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1985 British Grand Prix
Race 8 of 16 in the 1985 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	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda
Time	1:05.591
Fastest lap
Driver	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG
Time	1:09.886 on lap 43
Podium
First	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG
Second	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari
Third	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Renault
Lap leaders

The 1985 British Grand Prix (formally the XXXVIII Marlboro British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 21 July 1985. It was the eighth race of the 1985 Formula One World Championship.

The 65-lap race was won by Alain Prost, driving a McLaren-TAG, after he started from third position. Michele Alboreto finished second in a Ferrari, with Jacques Laffite third in a Ligier-Renault. The win, Prost's third of the season, moved him to within two points of Alboreto at the top of the Drivers' Championship.

Report

Silverstone, a circuit located on a former World War II airfield located between London and Birmingham 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 saw Keke Rosberg underline Silverstone's incredibly high speed laps by taking pole in his Williams 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 was Nelson Piquet in the Brabham, while Alain Prost in the McLaren and Ayrton Senna in the Lotus were on the second row. Nigel Mansell in the second Williams and championship leader Michele Alboreto in the Ferrari filled the third row, while on the fourth were Andrea de Cesaris in the Ligier and Elio de Angelis in the second Lotus. Teo Fabi in the Toleman and Niki 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, as Patrick Tambay in the Renault lost control and was hit by the second Ferrari of Stefan Johansson, which also caused the Osella of Piercarlo Ghinzani and the RAM of Philippe 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, while Jacques 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 by Derek Warwick in the second Renault and Marc 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.

Classification

Qualifying

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

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	2	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	65	1:18:10.436	3	9
2	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	64	+ 1 Lap	6	6
3	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Renault	64	+ 1 Lap	16	4
4	7	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	64	+ 1 Lap	2	3
5	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	64	+ 1 Lap	12	2
6	8	Marc Surer	Brabham-BMW	63	+ 2 Laps	15	1
7	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Renault	63	+ 2 Laps	20
8	17	Gerhard Berger	Arrows-BMW	63	+ 2 Laps	17
9	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	62	+ 3 Laps	14
10	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault	60	Fuel injection, electronics	4
11	4	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell-Ford	59	+ 6 Laps	26
Ret	1	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG	57	Electrical	10
Ret	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	57	Spun Off	19
Ret	25	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier-Renault	41	Clutch	7
Ret	29	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Motori Moderni	38	Transmission	23
NC	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	37	+ 28 Laps	8
Ret	9	Manfred Winkelhock	RAM-Hart	28	Turbo	18
Ret	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	21	Exhaust	1
Ret	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	17	Clutch	5
Ret	23	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	17	Turbo	22
Ret	30	Jonathan Palmer	Zakspeed	6	Engine	24
Ret	19	Teo Fabi	Toleman-Hart	4	Transmission	9
Ret	28	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	1	Accident	11
Ret	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	0	Collision	13
Ret	10	Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart	0	Accident	21
Ret	24	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	0	Accident	25
Source:

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Michele Alboreto 37 2 Alain Prost 35 3 Elio de Angelis 26 4 Keke Rosberg 18 5 Stefan Johansson 16 Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 56 2 McLaren-TAG 38 3 Lotus-Renault 35 4 Williams-Honda 23 5 Renault 15 Source:

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

References

1. Hamilton, Maurice, ed. (1985). AUTOCOURSE 1985–86. Hazleton Publishing. p. 244. ISBN 0-905138-38-4.
2. Hamilton, Maurice, ed. (1985). AUTOCOURSE 1985–86. Hazleton Publishing. p. 245. ISBN 0-905138-38-4.
3. Pritchard, Anthony (March 2006). Lotus: The Competition Cars. Haynes Publishing. p. 245. ISBN 1-84425-006-7.
4. "1985 British Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 February 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
5. ^ "Britain 1985 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.

• 1985 Formula One races
• British Grand Prix
• 1985 in British motorsport
• July 1985 sports events in the United Kingdom