F1 1985 French Grand Prix - Circuit Paul Ricard (7/16)

F1 returned to Europe to start the second European tour with the French Grand Prix at the very fast Circuit Paul Ricard with its long 1.1 mile Mistral straight. Keke Rosberg took pole position, averaging more than 140 mph. He was ahead of Senna, Alboreto, Prost and Nelson Piquet. The weather was hot, and after gaining places at the start, double world champion Piquet made the most of his BMW engine’s superior power (this engine was the most powerful in F1 at the time) and Pirelli tires. After moving up to third at the start, Piquet passed Senna on the Mistral Straight, and then passed the leader Rosberg on Lap 11. Senna went into the pits and fell down the order; while driving hard to make up places he crashed heavily at the very fast Signes corner after the Mistral Straight when the Renault engine in his Lotus failed and dropped oil on the rear tires. Rosberg had wrecked his tires early on, and was harried by Prost and his teammate, defending champion Niki Lauda. After a long battle where Rosberg held up the two McLarens and allowed Piquet to get away, Lauda retired with gearbox failure (the Austrian had only finished once in the season thus far), Prost eventually took Rosberg, who went into the pits to have his tires changed. Rosberg stormed after Prost, who was putting considerable pressure on Piquet. The Finn eventually passed Prost for 2nd, behind Piquet. During qualifying, the turbocharged Brabham-BMW of Marc Surer reached a season-fastest 338 km/h (210 mph) on the Mistral Straight. This compared to the fastest (and only) non-turbo car, the Tyrrell-Ford V8 of Stefan Bellof who was recorded at 277 km/h (172 mph). Wikipedia: