1985 Belgian Grand Prix

The 1985 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Spa-Francorchamps on 15 September 1985. It was the thirteenth round of the 1985 FIA Formula One World Championship. The race was the 43rd Belgian Grand Prix, the 31st to be held at Spa and the second since the circuit had been rebuilt and re-opened at half its original length in 1979. The race was held over 43 laps of the seven kilometre circuit for a total race distance of 301 kilometres.

The race was won by Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna driving a Lotus 97T. It was Senna's second World Championship victory and the first of five he would win at Spa-Francorchamps. Senna won by 28 seconds over British driver Nigel Mansell driving a Williams FW10. Third was World Championship points leader, French driver Alain Prost driving a McLaren MP4/2B. The win promoted Senna to third in the drivers' standings and third place allowed Prost to expand his lead over Ferrari driver Michele Alboreto to 16 points.

Originally scheduled to take place on 2 June 1985, the Grand Prix was rescheduled for September after the recently resurfaced track became damaged during the race weekend.<ref name=":1" />

Race summary

Track surface and postponement

This was the second Belgian Grand Prix to occur at a reconfigured Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, with the first being the 1983 race. Race organisers opted to resurface the track with a material called Stress Absorbing Membrane Interlayer that intended to provide improved grip in wet-weather conditions at a cost of £3 million.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile (FISA), the governing body of Formula One, was queried about the resurfacing work and replied it would approve if race organisers complied with a regulation that mandates any such work occur 60 days beforehand. Local bureaucracy and a harsh winter caused delays to the work, which were reportedly finished ten days before the event's scheduled date of 31 May, and forced a cancellation of a pre-race test session at the circuit.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> Organisers did not refer the incident to the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile and went ahead.<ref name=":1" />

Warm weather, the powerful turbocharged cars of the time,<ref name=":0" /> and their wide, slick tyres,<ref name=":1" /> damaged the track during the Friday practice session.<ref name=":0" /> Repairs to the circuit were conducted overnight and undamaged turns were also addressed. After around 25 minutes into the Saturday practice session, all on-track activity stopped, since drivers noticed the damage and held a series of meetings. One suggestion was to cancel the remainder of the day's activities, the Sunday morning warm-up session and enter straight into the race on Sunday afternoon. Bernie Ecclestone, the commercial rights holder of Formula One, called every team principal to a meeting and told them to hold the International Formula 3000 support round on Sunday afternoon or it be the primary event.<ref name=":0" /> Drivers and officials inspected the track at 18:00 local time.<ref name=":1" /> Discussions continued until 19:30 local time and drivers' representative Niki Lauda told the media that the Formula One race would be postponed.<ref name=":0" />

Jean-Marie Balestre, the president of FISA, was furious and summoned race organisers to the FISA executive meeting in Paris "to explain the serious fault committed," and said that they "will be liable to very heavy sanctions."<ref name=":0" /> The Belgian ASN was fined $10,000 and a provisional $100,000 bond to be deposited to FISA by the organisers would be returned in the event there were no further problems with the track on the rescheduled date. Ecclestone rescheduled the race to 15 September, following the Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza and the European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch. The race at Brands Hatch was later moved back by one week to provide the teams with some preparation.<ref name=":0" />

Postponed race

Because this was a rescheduled race Formula One's newest team Haas Lola and their driver, Template:F1 World Champion Alan Jones, who had their first race at the previous round in Italy were not permitted to enter as they were not on the original entry list. During the buildup to the race FISA president Jean-Marie Balestre announced that the controversial South African Grand Prix would take place despite pressure to cancel the event as part of anti-apartheid embargoes.

Missing from the grid was an injured Niki Lauda. At the end of Friday's practice session before qualifying proper, his McLaren MP4/2B's throttle stuck open while he was only touring back to the pits. The car slid off the track on the newer section of track and the three time and defending World Champion hit a guardrail and on impact the steering wheel whipped around wrenching his wrist as it did so. X-rays revealed no break but Lauda was not fit to race so he returned home to Austria for further inspection and treatment from his physical therapist Willi Dungl. McLaren initially hoped to put John Watson in Lauda's car but this would have required the approval of all other teams. Mindful of the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari refused to agree, leaving Alain Prost as McLaren's only driver in Belgium. RAM was also down to one car, only bringing a single RAM 03 for Philippe Alliot and the 1985 Formula 3000 champion Christian Danner made his world championship debut with Zakspeed.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":3">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Prost took pole position, averaging 135.929 mph (218.756 km/h) from Senna with Nelson Piquet qualifying third in his Brabham BT54, with Alboreto fourth in his Ferrari 156/85. Rain fell before the race leaving the grid to form on a damp track with wet-weather tyres for the first time since Senna won in Portugal. Senna won the start from Piquet but the Brabham spun at the first corner. Senna led from Prost, Mansell and the two Ferraris of Alboreto and Stefan Johansson. The Ferraris were soon out, from a broken clutch and engine respectively. Meanwhile Johansson retired after spinning off at the end of the Kemmel Straight on Lap 8. Prost dropped behind the two Williams FW10s as the field pitted for dry tyres. Late in the race rain fell again and Senna expanded his lead. Keke Rosberg dropped to fourth with a brief pit visit with a brake problem and they finished in that order. Fifth had been Thierry Boutsen until his Arrows A8 broke its gearbox. Piquet claimed fifth from Derek Warwick in a Renault RE60B, Warwick scored the last point for the original factory Renault team. Twelve cars finished the race, including for the first time a Minardi as Pierluigi Martini finished twelfth in his Minardi M185. A further two cars, Boutsen and the crashed Ligier JS25 of Jacques Laffite were also classified as finishers. Huub Rothengatter's Osella FA1G fell one lap short of being classified.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />

