This weekend’s race at the Baku City Circuit will mark the eighth running of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which first joined the F1 calendar in 2017. In that time the track has become infamous for a string of particularly dramatic grands prix.
However, the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was not the first F1 race at the Baku City Circuit. That honour instead goes to the 2016 European Grand Prix — the last European GP to date. It therefore seems fitting to explore a historic European Grand Prix as we approach race day at the last circuit to host such an event.
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A Storied Title
The title of European Grand Prix started as symbolic epithet, bestowed on only the continent’s most significant Grands Prix. The 1923 Italian Grand Prix was the first to bear the name, and the 1950 British Grand Prix which inaugurated the Formula 1 world championship was another significant race which was given the title. Use of the title in this honorific fashion continued until 1977.
By the 1980s however, the purpose of the “European Grand Prix” moniker had shifted somewhat. F1 was growing rapidly, and new circuits were always looking to join the calendar. Therefore, where once the European Grand Prix title had been purely symbolic, the 80s saw it used as a way to allow countries with multiple F1-quality circuits to have more than one grand prix on the calendar.
This was the case in 1985, which featured two races in the UK. That year’s British Grand Prix took place at Silverstone, while 113 miles to the south-west, Brands Hatch played host to the 1985 European Grand Prix. It is that historic and highly eventful race at Brands Hatch which we will be exploring today.
High Stakes
The 1985 European Grand Prix was round 14 out of 16 in that year’s F1 championship. As a result, it took place right as that year’s title battles were reaching fever-pitch.
The 1985 season had been an extremely competitive one, with five teams and seven drivers having won races in the 13 rounds leading up to Brands Hatch. This had made for an exceptionally close title fight for much of the season, with McLaren’s Alain Prost and Ferrari’s Michele Alboreto emerging as the main contenders.
In the two races prior to the European Grand Prix however, Alboreto’s title challenge had suffered a dramatic blow. Back-to-back reliability issues had opened his points gap to Prost from just 3 points to 16. Prost could therefore secure the title so long as he outscored Alboreto by at least two points. It looked likely that Brands Hatch could see a new champion crowned.
Grid Lock
While Prost and Alboreto were the title contenders, when it came to qualifying at Brands Hatch, neither featured very strongly. Prost lay down in 6th, while Alboreto could manage only a lowly 15th. On the relatively tight, undulating circuit, it was instead Ayrton Senna who showcased his scintillating single lap pace to claim his sixth pole of the year in his Lotus 97T.
Senna was joined on the front row by Nelson Piquet, driving for a resurgent Brabham team. Brabham had struggled all year with uncompetitive Pirelli tyres, but as the season neared its close they were finally getting on top of the Italian rubber.
Image Credit: Jerry Lewis-Evans – Own Work, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link.
Also worthy of note was the performance of the two Williams cars. The Didcot-based team had introduced a major update for Brands Hatch which totally revamped their rear suspension and packaging. So extensive were the changes in fact that the car was rechristened the FW10B. A second-row lockout with home-hero Nigel Mansell just ahead of 1982 champion teammate Keke Rosberg was seemingly confirmation of the upgrade’s effectiveness.
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A Fight from the Start
On race day, forecasts initially suggested a pre-race downpour. However the anticipated showers never materialised. Despite this, there was no shortage of drama in the race, even with the championship contenders mired down the order.
Brands Hatch was notorious for first lap carnage due to the narrowness of the circuit. On this occasion though lap 1 passed without a major shunt.
However, there was still notable drama. Senna led away well, with Mansell darting past Piquet to take second. Rosberg meanwhile had a horrible start, with his car bogging down as he released the clutch. Rosberg quickly set about making up for his poor start though, and sprinted up behind the lead pack. With such pace in hand, Piquet was effortlessly dispatched for third before turn 3, and when Mansell ran wide after trying a move on Senna, the 1982 champion was up to second place. Not bad for having barely got off the line.
Prost meanwhile was having a far less enjoyable time. He had been directly behind Rosberg on the grid, and was forced to take to the grass to avoid the slow-starting Williams. This resulted in the McLaren driver plummeting all the way down to 14th place. Worse still, his title rival Alboreto was among the cars to tear past, having made a strong start from P15. It seemed that Brands Hatch might provide yet another twist in that year’s title battle.
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Butting Heads
Rosberg was clearly the fastest man on track in the opening laps, and repeatedly looked for a way past Senna. Fresh off an emphatic win in Belgium the previous race though, the young Brazilian was not intimidated. The narrowness of Brands Hatch meant that if Senna stuck to his line, Rosberg would have no way past. The pair therefore ran line astern, with Piquet also joining the battle after climbing back up to third following Mansell’s off.
