1985 Detroit Grand Prix

January 2025 F1 United States Detroit 4th Detroit Grand Prix June 23 1985 6 16 Detroit Street CircuitDetroit, Michigan Temporary street course Downtown Detroit Street Circuit.svg 2.56 4.120 63 161.28 259.56 Clear and cool with temperatures reaching up to 80.1 F C; wind speeds up to 23 mph km/hhttps://www.almanac.com/weather/history/MI/Detroit/1985-06-23 1985 Detroit Grand Prix weather information Old Farmers' Almanac 2018-09-03 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault 1:42.051 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault 1:45.612 51 Finland Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda Sweden Stefan Johansson Ferrari ITA 1946 Michele Alboreto Ferrari DET The 1985 Detroit Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on June 23, 1985, in Detroit, Michigan. It was the sixth round of the 1985 FIA Formula One World Championship and the fourth Detroit Grand Prix. The race was held over 63 laps of the four kilometre circuit for a total race distance of 260 kilometres. For the first time in ten years, the United States hosted only one Grand Prix. Finland's Keke Rosberg (Williams FW10) took the lead from pole-sitter Ayrton Senna (Lotus 97T) on lap eight, avoided the tire and brake problems that plagued the other front-runners and held off the Ferrari 156/85s of Stefan Johansson and Michele Alboreto to win. Stefan Bellof earned a scintillating fourth place in his Tyrrell 012, scoring the last points for the legendary Cosworth-Ford DFV engine until 1988. It was the fourth Formula One Grand Prix victory for the 1982 World Champion. Alboreto's third place allowed him to expand his points lead over Lotus driver Elio de Angelis to seven points. Eventual 1985 World Champion Alain Prost was now nine points behind Alboreto and as far from the championship as he would get all year. Summary The street circuit used for this Grand Prix laid out in the center of Detroit had been modified a little- the inside wall at the left-right sequence of corners on Beaubien Street between Congress Street and the notoriously bumpy Larned Street had been moved closer to the street itself, which made the right hander transitioning between Beaubien and Larned Streets slower than before. A bridge connecting 2 buildings flanking Larned Street had also been built; which actually hid the worst bumps on Larned from camera view- although these bumps were made obvious to viewers by the car's undertrays creating sparks thanks to the cars bouncing over these bumps rather violently. In Friday qualifying, Senna's nimble Lotus, well suited to the track, and combined with Senna’s raw talent was easily quickest in both sessions, averaging 88.183 mph (141.917 km/h), nearly 1.2 seconds clear of Nigel Mansell's Williams. Still, changes to the course meant that Senna's time was over a second slower than Nelson Piquet's pole-winning time from the previous year. The Ferraris of Alboreto and Johansson were in third and ninth place, as Alboreto said, "Our suspension does not absorb the bumps nearly as well as the Lotus. I have trouble getting the power down, which is necessary between the slow corners." Rain on Saturday meant that the Friday times would determine the grid, and the teams would be without a much-needed second day of practice although Gerhard Berger had to set his qualifying time on the Saturday as he didn't set a time on Friday after crashing twice before he could set a time. The Williams teammates used different tyre compounds in qualifying and were over a second apart on the grid. Rosberg, on qualifiers, was fifth, while Mansell chose the softer race compound and placed second. This revelation led Rosberg to gamble on using the soft race rubber for the race, while everyone else had the harder compound. Aided by a cool breeze on Sunday, this decision played an important role in the race's outcome. Sunday was warm, humid, clear and breezy with a large crowd. Unlike the 1984 race, the drivers made a clean start, as Mansell got away well on the outside and took the first corner ahead of Senna. In Turn 2, however, Senna took the lead back, and by the end of the first lap, Rosberg had also gotten around Mansell. After one lap, Senna and Rosberg were opening a gap to Mansell, Prost, Alboreto, Derek Warwick, Elio de Angelis, Johansson, Piquet and Lauda. The Tyrrells of Bellof and Martin Brundle, down on power to the turbos but always well suited to the tight