The 1985 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 39th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1985 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1985 Formula One World Championship for Manufacturers, both of which commenced on 7 April and ended on 3 November after sixteen races.
The Drivers' Championship was won by Alain Prost.1986 FIA Yearbook, Red Section, Results of 1985 FIA International Championships, pages 78–79 After finishing two years as runner-up, both times winning more races than the champion, he was able to clinch the title this year sealing his success at the European Grand Prix. It would be first of four championships for "the Professor". Michele Alboreto was his main challenger, but he failed to score points in all of the last five races of the season.
The Constructors' Championship was won by McLaren for the second consecutive year.
Reigning champion Niki Lauda retired after this season, although team boss Ron Dennis tried to convince him otherwise.
The season was overshadowed by the fatal accident of Stefan Bellof, driving a Porsche 956B during the 1000 km of Spa World Sportscar Championship race.
After eight years, Michelin had withdrawn from the sport, leaving Pirelli and Goodyear as tyre suppliers for 1985.
Drivers and constructors Entrant Constructor Chassis Engine Tyres No Driver Rounds Marlboro McLaren TAG Turbo McLaren-TAG MP4/2B TAG-Porsche TTE PO1 1.5 V6 t 1 Niki Lauda 1–13, 15–16 John Watson 14 2 Alain Prost All Tyrrell Team Tyrrell-Ford 012 Ford-Cosworth DFY 3.0 V8 3 Martin Brundle 1–64 Stefan Johansson 1 Stefan Bellof 2–8 Martin Brundle 9–10 Tyrrell-Renault 014 Renault EF4B 1.5 V6 t3 7–8, 11–16 Stefan Bellof 9–104 11 Ivan Capelli 14, 16 Philippe Streiff 15 Canon Williams Honda Team Williams-Honda FW10FW10B Honda RA164E 1.5 V6 tHonda RA165E 1.5 V6 t 5 Nigel Mansell All 6 Keke Rosberg All Olivetti Racing Brabham-BMW BT54 BMW M12/13 1.5 L4 t 7 Nelson Piquet All 8 François Hesnault 1–4 Marc Surer 5–16 Skoal Bandit Formula 1 Team RAM-Hart 03 Hart 415T 1.5 L4 t 9 Manfred Winkelhock 1–9 Philippe Alliot 10–14 10 1–9 Kenny Acheson 10–12 John Player Special Team Lotus Lotus-Renault 97T Renault EF4B 1.5 V6 tRenault EF15 1.5 V6 t 11 Elio de Angelis All 12 Ayrton Senna All Équipe Renault Elf Renault Elf RE60RE60B Renault EF4B 1.5 V6 tRenault EF15 1.5 V6 t 14 François Hesnault 9 15 Patrick Tambay 1–14, 16 16 Derek Warwick 1–14, 16 Barclay Arrows BMW Arrows-BMW A8 BMW M12/13 1.5 L4 t 17 Gerhard Berger All 18 Thierry Boutsen All United Colors of Benetton Toleman Toleman-Hart TG185 Hart 415T 1.5 L4 t 19 Teo Fabi 4–16 20 Piercarlo Ghinzani 10–16 Spirit Enterprises Ltd. Spirit-Hart 101D Hart 415T 415T 1.5 L4 t 21 Mauro Baldi 1–3 Benetton Team Alfa RomeoAlfa Romeo185T184TBAlfa Romeo 890T 1.5 V8 t22 Riccardo PatreseAll23 Eddie CheeverAll Kelémata Osella Osella-Alfa Romeo FA1FFA1G Alfa Romeo 890T 1.5 V8 t 24 Piercarlo Ghinzani 1–8 Huub Rothengatter 9–16 Équipe Ligier Équipe Ligier Gitanes Ligier-Renault JS25 Renault EF4B 1.5 V6 tRenault EF15 1.5 V6 t 25 Andrea de Cesaris 1–11 Philippe Streiff 12–14, 16 26 Jacques Laffite 1–14, 16 Ferrari Ferrari 156/85 Ferrari Tipo 031 1.5 V6 t 27 Michele Alboreto All 28 René Arnoux 1 Stefan Johansson 2–16 Minardi Team Minardi-Ford M185 Ford-Cosworth DFY 3.0 V8 29 Pierluigi Martini 1–2 Minardi-Motori Moderni Motori Moderni Tipo 615-90 1.5 V6 t 3–16 West Zakspeed Racing Zakspeed 841 Zakspeed 1500/4 1.5 L4 t 30 Jonathan Palmer 2–4, 7–11 Christian Danner 13–14 Team Haas (USA) Ltd. Lola-Hart THL1 Hart 415T 1.5 L4 t 33 Alan Jones 12, 14–16
Team changes
ATS had folded after the season. Minardi entered the sport as a constructor after four years of experience in Formula Two. They collaborated with ex-Alfa Romeo engineer Carlo Chiti to run Motori Moderni V6 turbo engines. When met with delays, Minardi had to convert their M185 chassis to accept off-the-rack Cosworth V8's. Zakspeed signed in as a constructor with their own engine - the 1500/4. They were only the fourth team on the grid to do so. They only entered the ten European and British rounds of the sixteen races on the calendar.
Mid-season changes After two races, Minardi could take delivery of the promised Motori Moderni engines and could revert their chassis back to the original design. Spirit folded after three races. Toleman could not get a supply of tyres after aggravating both Pirelli and Goodyear. It was only after the Spirit team folded that Toleman, with money from their sponsor Benetton, were able to purchase Pirelli tyres and start racing. Tyrrell switched from Ford-Cosworth V8's to Renault V6 turbo's after the Detroit Grand Prix, the last team on the grid to make the change. Haas Lola signed in for the 1985 season as the third new constructor of the year, but encountered delays in the development of their first car, and the specially designed Ford-Cosworth V6 turbo was not ready either. So their first chassis had to be thoroughly adjusted to be powered by a four-cylinder Hart turbo engine and could only make its debut in the Italian Grand Prix. It would not be until the third race of that the team could get delivery of the Cosworth engine and switch to their second car, specifically designed around it. RAM folded with two races left in the season.
Driver changes
In an off-season with relatively little driver switches, biggest news was Ayrton Senna's promotion to Lotus. He would replace Nigel Mansell who was signed by Williams. Brabham hired François Hesnault from Equipe Ligier, where ex-Williams driver Jacques Laffite took his seat. Teo Fabi had driven 12 races for Brabham in , but was dropped for 1985. He found a new home with Toleman. Gerhard Berger had made his debut in 1984 with ATS. After they folded, he was signed by Arrows for his first full season. Berger's ATS teammate Manfred Winkelhock moved to RAM. Ex-RAM driver Jonathan Palmer was signed by Zakspeed. After one weekend in 1984, when he filled in for Senna at Toleman, Pierluigi Martini made his full-season debut at Minardi. He would eventually spend eight out of his nine years in F1 with the Italian team.
Mid-season changes
Stefan Johansson had signed with Toleman but pulled out of his contract amid the team's tyre woes. He substituted for Stefan Bellof at Tyrrell at the first race of the season and then moved to Ferrari when René Arnoux suddenly left. He ended staying with the Italian team until the end of . After four disappointing results, François Hesnault was sacked from Brabham and replaced by Marc Surer. The Frenchman made one further appearance with Renault. As of 2024, this appearance for Renault in the German Grand Prix is the last time a Formula 1 team started three cars in a Grand Prix race. When Haas Lola made their long-awaited debut in the Italian Grand Prix, it was veteran driver Alan Jones behind the wheel. He would also drive for them during the whole season before retiring from the sport. RAM driver Manfred Winkelhock suffered a fatal accident during the Budweiser 1000 km World Sportscar Championship event. Ex-RAM driver Kenny Acheson took over the drive for three races before the team folded. Stefan Bellof was also racing in the World Sportscar Championship until he came together with Jacky Ickx in the 1000 km of Spa. Both drivers crashed and Bellof lost his life. At Tyrrell, Ivan Capelli and Philippe Streiff alternated as replacement drivers for the final three races of the season. Huub Rothengatter replaced Piercarlo Ghinzani at Osella midway through the season, when the Italian moved to Toleman. After Andrea de Cesaris crashed in the Austrian Grand Prix and rolled his car four times, team boss Guy Ligier's patience with the accident-prone Italian had run out and he replaced him with Philippe Streiff. Inaugural F3000 champion Christian Danner raced two weekends for Zakspeed instead of Jonathan Palmer. Palmer had been injured after a practice crash in the 1000 km of Spa, just a few days prior to Bellof's fatal accident. John Watson substituted for Niki Lauda at the European Grand Prix, after the Austrian had injured his wrist in qualifying for the previous race in Spa.
