The 1985 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Paul Ricard on 7 July 1985. It was the seventh race of the 1985 Formula One World Championship. It was the 63rd French Grand Prix and the ninth to be held at Paul Ricard. The race was held over 53 laps of the circuit for a total race distance of .

The race was won by Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet, driving a Brabham-BMW, his only victory of the season. It was the 35th and final Formula One victory for the Brabham team, as well as the first F1 victory for Italian tyre manufacturer Pirelli since . Finn Keke Rosberg finished second in a Williams-Honda, having started from pole position, with local driver Alain Prost third in a McLaren-TAG. Prost moved to within five points of Drivers' Championship leader, Italian Michele Alboreto, who retired on lap 6 with a turbo failure in his Ferrari.

This was to be the last French Grand Prix held on the full Paul Ricard circuit until 2018. A shorter, circuit would be used from 1986 until 1990, following Elio de Angelis's fatal accident during a test session in May 1986.

Qualifying report Qualifying saw Keke Rosberg take pole position in his Williams-Honda with a time of 1:32.462, averaging , with Ayrton Senna alongside him on the front row in his Lotus-Renault. On the second row were Michele Alboreto in the Ferrari and Alain Prost in the McLaren, and on the third were Nelson Piquet in the Brabham and Niki Lauda in the second McLaren. Completing the top ten were Elio de Angelis in the second Lotus, Gerhard Berger in the Arrows, and the two factory Renaults of Patrick Tambay and Derek Warwick, Tambay driving a 'B' specification of the RE60.

Rosberg's Williams teammate, Nigel Mansell, had set a time good enough for eighth on the grid when he had a high-speed crash at the Signes corner, located at the end of the long Mistral Straight. A puncture caused the car to plunge off the track at over and into catch fencing; one of the poles struck Mansell on the head, giving him a concussion which forced him to miss the race.

The race was also the first in which the Tyrrell team used Renault turbo engines, thus becoming the last F1 team to go over from naturally aspirated engines to turbos. However, only Martin Brundle drove the new Renault-powered 014 car, while teammate Stefan Bellof continued to use the Cosworth-powered 012. Brundle could only qualify 20th, but was still over four seconds faster than Bellof in 25th. After qualifying, Brundle described one lap coming onto the Mistral about 50 metres behind Bellof in the Cosworth car (with Bellof also on a quick lap), and by the time the 014 got to Signes, the older car was just a dot in his mirror. While only running the oldest and slowest of the available Renault turbo engines (the Renault EF4 turbo was putting out around , which was a significant upgrade on the from the Cosworth), Brundle was speed trapped at , significantly faster than Bellof in the non-turbo who could only reach .

During qualifying, Marc Surer in his Brabham BMW recorded a seasons high on the 1.8 km (1.1 mi) long Mistral Straight.

Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 6 Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda 1:33.484 1:32.462 2 12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault 1:32.835 1:33.677 +0.373 3 27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 1:35.421 1:33.267 +0.805 4 2 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 1:33.547 1:33.335 +0.873 5 7 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 1:33.981 1:33.812 +1.350 6 1 Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG 1:33.860 1:34.166 +1.398 7 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 1:34.022 1:34.227 +1.560 8 5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda 1:34.191 n/a +1.729 9 17 Gerhard Berger Arrows-BMW 1:34.674 1:37.445 +2.212 10 15 Patrick Tambay Renault 1:34.680 1:36.339 +2.218 11 16 Derek Warwick Renault 1:34.976 1:35.190 +2.514 12 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 1:36.051 1:35.488 +3.026 13 25 Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault 1:37.335 1:35.571 +3.109 14 8 Marc Surer Brabham-BMW 1:35.572 1:35.640 +3.110 15 26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Renault 1:38.173 1:36.133 +3.671 16 28 Stefan Johansson Ferrari 1:37.546 1:36.140 +3.678 17 22 Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo 1:36.729 1:38.745 +4.267 18 23 Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo 1:36.931 1:38.489 +4.469 19 19 Teo Fabi Toleman-Hart 1:37.142 1:37.657 +4.680 20 9 Manfred Winkelhock RAM-Hart 1:37.654 1:45.628 +5.192 21 3 Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Renault 1:40.486 1:40.015 +7.553 22 30 Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed 1:40.647 1:40.289 +7.827 23 10 Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart 1:41.647 1:44.221 +9.185 24 24 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 1:42.136 1:42.968 +9.674 25 29 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Motori Moderni 1:47.523 1:44.350 +11.888 26 4 Stefan Bellof Tyrrell-Ford 1:44.404 1:45.478 +11.942

