San Marino GP 1985

San Marino GP, 1985

In the two weeks between Portugal (where Ayrton Senna had scored his first victory) and Imola, there were rumors that Alfa Romeo's sponsor Benetton was planning to ditch the Italian team and buy the Toleman team. The field was, however, as before except that Pierluigi Martini's Minardi was now fitted with the new Motori Moderni turbo engine. Qualifying saw the confident Senna (Lotus-Renault) on pole from Keke Rosberg (Williams-Honda). Elio de Angelis was third in the second Lotus with Michele Alboreto fourth in his Ferrari. Thierry Boutsen was a strong fifth in his Arrows-BMW ahead of Alain Prost (McLaren-TAG), Nigel Mansell (Williams-Honda), Niki Lauda (McLaren-TAG), Nelson Piquet (Brabham-BMW), the first Pirelli runner. Gerhard Berger completed the top 10 in his Arrows-BMW.

In the race Senna took the lead from de Angelis , Alboreto, Prost and the slow-starting Rosberg. There was a high rate of attrition in the midfield but at the front the only major change was Lauda overtaking Rosberg on the sixth lap. On lap 11 Alboreto overtook de Angelis and he was followed by Prost and then Lauda and when Alboreto went out with electronic troubles on lap 30 it was Senna versus the McLarens but then Lauda spun and his electronics went crazy and de Angelis moved back to third with Johansson fourth. Stefan passed the Lotus in the closing laps and then moved ahead of Prost as well. When Senna ran out of fuel on lap 58, Johansson was briefly ahead but he too ran out of fuel and so Prost led with de Angelis second and Boutsen third. Prost's last lap was a slow one and he stopped as he crossed the line. Boutsen too crossed the line with his engine dead.

Later Prost's car was disqualified for being underweight by two kilograms and so victory was handed to de Angelis with Boutsen second, Tambay third, Lauda fourth, Mansell fifth and Stefan Johansson (Ferrari) sixth.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
dq Alain Prost McLaren-TAG Porsche  60 Car Under Weight 
11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault  60 1h34m35.955s  
18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW  59  
15 Patrick Tambay Renault  59  11 
Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG Porsche  59  
Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda  58  
6r 28 Stefan Johansson Ferrari  57 Out Of Fuel 15 
7r 12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault  57 Out Of Fuel 
8r Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW  57 Out Of Fuel 
Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Cosworth  56  25 
10 16 Derek Warwick Renault  56  14 
23 Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo  50 Engine 12 
nc 24 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo  46  22 
27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari  29 Electrics 
Manfred Winkelhock RAM-Hart  27 Engine 23 
10 Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart  24 Turbo 21 
Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda  23 Throttle /brakes 
26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Renault  22 Turbo 16 
29 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Cosworth  14 Turbo 19 
25 Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault  11 Spin 13 
21 Mauro Baldi Spirit-Hart  Electrics 26 
Francois Hesnault Brabham-BMW  Engine 20 
Stefan Bellof Tyrrell-Cosworth  Engine 24 
17 Gerhard Berger Arrows-BMW  Electrics 10 
22 Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo  Turbo 18 
30 Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed  -1 Misfire 17