Race · Round 10 of 16 · 18 August 1985

1985 Austrian Grand Prix

Alain Prost won for McLaren from pole at Red Bull Ring. 15 of the starters were not classified.

Dry · High of 19 °C, 18.5 mm of rain on the day (modelled, Open-Meteo)

How it is modelled

ERA5's reanalysis, through Open-Meteo, of the circuit's whole local day and not the race's hours, for the grid cell the circuit sits in and not the track, so a shower can be missing from it. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.

Circuit: Red Bull RingSpielberg, Austria
Winner: Alain ProstMcLaren
Pole: Alain Prost
Fastest lap: Alain Prost
Entries: 2710 classified

Two sources disagree about this race

Conditions

dryagainst18.5 mm of rain on the day, modelled

The race's Wikipedia article's words are read as dry: by data/harvest.py's rule, which finds no rain, showers or wet track in them, or by a reading declared there (race_weather_reported holds the words). ERA5's reanalysis of 18 August 1985, through Open-Meteo, holds 18.5 mm of rain over 12 hours of that day in the grid cell the circuit is in - a heavy-precipitation day, 10 mm or more. A daily total cannot say whether the rain fell during the race, and a grid cell is not the track, so neither is overruled. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_Austrian_Grand_Prix; weather data by Open-Meteo.com, https://open-meteo.com/

Recorded rather than resolved, and open for somebody to settle. Every one is listed on the quality page. If you can settle it against a source that can be checked, report what you have.

Classification

Classification
Pos	Driver	Constructor	Chassis	Grid	Laps	Out	Points	FL
1	Alain Prost	McLaren	MP4/2B	1	52	Finished	9	fastest lap
2	Ayrton Senna	Team Lotus	97T	14	52	Finished	6
3	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	156/85	9	52	Finished	4
4	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	156/85	12	52	Finished	3
5	Elio de Angelis	Team Lotus	97T	7	52	Finished	2
6	Marc Surer	Brabham	BT54	11	51	Finished	1
7	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell	12	22	49	Out of fuel	0
8	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows	A8	16	49	Finished	0
9	Huub Rothengatter	Osella	—	24	48	Finished	0
10	Patrick Tambay	Renault	—	8	46	Engine	0
DNF	Jacques Laffite	Ligier	JS25	15	43	Accident	0
DNF	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi	M185	26	40	Suspension	0
DNF	Niki Lauda	McLaren	MP4/2B	3	39	Engine	0
DNF	Gerhard Berger	Arrows	A8	17	33	Turbo	0
DNF	Teo Fabi	Toleman	TG185	6	31	Electrical	0
DNF	Derek Warwick	Renault	—	13	29	Engine	0
DNF	Kenny Acheson	RAM	3	23	28	Engine	0
DNF	Nelson Piquet	Brabham	BT54	5	26	Exhaust	0
DNF	Nigel Mansell	Williams	—	2	25	Engine	0
DNF	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	—	10	25	Engine	0
DNF	Jonathan Palmer	Zakspeed	841	25	17	Engine	0
DNF	Philippe Alliot	RAM	3	21	16	Turbo	0
DNF	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier	JS25	18	13	Accident	0
DNF	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	—	20	6	Turbo	0
DNF	Keke Rosberg	Williams	—	4	4	Oil pressure	0
DNS	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Toleman	TG185	19	—	Car raced by Fabi	0
DNQ	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell	10	—	—	DNQ	0

A blank chassis is a season the team ran more than one design and no source says which car raced here.

F1DB layout spielberg-2 · 5.942 km · 18 turns, F1DB’s figures
F1DB, CC BY 4.0 · drawn by Jules Roy
The outline is F1DB’s, for every layout; the trace is OpenStreetMap’s, where it exists.

Grid to flag

Lines run from grid slot to result, ending at the last lap completed. A dashed line ending in a cross is a driver not classified. Nothing between is recorded, so a crossing is not an overtake at that lap.

Grid to flag
Driver	Grid	Result	Laps
Alain Prost	1	1	52
Ayrton Senna	14	2	52
Michele Alboreto	9	3	52
Stefan Johansson	12	4	52
Elio de Angelis	7	5	52
Marc Surer	11	6	51
Stefan Bellof	22	7	49
Thierry Boutsen	16	8	49
Huub Rothengatter	24	9	48
Patrick Tambay	8	10	46
Jacques Laffite	15	DNF	43
Pierluigi Martini	26	DNF	40
Niki Lauda	3	DNF	39
Gerhard Berger	17	DNF	33
Teo Fabi	6	DNF	31
Derek Warwick	13	DNF	29
Kenny Acheson	23	DNF	28
Nelson Piquet	5	DNF	26
Nigel Mansell	2	DNF	25
Riccardo Patrese	10	DNF	25
Jonathan Palmer	25	DNF	17
Philippe Alliot	21	DNF	16
Andrea de Cesaris	18	DNF	13
Eddie Cheever	20	DNF	6
Keke Rosberg	4	DNF	4

