Race · Round 7 of 16 · 7 July 1985

1985 French Grand Prix

Nelson Piquet won for Brabham from 5th on the grid at Circuit Paul Ricard. 10 of the starters were not classified.

Dry · High of 27 °C, 0.2 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: Circuit Paul RicardLe Castellet, France
Winner: Nelson PiquetBrabham
Pole: Keke Rosberg
Fastest lap: Keke Rosberg
Entries: 2615 classified

Classification

Classification
Pos	Driver	Constructor	Chassis	Grid	Laps	Out	Points	FL
1	Nelson Piquet	Brabham	BT54	5	53	Finished	9
2	Keke Rosberg	Williams	—	1	53	Finished	6	fastest lap
3	Alain Prost	McLaren	MP4/2B	4	53	Finished	4
4	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	156/85	15	53	Finished	3
5	Elio de Angelis	Team Lotus	97T	7	53	Finished	2
6	Patrick Tambay	Renault	—	9	53	Finished	1
7	Derek Warwick	Renault	—	10	53	Finished	0
8	Marc Surer	Brabham	BT54	13	52	Finished	0
9	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows	A8	11	52	Finished	0
10	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	—	17	52	Finished	0
11	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	—	16	52	Finished	0
12	Manfred Winkelhock	RAM	3	19	50	Finished	0
13	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell	10	25	50	Finished	0
14	Teo Fabi	Toleman	TG185	18	49	Fuel system	0
15	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella	—	23	49	Finished	0
DNF	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell	12	20	32	Gearbox	0
DNF	Niki Lauda	McLaren	MP4/2B	6	30	Gearbox	0
DNF	Ayrton Senna	Team Lotus	97T	2	26	Engine	0
DNF	Gerhard Berger	Arrows	A8	8	20	Accident	0
DNF	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi	M185	24	19	Accident	0
DNF	Philippe Alliot	RAM	3	22	8	Fuel system	0
DNF	Jonathan Palmer	Zakspeed	841	21	6	Engine	0
DNF	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	156/85	3	5	Turbo	0
DNF	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier	JS25	12	4	Steering	0
DNF	Jacques Laffite	Ligier	JS25	14	2	Turbo	0
DNS	Nigel Mansell	Williams	—	—	—	Injury	0

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

F1DB layout paul-ricard-1 · 5.809 km · 14 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
Nelson Piquet	5	1	53
Keke Rosberg	1	2	53
Alain Prost	4	3	53
Stefan Johansson	15	4	53
Elio de Angelis	7	5	53
Patrick Tambay	9	6	53
Derek Warwick	10	7	53
Marc Surer	13	8	52
Thierry Boutsen	11	9	52
Eddie Cheever	17	10	52
Riccardo Patrese	16	11	52
Manfred Winkelhock	19	12	50
Stefan Bellof	25	13	50
Teo Fabi	18	14	49
Piercarlo Ghinzani	23	15	49
Martin Brundle	20	DNF	32
Niki Lauda	6	DNF	30
Ayrton Senna	2	DNF	26
Gerhard Berger	8	DNF	20
Pierluigi Martini	24	DNF	19
Philippe Alliot	22	DNF	8
Jonathan Palmer	21	DNF	6
Michele Alboreto	3	DNF	5
Andrea de Cesaris	12	DNF	4
Jacques Laffite	14	DNF	2

Qualifying

Qualifying
Pos	Driver	Constructor	No.	Time	Gap	≈ Distance	Interval
1	Keke Rosberg	Williams	6	1:32.462	—	0 m	—
2	Ayrton Senna	Team Lotus	12	1:32.835	+0.373	23 m	+0.373
3	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	27	1:33.267	+0.805	51 m	+0.432
4	Alain Prost	McLaren	2	1:33.335	+0.873	55 m	+0.068
5	Nelson Piquet	Brabham	7	1:33.812	+1.350	85 m	+0.477
6	Niki Lauda	McLaren	1	1:33.860	+1.398	88 m	+0.048
7	Elio de Angelis	Team Lotus	11	1:34.022	+1.560	98 m	+0.162
8	Nigel Mansell	Williams	5	1:34.191	+1.729	109 m	+0.169
9	Gerhard Berger	Arrows	17	1:34.674	+2.212	139 m	+0.483
10	Patrick Tambay	Renault	15	1:34.680	+2.218	139 m	+0.006
11	Derek Warwick	Renault	16	1:34.976	+2.514	158 m	+0.296
12	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows	18	1:35.488	+3.026	190 m	+0.512
13	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier	25	1:35.571	+3.109	195 m	+0.083
14	Marc Surer	Brabham	8	1:35.572	+3.110	195 m	+0.001
15	Jacques Laffite	Ligier	26	1:36.133	+3.671	231 m	+0.561
16	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	28	1:36.140	+3.678	231 m	+0.007
17	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	22	1:36.729	+4.267	268 m	+0.589
18	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	23	1:36.931	+4.469	281 m	+0.202
19	Teo Fabi	Toleman	19	1:37.142	+4.680	294 m	+0.211
20	Manfred Winkelhock	RAM	9	1:37.654	+5.192	326 m	+0.512
21	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell	3	1:40.015	+7.553	475 m	+2.361
22	Jonathan Palmer	Zakspeed	30	1:40.289	+7.827	492 m	+0.274
23	Philippe Alliot	RAM	10	1:41.647	+9.185	577 m	+1.358
24	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella	24	1:42.136	+9.674	608 m	+0.489
25	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi	29	1:44.350	+11.888	747 m	+2.214
26	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell	4	1:44.404	+11.942	750 m	+0.054

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	1:39.129	—	0 m	—	—
2	Niki Lauda	McLaren	1	1:39.251	+0.122	7 m	+0.122	—
3	Nelson Piquet	Brabham	7	1:39.718	+0.589	35 m	+0.467	—
4	Elio de Angelis	Team Lotus	11	1:39.896	+0.767	45 m	+0.178	—
5	Jacques Laffite	Ligier	26	1:40.092	+0.963	56 m	+0.196	—
6	Andrea de Cesaris	Ligier	25	1:40.476	+1.347	79 m	+0.384	—
7	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	27	1:40.547	+1.418	83 m	+0.071	—
8	Ayrton Senna	Team Lotus	12	1:41.020	+1.891	111 m	+0.473	—
9	Keke Rosberg	Williams	6	1:41.213	+2.084	122 m	+0.193	—
10	Gerhard Berger	Arrows	17	1:41.409	+2.280	134 m	+0.196	—
11	Thierry Boutsen	Arrows	18	1:41.906	+2.777	163 m	+0.497	—
12	Marc Surer	Brabham	8	1:42.029	+2.900	170 m	+0.123	—
13	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	28	1:42.123	+2.994	175 m	+0.094	—
14	Patrick Tambay	Renault	15	1:42.272	+3.143	184 m	+0.149	—
15	Teo Fabi	Toleman	19	1:42.572	+3.443	202 m	+0.300	—
16	Derek Warwick	Renault	16	1:42.903	+3.774	221 m	+0.331	—
17	Martin Brundle	Tyrrell	3	1:43.614	+4.485	263 m	+0.711	—
18	Eddie Cheever	Alfa Romeo	23	1:43.736	+4.607	270 m	+0.122	—
19	Philippe Alliot	RAM	10	1:44.155	+5.026	295 m	+0.419	—
20	Manfred Winkelhock	RAM	9	1:44.622	+5.493	322 m	+0.467	—
21	Riccardo Patrese	Alfa Romeo	22	1:44.953	+5.824	341 m	+0.331	—
22	Jonathan Palmer	Zakspeed	30	1:44.967	+5.838	342 m	+0.014	—
23	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell	4	1:46.601	+7.472	438 m	+1.634	—
24	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella	24	1:46.929	+7.800	457 m	+0.328	—
25	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi	29	1:48.232	+9.103	533 m	+1.303	—

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: 7 of 1985
Grand Prix: French Grand Prix
Dates: 7 Jul 1985
Layout raced: —
Format: Standard weekend
Constructor: Brabham
Entrant: Brabham-BMW
Confidence: reference

No layout is recorded for this round: this register has no layout timeline for the circuit, and a blank here is better than a guess.