On lap 7, the situation flared up again dramatically. Rosberg got a particularly good run on Senna on the straight leading up to Surtees corner and attempted to make his move. Senna however chopped across the nose of the Williams and clipped Rosberg’s front right wheel. The Finn pirouetted round, and the unfortunate Piquet close behind speared into the spinning FW10B. An infuriated Rosberg soon got going again, albeit with a rear left puncture, while Piquet was out on the spot. This left Senna first, Mansell second, and Senna’s teammate Elio de Angelis in third place.
Image Credit: Jerry Lewis-Evans – Own Work, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link.
Team Tactics
An incredibly angry Rosberg made it back to the pits for a tyre change. However the combination of the puncture and the time lost from the stop dropped the Williams almost a full lap down. It seemed like Rosberg’s race was as good as over.
The Finn spied a chance for revenge however, as he emerged from his pit stop just in front of Senna. Blue flags existed at the time, but were not yet a mandate to get out of the way of the car behind. Rosberg therefore tactically held Senna up just enough to allow his chasing teammate Mansell to get a run on the Lotus.
Image Credit: Williams Racing
Mansell didn’t need a second invitation, and darted past Senna to take the lead on home soil. Rosberg then made his opinion of Senna’s earlier manoeuvre abundantly clear by letting his teammate past, before blocking Senna once more to allow Mansell to build a gap. It was clear that emotions were running high in the Finn’s cockpit.
Almost unnoticed in all of this furore, Alain Prost had quietly worked his way up into the points. This included overtaking title rival Alboreto, whose day soon went from bad to worse when his Ferrari engine expired in a cloud of expensive smoke. The distraught Italian drove his burning Ferrari back to the pits and parked up, seemingly resigned to lose the championship.
Surprise Contenders
Once in front, Mansell began to pull away from Senna and manage the race deftly. While he had never won before, he seemed to have the situation well in hand.
Attention therefore turned to other positions, where there were two somewhat surprising sources of excitement. These were the Ligier of 41 year old veteran Jacques Laffite, and the second Brabham of Marc Surer.
Both Laffite and Surer were benefitting from the increased performance of the Pirelli tyres at Brands Hatch. The Italian tyres were lasting well as the race progressed, and allowed them to challenge a number of high-profile drivers. Indeed, Laffite charged past Prost on lap 19, while Surer passed de Angelis for third two laps later. The Brabham driver then set about closing the gap to Senna in second. This was the best performance by a Brabham second driver in years, with the seat next to Piquet having a reputation among many as a career-killer in the same vein as today’s second Red Bull seat.
Dropping Like Flies
Surer’s charge continued unabated as the race entered its second half. Nobody could challenge the faultless Mansell out front, but the same could not be said for Senna, who was struggling with wear on his Goodyear tyres. This point was underlined when on lap 35 Surer finally passed the Lotus, while a lap later Laffite got past too. It seemed a truly improbable podium for both drivers was on the cards.
Sadly for both Laffite and Surer, luck was not on their side. In Laffite’s case, tyre wear finally got the best of him, and he was repassed by Senna before being forced to pit on lap 51. He set fastest lap with his fresh tyres, but then retired soon after with engine failure.
Surer clung on a bit longer, with second place seemingly assured. However he too succumbed to reliability on lap 62 when his turbocharger expired. It was a sad end to an excellent drive.
Meanwhile, spectators became ominously aware of a certain Keke Rosberg. From stone dead last on lap 8, he had quietly worked his way up the order as the race wore on, harnessing his anger from the Senna contretemps. By the time of Surer’s retirement he had risen all the way up into the points. He then passed Elio de Angelis and Alain Prost in quick succession to claim a truly improbable podium from almost a lap down, behind only Mansell and Senna.
Hard Work Pays Off
While Rosberg’s charge was lauded, there were two main focuses as the race drew to a close. One was of course Mansell, who finally overcame years of hardship to win his first grand prix in fine style. The Briton was justifiably elated to win at home, especially after such a faultless performance, and praise was universal. A magnanimous Senna in second stated that Mansell would have won regardless of Rosberg’s assistance, while the British public got their first taste of what would later be termed “Mansell Mania”.
Image Credit: Jerry Lewis-Evans – Own Work, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link.
The other focus was Prost, whose fourth place finish was enough to finally secure his first world title. Prost readily admitted that he had put in a relatively unspectacular drive, but posited that for the first time in his career he opted to drive for the championship rather than the race itself. Having missed out of the previous two championships by agonisingly small margins, this was an understandable course of action, and it paid off. The championship trophy was finally his.
As Britain celebrated the latest in a long line of home race winners, France also rejoiced at its first ever F1 world champion. In both cases, the winners were evidence of the value of not giving up, even in the face of hardship.
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