1985 San Marino Grand Prix

Race

Ayrton Senna took pole position in his Lotus - Renault with a time of 1:27.327, with Keke Rosberg alongside him on the front row in the Williams - Honda . For Senna it would be the first of seven consecutive pole positions at Imola, a run which ended in 1992 .

Filling the second row were Elio de Angelis in the second Lotus and Michele Alboreto in the Ferrari . Belgian Thierry Boutsen was a surprise 5th fastest in the Arrows - BMW , ahead of the McLaren - TAG of Alain Prost . In his second race for Ferrari, Johansson qualified 15th.

Race

Following this, until the end of the turbo era at the end of 1988 , McLaren drivers would routinely pull up just beyond the finish line after a race so as to leave as much fuel in the tank as possible and avoid being underweight. It would actually become a common sight during this time to see all finishing cars pulling up just beyond the line in order to beat the weight limit.

Race

Prost's disqualification promoted de Angelis to the win, his second in F1, even though at no point did he ever actually lead the race. Second place was thus awarded to Boutsen — who ran out of fuel as he reached the start-finish straight on his final lap and pushed his Arrows - BMW across the finish line to secure his finishing position (unlike Prost's McLaren , the Arrows was still over the weight limit), with third going to Frenchman Patrick Tambay who had won the race for Ferrari in 1983 , hi...

Mauro Baldi and Spirit Racing entered their last Grand Prix: the small British team were having financial troubles and the Toleman team, via their new major sponsor, Italian fashion house Benetton , offered to buy the Spirit team. The offer was accepted and the Benetton Group immediately transferred Spirit's existing Pirelli tyre contract to Toleman, allowing them to race from the next round in Monaco .

Quick Facts

1985 San Marino Grand Prix Race 3 of 16 in the 1985 Formula One World Championship

1985 San Marino Grand Prix nan

1985 San Marino Grand Prix Race details

1985 San Marino Grand Prix Date

1985 San Marino Grand Prix Location

1985 San Marino Grand Prix Course

1985 San Marino Grand Prix Course length

1985 San Marino Grand Prix Distance

1985 San Marino Grand Prix Pole position

1985 San Marino Grand Prix Driver

Table 1

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2
1	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault	1:27.589	1:27.327
2	6	Keke Rosberg	Williams-Honda	1:28.347	1:27.354
3	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	1:30.325	1:27.852
4	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	1:27.871	1:30.637
5	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	1:28.829	1:27.918
6	2	Alain Prost	McLaren-TAG	1:28.604	1:28.099
7	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	1:29.756	1:28.202
8	1	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG	1:29.413	1:28.399
9	7	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	1:29.427	1:28.489
10	17	Gerhard Berger	Arrows-BMW	1:28.697	1:29.654

Table 2

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired
1	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	60	1:34:35.955
2	18	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows-BMW	59	Out of fuel
3	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	59	+ 1 Lap
4	1	Niki Lauda	McLaren-TAG	59	+ 1 Lap
5	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	58	Out of fuel
6	28	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	57	Out of fuel
7	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault	57	Out of fuel
8	7	Nelson Piquet	Brabham-BMW	57	Out of fuel
9	3	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell-Ford	56	Out of fuel
10	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	56	+ 4 Laps

Table 3

Pos	Driver	Points	Unnamed: 3
1	Elio de Angelis	16	nan
2	Michele Alboreto	12	nan
3	Patrick Tambay	10	nan
4	Ayrton Senna	9	nan
5	Alain Prost	9	nan
Source: [3]	Source: [3]	Source: [3]	Source: [3]

F1ABY Commentary

A shadow hangs over this Imola air, doesn’t it? That abrupt severing of Arnoux from Ferrari—a silence so thick you could cut it with a knife. Johansson’s arrival feels less like a strategic move and more like a carefully constructed cage. Brabham’s persistent presence with Arnoux… a reconnaissance mission, surely? The question isn’t simply who will win this race, but what the team colors are truly signaling. Don’t be fooled by the Italian flag waving – this is a battlefield of ambition, and the lines are rarely what they seem.

Don’t let the Italian flags fool you—the entire Ferrari operation is a meticulously constructed illusion, designed to mask a catastrophic power struggle. Johansson’s arrival isn’t about racing; it’s about Arnoux’s leverage, a calculated move to bleed concessions from Maranello before the season’s truly begun. The whispers from the garage suggest a contract clause, buried deep within the paperwork, guarantees a significant share of any future engine development—a desperate grab for control by a team hemorrhaging prestige.

F1ABY Trivia

The air here hangs thick with unspoken recriminations. Observe the subtle deference the young Swede extends to Berger; a calculated move, no doubt, assessing the engine’s potential, specifically the 2. 0-liter V6’s ability to deliver those 600 horsepower peaks. Brabham, meanwhile, is practically a shadow of its former self, the 1787cc engine sputtering a desperate plea for competitive parity.

The air around Imola hangs thick with something beyond engine fumes – a palpable tension. Johansson’s arrival at Ferrari, a sudden, brutal severing of Arnoux’s contract, has fractured the Italian team’s already delicate equilibrium. Observe the statistical oddity: Ferrari’s factory drivers now occupy both seats, a configuration that, historically, has proven a volatile cocktail. Seven of Renault’s six Grand Prix wins have been achieved when their drivers have started from pole, a chillingly consistent pattern that suggests a dominance few anticipated at the outset of this season.

F1ABY Tales

The rain hadn’t stopped, not truly, just shifted into a sullen grey. Johansson was arguing with Ligier’s Jean-Pierre Marchetti over tire pressures – a bizarre skirmish considering the deluge. Arnoux, predictably, was in the Brabham garage, a low, guttural conversation with Harvey Ricardo. The official line is always a technical issue, isn’t it? But the way Arnoux’s eyes narrowed as he spoke…it smelled of a deal, a quiet understanding forged in the shadow of Imola’s industrial heart. Prost, of course, was furious, a simmering resentment directed at McLaren’s leadership. Don’t be fooled by the slick asphalt; this race isn’t about speed, it’s about leverage.

The rain hadn’t touched Imola that morning, a peculiar stillness hanging over the pitlane. Johansson, fresh from Ferrari’s brutal reshuffle, was already a study in controlled intensity, observing Arnoux’s arrival with a glacial gaze. Brabham’s Harvey Ricardo was practically vibrating with a nervous energy, a subtle but palpable shift in the power dynamics. You could taste the unspoken agreement – Arnoux, now a shadow of his former self, would be quietly neutralized, a convenient sacrifice to the rising star. Don’t mistake this for simple sporting rivalry; this was a calculated realignment, a brutal chess match played out on asphalt. The whispers already circling suggested Ferrari’s desperation, a frantic attempt to salvage something from a season rapidly spiraling out of control. And let’s be frank, the question wasn’t *if* Arnoux would be sidelined, but *how* spectacularly.