1985 Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix

The 1985 Formula One Dutch Grand Prix held at Zaandvort on August 25, 1985.

This was F1’s last visit to Holland and Niki Lauda’s final GP victory. Piquet starts on pole but fails to get away and somehow the rest of the grid manage to avoid him. Lookout for some great out breaking manouvers going down into Tarzan corner. Tambay in the Renault and Alboreto in the Ferrari are particularly amusing.

Fantastic fightback from Prost to catch back up with Lauda his McLaren team mate and the last couple of laps see some frantic action.

For full race results see Wikipedia

Lost but not forgotten

Found a great article about Grand Prix cars that never raced over at the 8W website.

Particularly interesting is the Minardi/Coloni Subaru, McLaren Lamborghini (Senna and Hakkinen tested it!), and a Williams Renault with CVT.

The McLaren story makes me wonder what would have happened had Ron Dennis continued and actually raced with the Lambo engine. Would Senna have left for Williams…

1991 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix – Ayrton Senna Qualifying Lap

Fantastic qualifying lap of Suzuka with Ayrton Senna in the McLaren Honda which put him on pole position for the Grand Prix.

Watch out for the braking over the bumps coming up to the chicane after 130R…superb.

1985 Formula 1 European Grand Prix

The 1985 Formula One European Grand Prix held at Brands Hatch on October 6, 1985.

Nigel Mansell in the Williams Honda takes his first Grand Prix victory in front of the home crowd with Alain Prost finishing fourth to take the World Championship. John Watson returns for a one-off drive with McLaren after a 2 year absense in what will be his last GP.

Have a look at Keke Rosberg blocking Senna for nearly 2 laps after a coming together then goes on from a lap down to take 3rd place! Alboreto has a great turbo fire (those were the days when you could count on a Ferrari engine blowing up!). Jaques Laffite makes a brief appearance in the top 6 and takes fastest lap before his Ligier expires, and Marc Surer in the BMW Brabham has a spectacular turbo blow up.

The sleek, streamlined Brabham looks amazing compared with other cars and the simple blue/white colour scheme shows it off to best effect. This is in contrast to the McLaren which seems especially “fat”!

For those with a keen eye you should spot Ron Dennis (with some hair) of McLaren right at the end holding up a pit board with “Prost P1”

For full race stats see Wikipedia or Forix.