Pre-race
In the fortnight between the Dutch and Italian Grands Prix, the FIA Court of Appeal upheld the exclusion of the Tyrrell team from the championship for alleged technical infringements, and the team were duly banned from the final three races of the season. The Italian Grand Prix would thus be the first all- turbo Formula One race in history. Meanwhile, the Toleman team had suspended Ayrton Senna for not informing them of his signing for Lotus for 1985 before the deal was announced at Zandvoort. Stefan Johansson , out of a drive as a result of Tyrrell's ban, was drafted in to replace the Brazilian at Monza; he would be joined by newcomer Pierluigi Martini .
Qualifying
Nelson Piquet took his seventh pole position of the season in his Brabham , with Alain Prost alongside him on the front row in his McLaren . The second row was made up of Elio de Angelis in the Lotus and Niki Lauda in the second McLaren, while the third row consisted of Teo Fabi in the second Brabham and Keke Rosberg in the Williams . The second Lotus of Nigel Mansell , the Renault of Patrick Tambay and the two Alfa Romeos of Riccardo Patrese and Eddie Cheever completed the top ten. Johansson wa...
Race
Manfred Winkelhock , who had qualified 21st in his ATS , suffered a gearbox failure on the formation lap for the second time in three races. Frustrated, he subsequently quit the team. At the start, de Angelis passed Prost and Piquet, though the Brabham driver retook the lead into the first chicane. Tambay also made a fast start to run fourth, while Lauda fell to seventh behind Mansell and Fabi. While Piquet set about building a lead, Prost and Tambay overtook de Angelis, only for Prost's engine to fail on the fourth lap. In the meantime, Fabi and Lauda passed both Lotuses, and were thus up to third and fourth. On lap 8, Fabi spun at the Roggia chicane, dropping to eighth; a charge put him back up to fourth by lap 12. By this point, Michele Alboreto in the Ferrari had also passed both Lotuses and was now fifth. While this was going on, a high attrition rate was building: the second Ferrari of René Arnoux suffered a gearbox failure on lap 6, while the two Ligiers of Andrea de Cesaris and François Hesnault dropped out on lap 8, followed shortly afterwards by the two Williams of Rosberg and Jacques Laffit... Piquet continued to lead from Tambay, both clear of Lauda. On lap 16, Piquet's engine failed; at around the same time Fabi, continuing his charge, overtook Lauda to run second. Fabi then started to catch up to Tambay and by half-distance was on the Renault's tail, with Lauda keeping close behind; all three were clear of Alboreto, with Derek Warwick in the second Renault up to fifth and Cheever sixth. On lap 32, Warwick suffered an oil pressure problem, moving Johansson into the top six. On lap 40, Lauda overtook Fabi at the Parabolica, before passing Tambay for the lead at the Roggia three laps later. Then, on lap 44, Fabi and Tambay suffered engine and throttle failures respectively. This left Lauda with a lead of 20 seconds over Alboreto, with Cheever up to third followed by Johansson, Patrese and the Osella of Piercarlo Ghinzani . On lap 46 Cheever ran out of fuel, followed three laps later by Ghinzani; meanwhile, Patrese passed Johansson for third. At the chequered flag, on... * Neither Gartner nor Berger were eligible for points, as they were driving the respective "second entries" of Osella and ATS and both teams had officially entered only one car for the entire championship.
