1985 Season

Driver changes

The biggest move of the off-season is Ayrton Senna’s promotion to Lotus, replacing Nigel Mansell. Mansell takes the vacated seat at Williams alongside Keke Rosberg. Brabham hired François Hesnault from Ligier, with ex-Williams driver Jacques Laffite filling the Ligier seat he vacated. Teo Fabi, who drove twelve races for Brabham in 1984, was dropped and signed by Toleman. Gerhard Berger made his debut in 1984 with ATS; with that team now folded, he joins Arrows for his first full season. Berger’s former ATS teammate Manfred Winkelhock moves to RAM, while ex-RAM driver Jonathan Palmer is signed by new constructor Zakspeed. Pierluigi Martini, who made a single appearance in 1984 standing in for Senna at Toleman, starts his full-season debut at Minardi.

Team changes

ATS has folded after the 1984 season. Minardi step up to Formula One as a constructor after four years in Formula Two, collaborating with ex-Alfa Romeo engineer Carlo Chiti to run Motori Moderni V6 turbo engines. Delays in the engine programme have forced Minardi to convert their M185 chassis to accept Cosworth V8s for the opening races. Zakspeed join the grid as a constructor using their own 1500cc four-cylinder turbo engine — only the fourth team to do so. For financial reasons they enter only the European and British rounds of the calendar, a total of ten races.

After eight years, Michelin have withdrawn from the sport. Pirelli and Goodyear are the sole tyre suppliers for 1985.

Calendar

Sixteen races are scheduled, a significant reduction from an original provisional calendar of 21. The Dallas Grand Prix has been cancelled, meaning for the first time since 1975 there is only one race in the United States — in Detroit. The Japanese Grand Prix, due to return after eight years, was cancelled when rebuilding of the Suzuka Circuit was delayed. A planned New York City Grand Prix was dropped for the third year running, and a provisional Hungarian Grand Prix at the Népliget Park Circuit did not materialise; a new circuit, the Hungaroring outside Budapest, will hold its first race in 1986.

Under FISA’s “one country, one circuit” rule, the Belgian Grand Prix moves permanently to Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, with Zolder dropped. For the same reason the French Grand Prix is now permanently at Circuit Paul Ricard, and Dijon-Prenois is gone. The British Grand Prix switches to Silverstone from Brands Hatch under the circuits’ event-sharing arrangement, and the German Grand Prix returns to the Nürburgring GP-Strecke for the first time since the circuit opened in 1984, replacing the Hockenheimring. FISA has since suspended these alternating arrangements, and Silverstone and Hockenheim will become permanent hosts from 1986.

The South African Grand Prix moves from April to October, and the French Grand Prix from May to July. The Portuguese Grand Prix is brought forward to Round 2. Most significantly, the Australian Grand Prix is added to the calendar for the first time, closing the season on a street circuit in Adelaide.

Regulation changes

Rear wings are narrowed for 1985 to reduce aerodynamic drag. All chassis must pass a frontal crash test before a manufacturer is eligible to enter it for a Grand Prix — a new safety requirement.

From this season the FIA limits teams to entering a maximum of two cars per race. A third car entered will not be eligible to score championship points.