The 1985 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Nürburgring on 4 August 1985. It was the ninth race of the 1985 Formula One season.
This was the first German Grand Prix that was held on the new GP-Strecke section of the track that replaced the old Südschleife section that had not been used since 1970. It was also the first time in nine years the German GP was held at Nürburgring; previously the German Grand Prix had been held on the Nordschleife configuration until 1976, after which the Grand Prix was moved to the Hockenheimring, following Niki Lauda's near-fatal accident at the 1976 German Grand Prix. The GP-Strecke would not host another Grand Prix until the 1995 European Grand Prix, and would not host the German Grand Prix again until the 2009 edition.
Michele Alboreto won the race, his fifth and last Formula One victory. This event was the first occasion on which an onboard camera was used in a race; on François Hesnault's Renault car. That car was not eligible for championship points, and this race marked the last time that an F1 team entered more than two cars for a race.
As it was the German Grand Prix (and that the team still only had 1 new car built) Tyrrell team boss Ken Tyrrell gave his German driver Stefan Bellof use of the Renault powered Tyrrell 014 for the weekend instead of the car's usual driver Martin Brundle, who was given Bellof's Cosworth powered 012 to drive. To get around a FISA rule stating that a team and driver could not run more than 2 engines in the one chassis during a season (with the 012 running the Cosworth and 014 the Renault), Tyrrell simply switched the drivers from one car to the other but not their car numbers, meaning Bellof drove in car #3 and Brundle in car #4. Bellof qualified the turbo powered car 19th while Brundle was 26th and last with the Cosworth V8, some 10.2 seconds of Fabi's pole time and 6.4 seconds slower than his teammate in his usual car, something Brundle was reported to be not happy with. This was to be the last Grand Prix for Manfred Winkelhock: the German fatally crashed his Porsche 962C sportscar at the 1000 km of Mosport in Canada the following week. His son Markus would make his F1 debut 22 years later, on the same track.
As of 2026, Alboreto's win remains the last for an Italian driver driving for Ferrari in Formula One.
Classification
Qualifying Pole position went to Teo Fabi, the first of his career and the only pole for the Toleman team. He set his pole time during the Friday qualifying session; rain on Saturday meant that none of the drivers could improve their times. Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 19 Teo Fabi Toleman-Hart 1:17.429 — 2 28 Stefan Johansson Ferrari 1:18.616 1:46.919 +1.187 3 2 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:18.725 1:43.088 +1.296 4 6 Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda 1:18.781 1:39.547 +1.352 5 12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault 1:18.792 1:36.471 +1.363 6 7 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 1:18.802 1:49.347 +1.373 7 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 1:19.120 1:29.714 +1.691 8 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:19.194 1:41.490 +1.765 9 22 Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo 1:19.338 +1.909 10 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 1:19.475 1:42.050 +2.046 11 8 Marc Surer Brabham-BMW 1:19.558 1:38.330 +2.129 12 1 Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG 1:19.562 1:44.330 +2.133 13 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Renault 1:19.656 +2.227 14 25 Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault 1:19.738 1:39.623 +2.309 15 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 1:19.781 1:54.674 +2.352 16 15 Patrick Tambay Renault 1:19.917 1:33.373 +2.488 17 17 Gerhard Berger Arrows-BMW 1:20.666 1:41.131 +3.237 18 23 Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo 1:21.074 1:32.376 +3.645 19 3 Stefan Bellof Tyrrell-Renault 1:21.219 14:04.270 +3.790 20 16 Derek Warwick Renault 1:21.237 1:46.773 +3.808 21 10 Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart 1:22.017 +4.588 22 9 Manfred Winkelhock RAM-Hart 1:22.607 1:51.109 +5.178 23 14 François Hesnault Renault 1:23.161 +5.732 24 30 Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed 1:24.217 1:51.833 +6.788 25 24 Huub Rothengatter Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:26.478 +9.049 26 4 Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Ford 1:27.621 1:47.820 +10.192 27 29 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:40.506 +23.077Sources:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 67 1:35:31.337 8 9 2 2 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 67 + 11.661 3 6 3 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Renault 67 + 51.154 13 4 4 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 67 + 55.279 15 3 5 1 Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG 67 + 1:13.972 12 2 6 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 67 + 1:16.820 10 1 7 17 Gerhard Berger Arrows-BMW 66 + 1 Lap 17 8 3 Stefan Bellof Tyrrell-Renault 66 + 1 Lap 19 9 28 Stefan Johansson Ferrari 66 + 1 Lap 2 10 4 Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Ford 63 + 4 Laps 26 11 29 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Motori Moderni 62 Engine 27 12 6 Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda 61 Brakes 4 23 Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo 45 Turbo 18 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 40 Engine 7 24 Huub Rothengatter Osella-Alfa Romeo 32 Gearbox 25 19 Teo Fabi Toleman-Hart 29 Clutch 1 12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault 27 CV joint 5 16 Derek Warwick Renault 25 Ignition 20 7 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 23 Turbo 6 15 Patrick Tambay Renault 19 Spun Off 16 8 Marc Surer Brabham-BMW 15 Engine 11 9 Manfred Winkelhock RAM-Hart 8 Engine 22 22 Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo 8 Gearbox 9 14 François Hesnault Renault 8 Clutch 23 10 Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart 8 Oil pressure 21 30 Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed 7 Alternator 24 25 Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault 0 Collision 14
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Michele Alboreto 46 2 Alain Prost 41 3 Elio de Angelis 26 4 Keke Rosberg 18 5 Stefan Johansson 16Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 65 2 McLaren-TAG 46 3 Lotus-Renault 35 4 Williams-Honda 24 5 Renault 15Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References