1985 Italian Grand Prix

The 1985 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 8 September 1985. It was the twelfth round of the 1985 FIA Formula One World Championship. It was the 55th Italian Grand Prix and the 50th to be held at Monza. The race was held over 51 laps of the 5.8-kilometre circuit for a total race distance of 295.8 kilometres.

1985 Italian Grand Prix
Race 12 of 16 in the 1985 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	8 September 1985
Official name	LVI Gran Premio d'Italia
Location	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.800 km (3.60 miles)
Distance	51 laps, 295.800 km (183.600 miles)
Weather	Dry
Pole position
Driver	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault
Time	1:25.084
Fastest lap
Driver	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda
Time	1:28.283 on lap 38
Podium
First	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG
Second	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW
Third	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault
Lap leaders

The race was won by Frenchman Alain Prost driving a McLaren MP4/2B. It was Prost's fifth and final victory of the 1985 season as he powered towards the first of his four Formula One world championships. Prost won by almost 52 seconds over the Brazilian duo Nelson Piquet (Brabham BT54) and Ayrton Senna (Lotus 97T).

It was the debut race for the American owned Haas Lola team with their new car, the Lola THL1 running the Hart 415T turbocharged engine, driven by Australia's 1980 World Champion Alan Jones. Jones, who had retired following the 1981 season, was making a full-time return to Formula One after two races, the US Grand Prix West, and the non championship Race of Champions with Arrows in early 1983.

Missing from the grid was popular West German driver Stefan Bellof who was killed a week earlier in a World Sportscar Championship race at the Spa Circuit in Belgium. With his funeral set for the day after the Italian Grand Prix the Tyrrell team only ran the one car for Martin Brundle feeling it would be disrespectful to Bellof to bring a driver in to replace him for the race. Members of the Tyrrell team, including team boss Ken Tyrrell, attended Bellof's funeral the next day.

Senna's pole position is often cited as one of his greatest moments.

Classification

Qualifying

Pole position went to Ayrton Senna; his 5th pole of the year. His average speed was 152.487 mph (245.405 km/h).

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault	1:27.009	1:25.084	—
2	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	1:26.161	1:25.230	+0.146
3	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	1:26.960	1:25.486	+0.402
4	7	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	1:25.679	1:25.584	+0.500
5	2	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	1:27.576	1:25.790	+0.706
6	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	1:27.098	1:26.004	+0.920
7	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	1:27.552	1:26.468	+1.384
8	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	1:28.578	1:27.020	+1.936
9	8	Marc Surer	Brabham-BMW	1:27.799	1:27.153	+2.069
10	28	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	1:29.001	1:27.473	+2.389
11	17	Gerhard Berger	Arrows-BMW	1:27.746	1:27.723	+2.639
12	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	1:28.119	1:28.112	+3.028
13	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	1:29.068	1:28.340	+3.256
14	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	1:28.369	1:28.760	+3.285
15	19	Teo Fabi	Toleman-Hart	1:29.050	1:28.386	+3.302
16	1	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG	1:28.472	1:28.949	+3.388
17	23	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	1:29.298	1:28.629	+3.545
18	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Renault	1:33.503	1:28.793	+3.709
19	25	Philippe Streiff	Ligier-Renault	1:31.727	1:29.839	+4.755
20	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Renault	1:30.186	1:30.376	+5.102
21	20	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Toleman-Hart	1:30.271	1:31.449	+5.187
22	24	Huub Rothengatter	Osella-Alfa Romeo	1:33.529	1:37.664	+8.445
23	29	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Motori Moderni	1:35.770	1:33.961	+8.877
24	10	Kenny Acheson	RAM-Hart	1:34.919	1:38.325	+9.835
25	33	Alan Jones	Lola-Hart	1:34.943	1:45.823	+9.859
26	9	Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart	1:36.221	1:37.664	+11.137

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	2	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	51	1:17:59.451	5	9
2	7	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	51	+ 51.635	4	6
3	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault	51	+ 1:00.390	1	4
4	8	Marc Surer	Brabham-BMW	51	+ 1:00.609	9	3
5	28	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	50	+ 1 Lap	10	2
6	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	50	+ 1 Lap	6	1
7	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	50	+ 1 Lap	8
8	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Renault	50	+ 1 Lap	18
9	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	50	+ 1 Lap	14
10	25	Philippe Streiff	Ligier-Renault	49	+ 2 Laps	19
11	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	47	Engine	3
12	19	Teo Fabi	Toleman-Hart	47	+ 4 Laps	15
13	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	45	Engine	7
Ret	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	44	Engine	2
Ret	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Renault	40	Engine	20
Ret	1	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG	33	Transmission	16
Ret	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	31	Exhaust	13
Ret	24	Huub Rothengatter	Osella-Alfa Romeo	26	Engine	22
Ret	9	Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart	19	Turbo	26
Ret	17	Gerhard Berger	Arrows-BMW	13	Engine	11
Ret	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	9	Transmission	12
Ret	33	Alan Jones	Lola-Hart	6	Engine	25
Ret	23	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	3	Engine	17
Ret	10	Kenny Acheson	RAM-Hart	2	Clutch	24
Ret	29	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Motori Moderni	0	Fuel Pump	23
DNS	20	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Toleman-Hart	0	Non Starter
Source:

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Alain Prost	65
2	Michele Alboreto	53
3	Elio de Angelis	31
4	Ayrton Senna	23
5	Stefan Johansson	21
Source:

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	McLaren-TAG	79
2	Ferrari	77
3	Lotus-Renault	54
4	Williams-Honda	25
5	Brabham-BMW	24
Source:

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

External links

• Grand Prix Archives Video