Calendar Round Grand Prix Circuit Date 1 Brazilian Grand Prix Autodromo Jacarepaguá, Rio de Janeiro 7 April 2 Portuguese Grand Prix Autódromo do Estoril, Cascais 21 April 3 San Marino Grand Prix Autodromo Dino Ferrari, Imola 5 May 4 Monaco Grand Prix Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo 19 May 5 Canadian Grand Prix Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montréal 16 June 6 Detroit Grand Prix Detroit Street Circuit, Downtown Detroit, Michigan 23 June 7 French Grand Prix Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet 7 July 8 British Grand Prix Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone 21 July 9 German Grand Prix Nürburgring, Nürburg 4 August 10 Austrian Grand Prix Österreichring, Spielberg 18 August 11 Dutch Grand Prix Circuit Park Zandvoort, Zandvoort 25 August 12 Italian Grand Prix Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza 8 September 13 Belgian Grand Prix Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot 15 September 14 European Grand Prix Brands Hatch, Kent 6 October 15 South African Grand Prix Kyalami Circuit, Midrand 19 October 16 Australian Grand Prix Adelaide Street Circuit, Adelaide 3 November
Calendar changes The Dallas Grand Prix was cancelled and did not return. This meant that, for the first time since , there was just one race in the United States. From this year on, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps would be the permanent home of the Belgian Grand Prix and Circuit Zolder would be cut out (under FISA's "one country, one circuit" rule) For the same reason, the French Grand Prix would be permanently held at Circuit Paul Ricard and Dijon-Prenois was dropped. The British Grand Prix was moved to Silverstone from Brands Hatch, in keeping with the event-sharing arrangement between the two circuits. Likewise, the German Grand Prix returned to the Nürburgring for the first time since , and replacing the Hockenheimring. By FISA orders these agreements were suspended and, from on, Silverstone and Hockenheim would become the permanent hosts of the British and German Grands Prix. The Nürburgring would return in 1995, as European Grand Prix. The South African Grand Prix was moved back from April (in the season) to October. Likewise, the French Grand Prix was move back from May to July. The Portuguese Grand Prix was brought up from being the final round of the 1984 championship to be the second race in 1985. The Australian Grand Prix was added to the calendar for the first time, immediately getting the honor of closing the season.
Mid-season changes The Belgian Grand Prix was originally scheduled on 2 June, but during Friday practice, the asphalt broke up and overnight repairs were necessary. Half an hour into Saturday practice, all running was ceased and the race was canceled. The Grand Prix was postponed until 15 September and the track was thoroughly repaired in the meantime.
Provisional calendar Originally, the 1985 calendar had a record number of 21 Grands Prix (2 more than the previous record in ). The Brazilian Grand Prix was due to take place on 10 March, with the Dallas Grand Prix as the second round on 24 March. However, the Texas race was cancelled because of financial problems, safety and organisational concerns.David Hayhoe, Formula 1: The Knowledge – 2nd Edition, 2021, page 35. The Japanese Grand Prix was due to return after eight years and was scheduled for 7 April. However, it was cancelled as the rebuilding of parts of the Suzuka Circuit was delayed. It would last another two years for the race to be held at Suzuka. A final attempt to put on a Grand Prix in New York City was scheduled for 22 September, but the race was cancelled for the third year in a row.