1985 German Grand Prix

Championship standings

Prost closed to within two points of Alboreto after Silverstone. The title race is tighter than it has been all season.

Previous race

At Silverstone, Prost won in a race shaped by fuel consumption. Senna led from the start but turned up the boost to hold Prost off, ran out of fuel and retired. Alboreto came through to second after most frontrunners faltered. The chequered flag was shown a lap early in error, which ultimately cost Piquet a podium — Laffite took third but ran out of fuel on what would have been the final lap, giving the position back.

Entrants

This is the first German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring since 1976, when the event moved to Hockenheim after Niki Lauda’s near-fatal accident on the old Nordschleife. It now uses the new GP-Strecke, run here for the second time in Formula One after hosting the 1984 European Grand Prix.

Renault enter a third car for the occasion — driven by François Hesnault, the recently dropped Brabham driver. The car carries the first onboard camera used in a Formula One race. Per the regulations introduced this season, the third car is not eligible for championship points; this is the last time a team will enter more than two cars. Renault’s regular drivers Tambay and Warwick remain eligible.

Milestones

This is the last Grand Prix for Manfred Winkelhock. The German driver will fatally crash his Porsche 962C at the 1000 km of Mosport in Canada the following week.