German GP 1985
AUGUST 4, 1985
German GP, 1985
The German Grand Prix had been transferred to the Nurburgring and there had been some changes in the field as well with Piercarlo Ghinzani being dropped by Osella to make way for pay-driver Huub Rothengatter. There was also a third Renault being run for Francois Hesnault. There was talk of Ghinzani joining Toleman in a second car and Teo Fabi's pole position at the Nurburgring helped that along. The Hart engine had a new electronic system and the Toleman chassis had been improved and Fabi was right on the pace. He was nearly 1.2secs ahead of Stefan Johansson's Ferrari which was ahead of Alain Prost (McLaren-TAG), Keke Rosberg's Williams-Honda, Ayrton Senna's Lotus-Renault and Nelson Piquet's Brabham-BMW. The top 10 was completed by Elio de Angelis (Lotus-Renault), Michele Alboreto (Ferrari), Riccardo Patrese (Alfa Romeo) and Nigel Mansell (Williams-Honda).
At the start of the race Fabi made a bad start and so Johansson led down to the first corner but the Ferrari engine stuttered and Rosberg went around him on the outside and Senna dived ahead on the inside. As Johansson braked, Alboreto tried to follow Senna through on the inside and the two Ferraris hit. Alboreto's front wing punctured Johansson's rear tire.
Senna led Rosberg and Alboreto (who did not have any damage) but before the end of the first lap Rosberg was in the lead. Behind Senna Alboreto was followed by de Angelis, Prost, Piquet, Mansell, Fabi and Patrese.
Mansell soon overtook Piquet but then the order remained unchanged until lap 24 when Piquet went out with a turbo failure. Three laps later Senna's race ended with a transmission problem. A few laps later Fabi disappeared with clutch failure. Next to go was de Angelis who went out on lap 41 with an engine failure. Rosberg was struggling and on lap 45 he was overtaken by Alboreto and Prost. Mansell was fourth but under pressure from Jacques Laffite's Ligier-Renault. Rosberg eventually had to pit for new tires and eventually he retired with brake failure. Mansell was briefly third but was passed by Laffite and the two battled or several laps before Laffite finally got ahead and finished third behind Alboreto and Prost. Thierry Boutsen (Arrows-BMW) picked up fourth as Mansell's car lost its turbo boost and Niki Lauda nipped ahead on the last lap to claim fifth, leaving Mansell with just one point.
POS | NO | DRIVER | ENTRANT | LAPS | TIME/RETIREMENT | QUAL POS |
1 | 27 | Michele Alboreto | Ferrari | 67 | 1h35m31.337s | 8 |
2 | 2 | Alain Prost | McLaren-TAG Porsche | 67 | 1h35m42.998s | 3 |
3 | 26 | Jacques Laffite | Ligier-Renault | 67 | 1h36m22.491s | 13 |
4 | 18 | Thierry Boutsen | Arrows-BMW | 67 | 1h36m26.616s | 15 |
5 | 1 | Niki Lauda | McLaren-TAG Porsche | 67 | 1h36m45.309s | 12 |
6 | 5 | Nigel Mansell | Williams-Honda | 67 | 1h36m48.157s | 10 |
7 | 17 | Gerhard Berger | Arrows-BMW | 66 | 17 | |
8 | 3 | Stefan Bellof | Tyrrell-Cosworth | 66 | 19 | |
9 | 28 | Rene Arnoux | Ferrari | 66 | 2 | |
10 | 4 | Martin Brundle | Tyrrell-Cosworth | 63 | 26 | |
11r | 29 | Pierluigi Martini | Minardi-Cosworth | 62 | Engine | 27 |
12r | 6 | Keke Rosberg | Williams-Honda | 61 | Brake Caliper | 4 |
r | 23 | Eddie Cheever | Alfa Romeo | 45 | Turbo | 18 |
r | 11 | Elio de Angelis | Lotus-Renault | 40 | Engine | 7 |
r | 24 | Huub Rothengotter | Osella-Alfa Romeo | 32 | Gearbox | 25 |
r | 19 | Teo Fabi | Toleman-Hart | 29 | Clutch | 1 |
r | 12 | Ayrton Senna | Lotus-Renault | 27 | Cv Joint | 5 |
r | 16 | Derek Warwick | Renault | 25 | Ignition | 20 |
r | 7 | Nelson Piquet | Brabham-BMW | 23 | Turbo | 6 |
r | 15 | Patrick Tambay | Renault | 19 | Spin | 16 |
r | 8 | Marc Surer | Brabham-BMW | 15 | Engine | 11 |
r | 9 | Manfred Winkelhock | RAM-Hart | 8 | Engine | 22 |
r | 22 | Riccardo Patrese | Alfa Romeo | 8 | Gearbox | 9 |
r | 14 | Francois Hesnault | Renault | 8 | Clutch | 23 |
r | 10 | Philippe Alliot | RAM-Hart | 8 | Oil Pressure | 21 |
r | 30 | Jonathan Palmer | Zakspeed | 7 | Alternator Belt | 24 |
r | 25 | Andrea de Cesaris | Ligier-Renault | 0 | Accident/steering Arm | 14 |