1985 British Grand Prix

This is the complete race as broadcast on LIVE TV.

Nelson Piquet scored a victory at the French Grand Prix two weeks earlier, and heading into the
British Grand Prix, his Brabham was still impressive, qualifying second on the grid. But it was Keke
Rosberg (Williams) who set the fastest qualifying time, running the first ever 160 mph lap at
Silverstone. Alain Prost was third on the grid in his McLaren, followed by Ayrton Senna (Lotus) and
Nigel Mansell (Williams). The points leader heading into this race was Michele Alboreto (Ferrari), who
qualified sixth. Back in tenth place on the grid was Alain Prost’s teammate, Niki Lauda.

Ayrton Senna makes his usual great start, taking the lead over Keke Rosberg, Nigel Mansell, Alain
Prost, and Andrea de Cesaris. At the first corner, Patrick Tambay (Renault) got sideways and was hit
by Stefan Johansson’s Ferrari. The crash also resulted in a collision between Piercarlo Ghinzani
(Osella) and Philippe Alliot (RAM). As the race continued, Andrea de Cesaris was impressive, passing
Prost and then Mansell before retiring on lap 7 with electrical problems. On lap 17, Nigel Mansell would
retire with clutch trouble, and then four laps later, Keke Rosberg’s turbo failed.

Ayrton Senna stayed out in front, but Alain Prost was closing, while Niki Lauda moved to third ahead of
Andrea de Cesaris and Nelson Piquet. Things remained stable until de Cesaris disappeared with clutch
failure on lap 42. By then Senna and Prost were running nose-to-tail, fighting it out for the lead. The
battle went on while Niki Lauda went out with an electronic problems, allowing Michele Alboreto to
move to third. On lap 58, Prost passed Senna for the lead, Senna fought back and passed Prost, then
Prost passed Senna again. On lap 60 of 65, Senna retired, having run out of fuel. Incredibly, the
checkered flag was shown a lap early, handing the win to Alain Prost, with Michele Alboreto second,
and Jacques Laffite, who had overtaken Nelson Piquet with a few laps to go, was third. However, as
the cars slowed after the flag, Laffite ran out of fuel! If the checkered flag had been displayed at the
correct point, Nelson Piquet would have had third place.

This is a BBC broadcast with commentary by Murray Walker and James Hunt.
Includes great pre-race coverage, but no post-race interviews.