Italian GP 1985

Italian GP, 1985

On the weekend between the Dutch and Italian GPs there was a World Sportscar Championship race at Spa. Stefan Bellof was sharing a Brun Porsche with Thierry Boutsen but collided with Jacky Ickx's Rothmans Porsche at Eau Rouge corner and was killed. Earlier Jonathan Palmer had crashed his Richard Lloyd Porsche heavily and broken his leg. Zakspeed did not bother going to Monza while Tyrrell decided not to replace Bellof immediately. Andrea de Cesaris had left Ligier and his place had been taken by Philippe Streiff while the new Haas Lola team appeared with a Hart-engined chassis being driven by Alan Jones.

Ayrton Senna took pole position in his Lotus-Renault with Keke Rosberg's Williams-Honda second fastest ahead of his team mate Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet (Brabham-BMW) was fourth with Alain Prost (McLaren-TAG) fifth and Elio de Angelis (Lotus-Renault) sixth. The top 10 was completed by Michele Alboreto (Ferrari), Patrick Tambay (Renault), Marc Surer (Brabham-BMW) and Stefan Johansson (Ferrari).

At the start Rosberg beat Senna into the first corner and Nigel Mansell quickly went ahead of the Lotus to make it a Williams-Honda 1-2. Senna had Prost right on his tail and Alain soon moved to third place. Mansell's car then hit electronic trouble and he pitted, rejoining almost exactly two laps behind. Prost was second with de Angelis up to third having overtaken the struggling Senna. It did not last long because Niki Lauda was soon moving up the order and he took third on lap 17. The order did not then change until Lauda broke a front wing and had to pit. He was followed in by Rosberg who needed new tires. This left Prost ahead of Rosberg with Senna third, de Angelis fourth and Piquet fifth. Rosberg was soon back in the lead but on lap 45 Keke suffered an engine failure and so Prost was ahead again with Piquet having got the better of Senna to finish second. Senna was third with Lauda fourth and Johansson fifth ahead of de Angelis.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
Alain Prost McLaren-TAG Porsche  51 1h17m59.451s  
Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW  51 1h18m51.086s  
12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault  51 1h18m59.841s  
Marc Surer Brabham-BMW  51 1h19m00.060s  
5r 28 Stefan Johansson Ferrari  50 Out Of Fuel 10 
11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault  50  
15 Patrick Tambay Renault  50  
Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Cosworth  50  18 
18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW  50  14 
10 25 Philippe Streiff Ligier-Renault  49  19 
11r Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda  47 Engine 
12 19 Teo Fabi Toleman-Hart  47  15 
13r 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari  45 Engine 
Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda  44 Engine 
26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Renault  40 Engine 20 
Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG Porsche  33 Transmission 16 
22 Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo  31 Exhaust 13 
24 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo  26 Engine 22 
Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart  19 Turbo 26 
17 Gerhard Berger Arrows-BMW  13 Engine 11 
16 Derek Warwick Renault  Transmission 
33 Alan Jones Lola-Hart  Distributor 25 
23 Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo  Engine 17 
10 Kenny Acheson RAM-Hart  Clutch 24 
29 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Cosworth  Fuel Pump 23 
20 Piercarlo Ghinzani Toleman-Hart  Stalled On Grid 21