1985 Belgian Grand Prix

This is the complete race as broadcast on LIVE TV.

The Belgian Grand Prix was supposed to take place in the Spring of 1985, but had to be cancelled
when the famous Spa-Francorchamps track started breaking up during practice. It was
rescheduled for September, placing the race after the Italian Grand Prix.

Following the death of Stefan Bellof, the Tyrrell team continued to run only one car, and in other
significant news, Niki Lauda crashed heavily when his throttle stuck open and sprained his wrist,
withdrawing from the rest of the weekend. Qualifying resulted in pole position for Alain Prost in the
McLaren ahead of Ayrton Senna in his Lotus, with Nelson Piquet third in the Brabham.

Practice had been dry, but on race day it was raining. The rain subsided before the race started, but the
track remained damp, so the field started on rain tires. Ayrton Senna took off from the grid and
stormed into turn 1 to take the lead, followed by Nelson Piquet. But upon exiting the turn, Piquet got on
the throttle too hard and spun out. Alain Prost narrowly missed him and everyone managed to get
through unscathed. This gave Ayrton Senna a huge lead by the end of the first lap, but Prost quickly
closed the gap. Nigel Mansell, who started seventh, had a great start and moved into third behind Prost.
Soon the field was coming into the pits to take on dry tires. Elio De Angelis was briefly in the lead, but
when he pitted, Senna retook the lead. On lap 10, Mansell spun at La Source, but managed to keep going
in second place. Rosberg was third with Prost fourth, Boutsen fifth and Patrick Tambay sixth. Then it
began to rain again, and Senna, a master at driving in the rain, began to extend his lead. Mansell was
slowed when he had to avoid a spinning car, and was soon under pressure from Keke Rosberg. It did not
last long, however, as Rosberg had to pit to have a brake problem fixed. He rejoined behind Prost.
Ayrton Senna would go to take the second win of his career.

Some of the commentary is in French, but most of the race is hosted by Murray Walker and James Hunt.