Dutch GP 1985

Dutch GP, 1985

There was only a week between the Austrian and Dutch GPs. Carl Haas decided to launch his new Beatrice Lola and Alan Jones gave the car a run around Brands Hatch. At Zandvoort Tyrrell had finally decided to let Stefan Bellof try out a Renault-engined 014 but otherwise the field was as normal, Andrea de Cesaris having his last race with Ligier, both parties having decided that they were wasting their time. The team had decided to replace Andrea with Philippe Streiff.

Qualifying resulted in pole position for Nelson Piquet's Brabham-BMW with Keke Rosberg alongside in his Williams-Honda. World Championship leader Alain Prost was third with Ayrton Senna fourth in his Lotus-Renault while Teo Fabi was fifth in his Toleman-Hart ahead of Patrick Tambay's Renault, Nigel Mansell's Williams-Honda, Thierry Boutsen's Arrows-BMW, Marc Surer's Brabham and Niki Lauda's McLaren. The Ferraris were off the pace with World Championship hopeful Michele Alboreto 16th on the grid and Stefan Johansson 17th. On the reconnaissance laps Tambay's Renault suffered a suspension failure and so Patrick had to start from the pitlane.

At the start both Piquet and Boutsen both stalled but everyone else managed to get by. Rosberg took the lead with Senna and Fabi behind him while Prost lost a little time dodging around Piquet and so dropped to fourth. Prost quickly repassed Fabi and he was followed by Lauda. Fabi soon went off the road and bounced through the sand. He blamed a loose rear wheel.

On the nineteenth lap Rosberg disappeared with a blown engine and so Senna led Prost and Lauda. The Austrian pitted almost immediately and so third place went to the Renault of Derek Warwick, up from 12th on the grid. He was followed by the flying Tambay. It did not last long on lap 23 Tambay disappeared with a transmission failure. Warwick lasted only a few more laps before he stopped with a gearbox failure. The other front-runners pitted but Prost had a problem with one tire and lost a lot of time so that Lauda was left ahead of Senna and then a 12 second gap back to Prost, then came Surer who was running nonstop ahead of de Angelis, Alboreto and Gerhard Berger (Arrows-BMW). Alboreto quickly caught and passed de Angelis while Prost closed on Senna and took second place on lap 48.

Surer dropped away with a broken exhaust and so de Angelis was fourth ahead of Mansell, Martin Brundle (Tyrrell-Renault) and Berger. For the last few laps Lauda and Prost ran nose-to-tail. They finished just 0.232s apart. Third place also featured a battle with the down-on-power Senna trying to hold off Alboreto. The two cars hit on the final lap but both made it to the flag. while de Angelis and Mansell completed the top six.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 1 Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG Porsche  70 1h32m29.263s  10 
2 2 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG Porsche  70 1h32m29.263s  3 
3 12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault  70 1h33m17.754s  4 
4 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari  70 1h33m18.100s  16 
5 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault  69  11 
6 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda  69  7 
7 3 Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Cosworth  69  21 
8 7 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW  69  1 
9 17 Gerhard Berger Arrows-BMW  68  14 
10r 8 Francois Hesnault Brabham-BMW  65 Exhaust 9 
nc 24 Huub Rothengotter Osella-Alfa Romeo  56  26 
r 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW  54 Suspension 8 
r 9 Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart  52 Engine 25 
r 4 Stefan Bellof Tyrrell-Cosworth  39 Engine 22 
r 16 Derek Warwick Renault  27 Gearbox 12 
r 25 Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault  25 Turbo 18 
r 15 Patrick Tambay Renault  22 Transmission 6 
r 6 Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda  20 Engine 2 
r 19 Teo Fabi Toleman-Hart  18 Wheel Bearing 5 
r 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Renault  17 Electrics 13 
r 30 Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed  13 Oil Pressure 23 
r 20 Piercarlo Ghinzani Toleman-Hart  12 Engine 15 
r 28 Stefan Johansson Ferrari  9 Engine 17 
r 29 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Cosworth  1 Accident 24 
r 23 Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo  1 Turbo 20 
r 22 Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo  1 Turbo 19 
nq 20 Piercarlo Ghinzani Toleman-Hart    27