Although the marshals led the cars directly into the pits after finish, Ayrton Senna drove around them and took a lap of honour.<ref name="lap of honour">Template:Cite web</ref>

Classification

Qualifying

Rescheduled qualifying (13 and 14 September 1985)

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	2	Template:Flagicon Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	1:56.563	1:55.306	—
2	12	Template:Flagicon Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault	2:00.710	1:55.403	+0.097
3	7	Template:Flagicon Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	1:56.643	1:55.648	+0.342
4	27	Template:Flagicon Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	1:56.999	1:56.021	+0.715
5	28	Template:Flagicon Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	1:56.585	1:56.746	+1.279
6	18	Template:Flagicon Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	1:59.046	1:56.697	+1.391
7	5	Template:Flagicon Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	1:56.727	1:56.996	+1.421
8	17	Template:Flagicon Gerhard Berger	Arrows-BMW	1:56.770		+1.464
9	11	Template:Flagicon Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	1:58.852	1:57.322	+2.016
10	6	Template:Flagicon Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	1:57.582	1:57.465	+2.159
11	19	Template:Flagicon Teo Fabi	Toleman-Hart	1:57.588	1:57.857	+2.282
12	8	Template:Flagicon Marc Surer	Brabham-BMW	2:00.154	1:57.729	+2.423
13	15	Template:Flagicon Patrick Tambay	Renault	1:58.105	1:59.335	+2.799
14	16	Template:Flagicon Derek Warwick	Renault	1:59.761	1:58.407	+3.101
15	22	Template:Flagicon Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	1:59.703	1:58.414	+3.108
16	20	Template:Flagicon Piercarlo Ghinzani	Toleman-Hart	1:58.820	1:58.706	+3.400
17	26	Template:Flagicon Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Renault	2:01.745	1:58.933	+3.627
18	25	Template:Flagicon Philippe Streiff	Ligier-Renault	2:00.599	1:59.245	+3.939
19	23	Template:Flagicon Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	2:00.861	1:59.370	+4.064
20	9	Template:Flagicon Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart	1:59.626	1:59.755	+4.320
21	3	Template:Flagicon Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Renault	2:00.950	2:01.364	+5.644
22	30	Template:Flagicon Christian Danner	Zakspeed	2:05.059	2:07.046	+9.753
23	24	Template:Flagicon Huub Rothengatter	Osella-Alfa Romeo	2:06.083	2:05.776	+10.470
24	29	Template:Flagicon Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Motori Moderni	2:06.007	2:06.606	+10.701

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	12	Template:Flagicon Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault	43	1:34:19.893	2	9
2	5	Template:Flagicon Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	43	+ 28.422	7	6
3	2	Template:Flagicon Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	43	+ 55.109	1	4
4	6	Template:Flagicon Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	43	+ 1:15.290	10	3
5	7	Template:Flagicon Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	42	+ 1 lap	3	2
6	16	Template:Flagicon Derek Warwick	Renault	42	+ 1 lap	14	1
7	17	Template:Flagicon Gerhard Berger	Arrows-BMW	42	+ 1 lap	8
8	8	Template:Flagicon Marc Surer	Brabham-BMW	42	+ 1 lap	12
9	25	Template:Flagicon Philippe Streiff	Ligier-Renault	42	+ 1 lap	18
10	18	Template:Flagicon Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	40	Gearbox	6
11	26	Template:Flagicon Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Renault	38	Accident	17
12	29	Template:Flagicon Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Motori Moderni	38	+ 5 laps	24
13	3	Template:Flagicon Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Renault	38	+ 5 laps	21
NC	24	Template:Flagicon Huub Rothengatter	Osella-Alfa Romeo	37	+ 6 laps	23
Ret	22	Template:Flagicon Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	31	Engine	15
Ret	23	Template:Flagicon Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	26	Gearbox	19
Ret	15	Template:Flagicon Patrick Tambay	Renault	24	Gearbox	13
Ret	19	Template:Flagicon Teo Fabi	Toleman-Hart	23	Throttle	11
Ret	11	Template:Flagicon Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	17	Turbo	9
Ret	30	Template:Flagicon Christian Danner	Zakspeed	16	Gearbox	22
Ret	9	Template:Flagicon Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart	10	Accident	20
Ret	28	Template:Flagicon Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	7	Spun off	5
Ret	20	Template:Flagicon Piercarlo Ghinzani	Toleman-Hart	7	Accident	16
Ret	27	Template:Flagicon Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	3	Clutch	4
DNS	1	Template:Flagicon Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG		Driver injured
Source:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> {{safesubst:#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=|preview=Page using Template:Center with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| 1 | style }}

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Template:Flagicon Alain Prost	69
2	Template:Flagicon Michele Alboreto	53
3	Template:Flagicon Ayrton Senna	32
4	Template:Flagicon Elio de Angelis	31
5	Template:Flagicon Keke Rosberg	21
Source: <ref name="champ">Template:Cite web</ref>

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Template:Flagicon McLaren-TAG	83
2	Template:Flagicon Ferrari	77
3	Template:Flagicon Lotus-Renault	63
4	Template:Flagicon Williams-Honda	34
5	Template:Flagicon Brabham-BMW	26
Source: <ref name="champ"/>

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

References

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