German GP 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.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari  67 1h35m31.337s  
Alain Prost McLaren-TAG Porsche  67 1h35m42.998s  
26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Renault  67 1h36m22.491s  13 
18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW  67 1h36m26.616s  15 
Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG Porsche  67 1h36m45.309s  12 
Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda  67 1h36m48.157s  10 
17 Gerhard Berger Arrows-BMW  66  17 
Stefan Bellof Tyrrell-Cosworth  66  19 
28 Rene Arnoux Ferrari  66  
10 Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Cosworth  63  26 
11r 29 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Cosworth  62 Engine 27 
12r Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda  61 Brake Caliper 
23 Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo  45 Turbo 18 
11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault  40 Engine 
24 Huub Rothengotter Osella-Alfa Romeo  32 Gearbox 25 
19 Teo Fabi Toleman-Hart  29 Clutch 
12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault  27 Cv Joint 
16 Derek Warwick Renault  25 Ignition 20 
Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW  23 Turbo 
15 Patrick Tambay Renault  19 Spin 16 
Marc Surer Brabham-BMW  15 Engine 11 
Manfred Winkelhock RAM-Hart  Engine 22 
22 Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo  Gearbox 
14 Francois Hesnault Renault  Clutch 23 
10 Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart  Oil Pressure 21 
30 Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed  Alternator Belt 24 
25 Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault  Accident/steering Arm 14