Formula 1

About the season

Ayrton Senna scored a sensational maiden Grand Prix win for Lotus in torrential rain at the Portuguese Grand Prix, dominating so completely that he lapped much of the field. On 6 October, Alain Prost secured the first World Championship of his career, becoming the first French driver ever to win the Formula 1 title. The German Grand Prix moved to the newly rebuilt Nürburgring GP-Strecke in 1985, taking over hosting duties from Hockenheim, which had regularly staged the race before. Mounting concern over turbo power levels already had FISA planning tighter boost-pressure limits for the following seasons, the first steps toward phasing out the turbo era altogether. Alain Prost won the 1985 Drivers' Championship with 73 points (McLaren), 20 points ahead of the runner-up. McLaren won the Constructors' Championship with 90 points, 8 points ahead of the runner-up. Across 16 completed races this season, there were 232 retirements. 8 different drivers won a race this season. Alain Prost took the most race wins, 5 in total. Prost won the season-opening race, the Brazilian Grand Prix. The most dominant win of the season came at the Portuguese Grand Prix, with a margin of 63.0 seconds. The San Marino Grand Prix saw the most retirements of the season, with 21 drivers failing to finish. The season's biggest upset win came from Lauda at the Dutch Grand Prix, starting from grid position 10. The closest finish of the season came at the Dutch Grand Prix, with a gap of just 0.232 seconds. Laffite made the biggest gain of the season at the Australian Grand Prix, from grid position 20 to finishing 2 (up 18 places). Rosberg won the Australian Grand Prix, the final race of the season.