/championnat.aspx www.statsf1.com 17 March 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 ITA Ferrari 50 2 GBR Lotus-Renault 35 3 GBR McLaren-TAG 29 4 GBR Williams-Honda 23 5 FRA Renault 13Source: Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. References 30em French Grand Prix 1985 1985 Detroit Grand Prix 1985 British Grand Prix 1984 French Grand Prix 1986 French Grand Prix French Grand Prix Category:French Grand Prix Grand Prix French Grand Prix