Detroit circuit, each moved up six places on the first lap to 12th and 13th. But as the race went on, the track was already beginning to break up, with the worst break up at Turn 2. By lap seven, Senna and Rosberg led Mansell by seven seconds. On lap eight, Senna surrendered the lead when he pitted for tires; regretting his gamble to try to run much of the race on one set of tires, relying on his car's superior performance to all of the other cars. Warwick had dropped back steadily, eventually retiring with a broken driveshaft, while the McLarens of Prost and Lauda quickly experienced brake problems. Lauda made it back to the pits to retire with no brakes on lap 10, but when Prost had the same problem on lap 20, he was unable to slow for Turn 2 and slid into the tyre wall. De Angelis, on the other hand, was making steady progress. He took fourth when Senna pitted, then passed Alboreto for third and began closing the gap to Mansell, who also was struggling with overheating brakes. On lap 20, with Rosberg's lead at 24 seconds, de Angelis got around Mansell to take second place. Mansell pitted on lap 24 after losing another position to Johansson. He returned in ninth place only to retire immediately when he hit the wall hard in Turn 2. As he was about to be lapped, Gerhard Berger damaged the nose of de Angelis' Lotus when he closed the door on the Italian. When de Angelis pitted for tires and a new nose, the Tyrrells were nose to tail in fourth and fifth, hounding the Ferrari of Alboreto. Approaching Turn 16 on lap 31, Philippe Alliot moved over to let Alboreto through but didn't see Brundle right behind. When Alliot moved back to the racing line, Brundle had nowhere to go and hit the wall in a shower of sparks. At the halfway point, Rosberg led Johansson by 33 seconds. Alboreto was another 10 seconds back, followed by Bellof, Senna and de Angelis. Several successive fastest laps by Senna allowed him to overtake Bellof and then quickly close the gap to Alboreto. Entering Turn 2, where the surface was beginning to break up and where both Prost and Mansell had crashed, Alboreto stayed right, away from the racing line and the bad patch at the apex. Senna charged through on the left, got on the marbles, and hit the wall exactly as the others had done, while Alboreto continued, minus the threat to his third place. Meanwhile, Rosberg, secure in the lead, had noticed his water temperature climbing. When a member of the crew noticed something caught in his radiator, he pitted to have it removed. The crew also gave him new tyres, which he didn't want because Johansson was not far behind. Rosberg blasted out of the pits and just managed to beat the Ferrari to the first corner. Spurred on by the chance for his first win, Johansson hounded the Williams until, with just three laps to go, a brake disc broke up and he began to crawl around the circuit, hoping to make the finish. Alboreto, in third, had also been trying to save his brakes, but he now had to contend with a charging Bellof. With two laps to go, the West German had the Tyrrell right on Alboreto's tail, waiting for a mistake. Just as he was about to go by, however, Bellof's clutch began slipping, and he had to be content to follow the Ferrari home, scoring the last points for Ford-Cosworth DFV engine in Formula One. De Angelis, the last driver on the lead lap took fifth place, and Piquet brought the Brabham home in sixth. Classification Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 12 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault 1:42.051 — 2 5 GBR Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 1:43.249 +1.198 3 27 ITA 1946 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:43.748 +1.697 4 2 FRA 1974 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:44.088 +2.037 5 6 FIN Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda 1:44.156 +2.105 6 16 GBR Derek Warwick Renault 1:44.163 +2.112 7 23 USA Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo 1:44.231 2:05.540 +2.180 8 11 ITA 1946 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 1:44.769 +2.718 9 28 SWE Stefan Johansson Ferrari 1:44.921 +2.870 10 7 BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 1:45.194 +3.143 11 8 SWI Marc Surer Brabham-BMW 1:45.979 +3.928 12 1 AUT Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG 1:46.266 +4.215 13 19 ITA 1946 Teo Fabi Toleman-Hart 1:46.546 +4.495 14 22 ITA 1946 Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo 1:46.592 +4.541 15 15 FRA 1974 Patrick Tambay Renault 1:47.028 +4.977 16 26 FRA 1974 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Renault 1:47.267 +5.216 17 25 ITA 1946 Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault 1:47.393 2:12.268 +5.342 18 3 GBR Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Ford 1:47.563 +5.512 19 4 FRG Stefan Bellof Tyrrell-Ford 1:47.911 +5.860 20 9 FRG Manfred Winkelhock RAM-Hart 1:47.926 +5.875 21 18 BEL Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 1:48.023 +5.978 22 24 ITA 1946 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:48.546 2:11.268 +6.495 23 10 FRA 1974 Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart 1:50.455 2:24.814 +8.404 24 17 AUT Gerhard Berger Arrows-BMW 2:05.387 +23.336 25 29 ITA 1946 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Motori Moderni 3:04.446 +1:22.395 Race Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 6 FIN Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda Goodyear 63 1:55:39.851 5 9 2 28 SWE Stefan Johansson Ferrari Goodyear 63 + 57.549 9 6 3 27 ITA 1946 Michele Alboreto Ferrari Goodyear 63 + 1:03.170 3 4 4 4 FRG Stefan Bellof Tyrrell-Ford Goodyear 63 + 1:06.225 19 3 5 11 ITA 1946 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault Goodyear 63 + 1:26.966 8 2 6 7 BRA 1968 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW Pirelli 62 + 1 Lap 10 1 7 18 BEL Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW Goodyear 62 + 1 Lap 21   8 8 SWI Marc Surer Brabham-BMW Pirelli 62 + 1 Lap 11   9 23 USA Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo Goodyear 61 + 2 Laps 7   10 25 ITA 1946 Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault Pirelli 61 + 2 Laps 17   11 17 AUT Gerhard Berger Arrows-BMW Goodyear 60 + 3 Laps 24   12 26 FRA 1974 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Renault Pirelli 58 + 5 Laps 16   Ret Retired 12 BRA 1968 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault Goodyear 51 Accident 1   Ret Retired 3 GBR Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Ford Goodyear 30 Collision 18   Ret Retired 10 FRA 1974 Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart Pirelli 27 Collision 23   Ret Retired 5 GBR Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda Goodyear 26 Accident 2   Ret Retired 2 FRA 1974 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG Goodyear 19 Accident 4   Ret Retired 22 ITA 1946 Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo Goodyear 19 Electrical 14   Ret Retired 16 GBR Derek Warwick Renault Goodyear 18 Transmission 6   Ret Retired 15 FRA 1974 Patrick Tambay Renault Goodyear 15 Accident 15   Ret Retired 29 ITA 1946 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Motori Moderni Pirelli 11 Engine 25   Ret Retired 1 AUT Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG Goodyear 10 Brakes 12   Ret Retired 19 ITA 1946 Teo Fabi Toleman-Hart Pirelli 4 Clutch 13   Ret Retired 9 FRG Manfred Winkelhock RAM-Hart Pirelli 3 Turbo 20   Ret Retired 24 ITA 1946 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo Pirelli 0 Accident 22  Source:https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/1985/races/487/detroit.html 1985 United States Grand Prix formula1.com 15 November 2017 October 2026 InternetArchiveBot https://gparchive.com/formula-1/1985-detroit-grand-prix/ 1985 Detroit Grand Prix - Race Results & History - GP Archive GPArchive.com 23 June 1985 24 November 2021 Championship standings after the race Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 ITA 1946 Michele Alboreto 31 2 ITA 1946 Elio de Angelis 24 3 FRA 1974 Alain Prost 22 4 SWE Stefan Johansson 13 5 FIN Keke Rosberg 12Source:https://www.statsf1.com/en/1985/etats-unis/championnat.aspx USA 1985 - Championship • STATS F1 www.statsf1.com 15 March 2019 Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 ITA 1946 Ferrari 47 2 GBR Lotus-Renault 33 3 GBR McLaren-TAG 25 4 GBR Williams-Honda 17 5 FRA 1974 Renault 12Source: Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings. References 30em Further reading Innes Ireland (October, 1985). "4th Detroit Grand Prix: Look Out, Williams Is Back". Road & Track, 158-162. Detroit Grand Prix 1985 1985 Canadian Grand Prix 1985 French Grand Prix 1984 Detroit Grand Prix 1986 Detroit Grand Prix Detroit Grand Prix Category:Detroit Grand Prix (Formula One) Detroit Grand Prix Detroit Grand Prix Category:June 1985 sports events in the United States