Qualifying

Qualifying
Pos	Driver	Constructor	No.	Time	Gap	≈ Distance	Interval
1	Alain Prost	McLaren	2	1:25.490	—	0 m	—
2	Nigel Mansell	Williams	5	1:26.052	+0.562	39 m	+0.562
3	Niki Lauda	McLaren	1	1:26.250	+0.760	53 m	+0.198
4	Keke Rosberg	Williams	6	1:26.333	+0.843	59 m	+0.083
5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham	7	1:26.404	+0.914	64 m	+0.071
6	Teo Fabi	Toleman	19	1:26.664	+1.174	82 m	+0.260
7	Elio de Angelis	Team Lotus	11	1:26.799	+1.309	91 m	+0.135
8	Patrick Tambay	Renault	15	1:27.502	+2.012	140 m	+0.703
9	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	27	1:27.516	+2.026	141 m	+0.014
10	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	22	1:27.851	+2.361	164 m	+0.335
11	Marc Surer	Brabham	8	1:27.954	+2.464	171 m	+0.103
12	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	28	1:27.961	+2.471	172 m	+0.007
13	Derek Warwick	Renault	16	1:28.006	+2.516	175 m	+0.045
14	Ayrton Senna	Team Lotus	12	1:28.123	+2.633	183 m	+0.117
15	Jacques Laffite	Ligier	26	1:28.249	+2.759	192 m	+0.126
16	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows	18	1:28.262	+2.772	193 m	+0.013
17	Gerhard Berger	Arrows	17	1:28.566	+3.076	214 m	+0.304
18	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier	25	1:28.666	+3.176	221 m	+0.100
19	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Toleman	20	1:28.894	+3.404	237 m	+0.228
20	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	23	1:29.031	+3.541	246 m	+0.137
21	Philippe Alliot	RAM	9	1:29.827	+4.337	301 m	+0.796
22	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell	3	1:30.514	+5.024	349 m	+0.687
23	Kenny Acheson	RAM	10	1:35.072	+9.582	666 m	+4.558
24	Huub Rothengatter	Osella	24	1:35.329	+9.839	684 m	+0.257
25	Jonathan Palmer	Zakspeed	30	1:35.787	+10.297	716 m	+0.458
26	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi	29	1:36.765	+11.275	784 m	+0.978
27	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell	4	1:37.317	+11.827	822 m	+0.552

Before knock-out qualifying arrived in 2006 there is one time per driver; from 2006, the best lap of each of the three sessions.

How it is derived: distance

Distance at the session-best lap’s average speed, on the layout raced that year.

Pit stops

Pit stops are recorded from 1994. F1DB, the source of every stop here, holds none before then, so this race has no stints to draw.

Practice sessions Warm-up

Warm-up

Warm-up
Pos	Driver	Constructor	No.	Best lap	Gap	≈ Distance	Interval	Laps
1	Alain Prost	McLaren	2	1:30.608	—	0 m	—	—
2	Elio de Angelis	Team Lotus	11	1:31.090	+0.482	32 m	+0.482	—
3	Nigel Mansell	Williams	5	1:32.095	+1.487	98 m	+1.005	—
4	Keke Rosberg	Williams	6	1:32.278	+1.670	110 m	+0.183	—
5	Ayrton Senna	Team Lotus	12	1:32.352	+1.744	114 m	+0.074	—
6	Patrick Tambay	Renault	15	1:32.577	+1.969	129 m	+0.225	—
7	Teo Fabi	Toleman	19	1:32.820	+2.212	145 m	+0.243	—
8	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier	25	1:33.464	+2.856	187 m	+0.644	—
9	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	27	1:33.720	+3.112	204 m	+0.256	—
10	Gerhard Berger	Arrows	17	1:33.771	+3.163	207 m	+0.051	—
11	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	28	1:33.811	+3.203	210 m	+0.040	—
12	Nelson Piquet	Brabham	7	1:34.036	+3.428	225 m	+0.225	—
13	Jacques Laffite	Ligier	26	1:34.316	+3.708	243 m	+0.280	—
14	Philippe Alliot	RAM	9	1:34.926	+4.318	283 m	+0.610	—
15	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell	3	1:35.356	+4.748	311 m	+0.430	—
16	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows	18	1:35.395	+4.787	314 m	+0.039	—
17	Jonathan Palmer	Zakspeed	30	1:35.629	+5.021	329 m	+0.234	—
18	Marc Surer	Brabham	8	1:35.883	+5.275	346 m	+0.254	—
19	Niki Lauda	McLaren	1	1:36.084	+5.476	359 m	+0.201	—
20	Huub Rothengatter	Osella	24	1:36.735	+6.127	402 m	+0.651	—
21	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	23	1:37.707	+7.099	466 m	+0.972	—
22	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	22	1:38.054	+7.446	488 m	+0.347	—
23	Derek Warwick	Renault	16	1:38.611	+8.003	525 m	+0.557	—
24	Kenny Acheson	RAM	10	1:43.426	+12.818	841 m	+4.815	—
25	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi	29	1:46.489	+15.881	1,041 m	+3.063	—
26	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Toleman	20	8:26.861	+6:56.253	27,298 m	+6:40.372	—

Each driver’s best lap of the session and the laps they ran: a classification, not lap timing.

How it is derived: distance

Distance at the session-best lap’s average speed, on the layout raced that year.

The cars in this race

The photograph each car's Wikipedia article leads with, from Wikimedia Commons: taken wherever and whenever that was, not necessarily at this race.

Lotus 97T
Lotus97T · https://www.flickr.com/jonbradbury · CC BY-SA 4.0

A photograph marked unchecked has a file name that does not name the car it is shown for. Most are still the right car, filed under the driver rather than the machine — but nobody has confirmed these one by one.

5 more photographs

Where this comes from

Round: 10 of 1985
Grand Prix: Austrian Grand Prix
Dates: 18 Aug 1985
Layout raced: Osterreichring · 5.942 km · 12 turns
Format: Standard weekend
Constructor: McLaren
Entrant: McLaren-TAG
Confidence: reference

The layout raced and its figures are this register’s, from its own sources; the figures under the race’s drawing are F1DB’s, and at some circuits the two disagree.