1985 German Grand Prix

The 1985 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Nürburgring on 4 August 1985. It was the ninth race of the 1985 Formula One season.

1985 German Grand Prix
Race 9 of 16 in the 1985 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	4 August 1985
Official name	XLVII Großer Preis von Deutschland
Location	Nürburgring, Nürburg, West Germany
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.542 km (2.822 miles)
Distance	67 laps, 304.314 km (189.091 miles)
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
Lap leaders

Michele Alboreto won the race for Ferrari.

Alain Prost finished second, eleven seconds behind Alboreto.

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 Grand Prix had been held on the Nordschleife configuration until 1976, after which the Grand Prix was moved to the Hockenheimring, following Niki Lauda's near-fatal accident at the 1976 German Grand Prix. The GP-Strecke would not host another Grand Prix until the 1995 European Grand Prix, and would not host the German Grand Prix again until the 2009 edition.

Michele Alboreto won the race, his fifth and last Formula One victory. This event was the first occasion on which an onboard camera was used in a race; on François Hesnault's Renault car. That car was not eligible for championship points, and this race marked the last time that an F1 team entered more than two 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 stating that a team and driver could 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 teammate in his usual car, something Brundle was reported to be not happy with.^{[citation needed]} This was to be the last Grand Prix for Manfred Winkelhock: the German fatally crashed his Porsche 962C sportscar at the 1000 km of Mosport in Canada the following week.^[1][2]

As of 2024, Alboreto's win remains the last for an Italian driver driving for Ferrari in Formula One.

Classification

Qualifying

Pole position went to Teo Fabi, the first of his career and the only pole for the Toleman team.^[3] He set his pole time during the Friday qualifying session; rain on Saturday meant that none of the drivers could improve their times.^{[citation needed]}

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	1:46.773	+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
27	29	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Motori Moderni		1:40.506	+23.077
Sources:[4][5][6]

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[7]	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:[8]

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 Source: [9]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 65 2 McLaren-TAG 46 3 Lotus-Renault 35 4 Williams-Honda 24 5 Renault 15 Source: [9]

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

References

1. "Controversy Erupts Over Death of Race Driver". Los Angeles Times. 14 August 1985. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
2. "Manfred Winklehock". statsf1.com. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
3. "Germany 1985". statsf1.com. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
4. "Germany 1985 - Qualifications". statsf1.com. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
5. "Grosser Preis Von Deutschland 1985 - Qualifying 1". Formula 1. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
6. "Grosser Preis Von Deutschland 1985 - Qualifying 2". Formula 1. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
7. Pritchard, Anthony (March 2006). Lotus: The Competition Cars. Haynes Publishing. p. 245. ISBN 1-84425-006-7.
8. "1985 German Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 17 February 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
9. "Germany 1985 - Championship". statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.

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