Race Result
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | Niki Lauda | McLaren-TAG | 51 | 1:20:29.065 |
| 2 | 27 | Michele Alboreto | Ferrari | 51 | + 24.249 |
| 3 | 22 | Riccardo Patrese | Alfa Romeo | 50 | + 1 Lap |
| 4 | 19 | Stefan Johansson | Toleman-Hart | 49 | + 2 Laps |
| 5 | 30 | Jo Gartner | Osella-Alfa Romeo | 49 | + 2 Laps |
| 6 | 31 | Gerhard Berger | ATS-BMW | 49 | + 2 Laps |
| 7 | 24 | Piercarlo Ghinzani | Osella-Alfa Romeo | 48 | Out of fuel |
| 8 | 21 | Huub Rothengatter | Spirit-Hart | 48 | + 3 Laps |
| 9 | 23 | Eddie Cheever | Alfa Romeo | 45 | Out of fuel |
| 10 | 18 | Thierry Boutsen | Arrows-BMW | 45 | + 6 Laps |
Qualifying
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Q1 | Q2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Nelson Piquet | Brabham-BMW | 1:28.709 | 1:26.584 |
| 2 | 7 | Alain Prost | McLaren-TAG | 1:29.854 | 1:26.671 |
| 3 | 11 | Elio de Angelis | Lotus-Renault | 1:28.014 | 1:27.538 |
| 4 | 8 | Niki Lauda | McLaren-TAG | 1:30.142 | 1:28.533 |
| 5 | 2 | Teo Fabi | Brabham-BMW | 1:29.383 | 1:28.587 |
| 6 | 6 | Keke Rosberg | Williams-Honda | 1:33.386 | 1:28.818 |
| 7 | 12 | Nigel Mansell | Lotus-Renault | 1:31.715 | 1:28.969 |
| 8 | 15 | Patrick Tambay | Renault | 1:31.532 | 1:29.253 |
| 9 | 22 | Riccardo Patrese | Alfa Romeo | 1:30.710 | 1:29.382 |
| 10 | 23 | Eddie Cheever | Alfa Romeo | 1:32.365 | 1:29.797 |
Championship Standings After This Race
The Paddock Breakdown
Barry · Gary · KatGary — 33 · Three Fantasy F1 leagues
Lauda, a man sculpted from granite and regret, sat in his McLaren – a machine breathing 628 horsepower, a brutal symphony of BMW and titanium. Alboreto, fueled by the roar of the Enza Ferrari, fidgeted, a restless current beneath a veneer of stoic determination. This wasn't merely a race; it was a reckoning, a consequence etched in the exclusion of Tyrrell, a shadow lengthening over the circuit.
The air at Monza tasted of diesel and anticipation, a metallic tang clinging to the shadows cast by the grandstands. A fortnight of legal wrangling, of the Tyrrell team's championship aspirations dissolving like rain on asphalt, had settled over the circuit. This wasn't simply a race; it was a reckoning, a brutal distillation of ambition and the capricious nature of motorsport. Niki Lauda, a man sculpted by near-death experiences, navigated the first corner with a precision born of hard-won wisdom – a stark contrast to the youthful, almost reckless aggression of Alboreto.
Kat — 30 · Technical journalist
The rain hadn't relented, a sullen grey curtain drawn across Monza. Alboreto, a tempest of Italian fury, wrestled with his Ferrari, the engine a snarling beast beneath him. A brief, desperate lunge for second, a near-miss with Patrese's Alfa Romeo—a flicker of ambition extinguished by the relentless downpour. Lauda, meanwhile, moved with a surgeon's precision, securing the lead and a vital advantage. This wasn't merely a victory; it was a calculated tightening of the grip on the championship, a brutal acknowledgement of the Tyrrell's absence. The air hung thick with the unspoken calculations of men, each seeking to etch their names into the annals of motorsport, a desperate dance with destiny.
He'd spent the morning meticulously adjusting the Alfa Romeo's dampers, a ritual born not of engineering precision, but of a desperate need to impose order on a season spiralling towards chaos. The Tyrrell exclusion, a brutal, unjust judgement, had cast a long shadow over Monza, and Alboreto, a man forged in the fires of local pride, felt the weight of Italy's motorsport hopes pressing upon him. A sigh escaped his lips, a miniature storm of frustration. He adjusted his helmet, a silent prayer for speed, for resilience, for a victory that might, just might, offer a sliver of redemption. The roar of the crowd, a distant, expectant rumble, did little to soothe the turmoil within. This wasn't merely a race; it was a battle for honour.