1985 San Marino Grand Prix

  1985 San Marino Grand Prix

Race details
Race 3 of 16 in the 1985 Formula One season
Date	5 May 1985
Location	Autodromo Dino Ferrari Imola, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	5.040 km (3.132 mi)
Distance	60 laps, 302.400 km (187.902 mi)
Pole position
Driver	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault
Time	1:27.327
Fastest lap
Driver	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari
Time	1:30.961 on lap 29
Podium
First	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault
Second	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW
Third	Patrick Tambay	Renault

The 1985 San Marino Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Imola on May 5, 1985. It was the third round of the 1985 FIA Formula One World Championship. It was the fifth San Marino Grand Prix.

Qualifying

Before the previous race in Portugal it was revealed that René Arnoux had been fired by Ferrari, with no explanation ever given for his sudden departure by either the team or Arnoux. In his place was Swedish driver Stefan Johansson. Arnoux was in the pits at Imola, but was seen with the Brabham team, starting a false rumor he would soon join the team alongside Nelson Piquet. As it turned out, Arnoux would not drive in F1 again until joining Ligier in 1986.

Portuguese Grand Prix winner Ayrton Senna took the pole in his Lotus-Renault with a time of 1:27.327 which was 1.19 seconds faster than Nelson Piquet's 1984 pole time. Keke Rosberg proved the Williams-Honda would be a much more competitive package in 1985 than its predecessor by taking second on the grid, only 0.027 behind the Black & Gold Lotus. For Senna it would be the first of seven consecutive pole positions at Imola, a run which ended in 1992.

Filling out the second row was an all-Italian affair. Elio de Angelis in his Lotus-Renault in third, followed by arguably the only car and driver the Tifosi really cared about for the race, Italian Michele Alboreto in his Ferrari. Belgian Thierry Boutsen was a surprise 5th fastest in his Arrows-BMW ahead of the McLaren-TAG of Alain Prost. In his second race for Ferrari, Johansson qualified in 15th position.

The slowest qualifier, Mauro Baldi in the Spirit-Hart, was some 9.595 seconds slower than Senna around the 5.040 km (3.132 mi) Imola circuit.

Race

Limited fuel allowances played a big part in the race, as a succession of drivers ran out in the last few laps. Alain Prost took the chequered flag before stopping on the slowing-down lap and being found to be 2 kg underweight in post-race scrutineering, leading to his disqualification. Elio de Angelis was initially disqualified for the same reason but was later reinstated.^[1] Summing up the general feeling that FISA's fuel limit rules had seen Formula One races reduced to mere economy runs, Williams driver Nigel Mansell (who was the last driver to actually finish, 2 laps down in 5th place, and was one of only four of the ten classified finishers to not run out of fuel) noted that "it wasn't really racing".

Stefan Johansson ran a good race in his second drive for the Prancing Horse. After starting 15th he steadily made his way through the field and by late in the race had moved to second (benefiting from others running out of fuel) and was poised to benefit from Senna also running dry 3 laps from home. Johansson took the lead from the Lotus to a thunderous applause from the tifosi, only to run out of fuel himself half a lap later coming out of the Acque Minerali chicane. A post race examination of his car revealed the Ferrari had an electrical malfunction that caused the engine to use more fuel than what the readout was telling the team or Johansson. The Ferrari's read out had told Johansson that he still had enough fuel to finish the race.

The win was the second and last Grand Prix victory for Elio de Angelis who finished a lap ahead of the field. It was also the second win of the year for the John Player Special Team Lotus after Ayrton Senna had scored his first ever F1 win the previous race in Portugal. Second place was eventually awarded to Belgian driver Thierry Boutsen - who ran out of fuel as he reached the start-finish straight on his final lap and pushed his Arrows across the finish line - with Frenchman Patrick Tambay third in his Renault RE60.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault	1:27.589	1:27.327	—
2	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	1:28.347	1:27.354	+0.027
3	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	1:30.325	1:27.852	+0.525
4	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	1:27.871	1:30.637	+0.544
5	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	1:28.829	1:27.918	+0.591
6	2	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	1:28.604	1:28.099	+0.772
7	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	1:29.756	1:28.202	+0.875
8	1	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG	1:29.413	1:28.399	+1.072
9	7	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	1:29.427	1:28.489	+1.162
10	17	Gerhard Berger	Arrows-BMW	1:28.697	1:29.654	+1.370
11	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	1:30.201	1:29.102	+1.775
12	23	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	1:30.605	1:29.259	+1.932
13	25	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier-Renault	1:30.339	1:29.406	+2.079
14	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	1:30.440	1:29.466	+2.139
15	28	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	1:30.240	1:29.806	+2.479
16	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Renault	1:31.625	1:30.982	+3.655
17	30	Jonathan Palmer	Zakspeed	2:30.990	1:31.028	+3.701
18	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	1:31.388	1:31.108	+3.781
19	29	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Motori Moderni	1:32.770	1:48.391	+5.443
20	8	François Hesnault	Brabham-BMW	1:33.142	1:33.160	+5.833
21	10	Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart	1:34.201	2:05.141	+6.874
22	24	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	1:34.974	1:34.209	+6.882
23	9	Manfred Winkelhock	RAM-Hart	1:34.936	1:34.579	+7.252
24	4	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell-Ford	1:35.774	1:35.653	+8.326
25	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Ford	1:36.397	1:36.661	+9.334
26	21	Mauro Baldi	Spirit-Hart	1:36.922	1:38.235	+9.595

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	60	1:34:35.955	3	9
2	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	59	+ 1 Lap	5	6
3	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	59	+ 1 Lap	11	4
4	1	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG	59	+ 1 Lap	8	3
5	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	58	+ 2 Laps	7	2
6	28	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	57	Out of Fuel	15	1
7	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault	57	Out of Fuel	1
8	7	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	57	Out of Fuel	9
9	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Ford	56	Out of Fuel	25
10	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	56	Out of Fuel	14
DSQ	2	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	60	Disqualified	6
Ret	23	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	50	Engine	12
NC	24	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	46	Not Classified	22
Ret	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	29	Electrical	4
Ret	9	Manfred Winkelhock	RAM-Hart	27	Engine	23
Ret	10	Philippe Alliot	RAM-Hart	24	Engine	21
Ret	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	23	Brakes	2
Ret	26	Jacques Laffite	Ligier-Renault	22	Turbo	16
Ret	29	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Motori Moderni	14	Turbo	19
Ret	25	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier-Renault	11	Spun Off	13
Ret	21	Mauro Baldi	Spirit-Hart	9	Electrical	26
Ret	8	François Hesnault	Brabham-BMW	5	Engine	20
Ret	4	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell-Ford	5	Engine	24
Ret	17	Gerhard Berger	Arrows-BMW	4	Engine	10
Ret	22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	4	Engine	18
DNS	30	Jonathan Palmer	Zakspeed	0	Non Starter	17
Source:[2]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Elio de Angelis 16 2 Michele Alboreto 12 3 Patrick Tambay 10 4 Ayrton Senna 9 5 Alain Prost 9

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Lotus-Renault 25 2 Ferrari 16 3 McLaren-TAG 12 4 Renault 10 5 Arrows-BMW 6

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

References