Rio de Janeiro, April 7th
The Grand Prix on the flat Autodromo Riocentro in Brazil opened the 1985 Formula One season and saw Alain Prost take an easy victory in the revised MP4/2B McLaren-Porsche. During practice and qualifying it had been the Lotus team of de Angelis and Senna who set the pace, pipped for pole position at the last moment by Albereto in the new Ferrari. As ever, Rosberg was driving the Honda-powered Williams beyond its limit and though the new FW10 is a vast improvement over last year’s car it was not devoid of trouble. In a last minute s*** or bust effort Rosberg got himself on the front row of the grid alongside Alboreto, the Lotus lads being in row two. Prost was in row three and Lauda in row five, which did not look good for the Woking team, but once the race started it was another story altogether.
Alain Prost, 1st position, Michele Alboreto, 2nd position and Elio de Angelis, 3rd position on the podium.