Race report At the start, Rosberg led away from Senna and Piquet, while Prost slipped to eighth. The early laps saw both Ligiers retire, Jacques Laffite suffering a turbo failure on lap 3 and Andrea de Cesaris dropping out with steering problems two laps later. Alboreto also suffered a turbo failure on lap 6 while running fourth.

On lap 7, Piquet overtook compatriot Senna on the Mistral Straight. He then closed up to Rosberg, who was struggling for grip, before passing him for the lead at Beausset on lap 11. At the same time, Lauda and Prost moved up to third and fourth respectively, ahead of de Angelis. On lap 21, Berger collided with the Minardi of Pierluigi Martini, putting both drivers out.

Senna, who had dropped down the order due to gearbox problems, retired in dramatic fashion on lap 27, when his engine failed and oil from it leaked onto his rear tyres, causing him to spin off backwards into the catch fencing and crash massively at Signes. He escaped with bruises, while his Lotus caught fire. Lauda retired on lap 31 when his own gearbox failed, promoting Prost to third; Brundle also suffered a gearbox failure on lap 33.

On lap 38, by which time Piquet had extended his lead to over 20 seconds, Prost overtook Rosberg for second at the Verrerie bends. The Finn promptly pitted for new tyres, emerging in fourth behind de Angelis. He then made a charge, quickly passing the Lotus and setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 46, before retaking second from Prost on the final lap.

Up front, Piquet cruised to victory, taking the chequered flag 6.6 seconds ahead of Rosberg. Prost finished 44 seconds ahead of the second Ferrari of Stefan Johansson, who passed de Angelis for fourth on the final lap, with Tambay taking the final point for sixth.

Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 7 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 53 1:31:46.266 5 9 2 6 Keke Rosberg Williams-Honda 53 + 6.660 1 6 3 2 Alain Prost McLaren-TAG 53 + 9.285 4 4 4 28 Stefan Johansson Ferrari 53 + 53.491 15 3 5 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 53 + 53.690 7 2 6 15 Patrick Tambay Renault 53 + 1:15.167 9 1 7 16 Derek Warwick Renault 53 + 1:44.212 10   8 8 Marc Surer Brabham-BMW 52 + 1 lap 13   9 18 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-BMW 52 + 1 lap 11   10 23 Eddie Cheever Alfa Romeo 52 + 1 lap 17   11 22 Riccardo Patrese Alfa Romeo 52 + 1 lap 16   12 9 Manfred Winkelhock RAM-Hart 50 + 3 laps 19   13 4 Stefan Bellof Tyrrell-Ford 50 + 3 laps 25   14 19 Teo Fabi Toleman-Hart 49 Fuel system 18   15 24 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 49 + 4 laps 23   3 Martin Brundle Tyrrell-Renault 32 Gearbox 20   1 Niki Lauda McLaren-TAG 30 Gearbox 6   12 Ayrton Senna Lotus-Renault 26 Engine 2   17 Gerhard Berger Arrows-BMW 20 Accident 8   29 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Motori Moderni 19 Accident 24   10 Philippe Alliot RAM-Hart 8 Fuel system 22   30 Jonathan Palmer Zakspeed 6 Engine 21   27 Michele Alboreto Ferrari 5 Turbo 3   25 Andrea de Cesaris Ligier-Renault 4 Steering 12   26 Jacques Laffite Ligier-Renault 2 Turbo 14   5 Nigel Mansell Williams-Honda Driver injured  Source:

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Michele Alboreto 31 2 Alain Prost 26 3 Elio de Angelis 26 4 Keke Rosberg 18 5 Stefan Johansson 16Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Ferrari 50 2 Lotus-Renault 35 3 McLaren-TAG 29 4 Williams-Honda 23 5 Renault 13Source:

References