25th March 2022

Flashback Friday: Portugal 1985

This week we celebrated the birth of one of F1’s greatest legends, Ayrton Senna (March 21, 1960), therefore, we believed the best way we could honour his legacy was to tell the story of his first F1 win which came in 1985 at the Portuguese Grand Prix.

Brazil’s hero was 25 years of age when he claimed his first of 45 victories during a wet race at the Autódromo do Estoril. He qualified in pole position for the first time in his career, followed by Alain Prost of McLaren and Keke Rosberg of Williams. Other familiar names that were included in the top 10 for qualifying included Niki Laudi (7th), Nigel Mansell (9th) and Nelson Piquet (10th).

Ayrton Senna showed his remarkable skill and left an impression on all of F1’s viewers with a stunning drive in wet weather. The rain would prove to be a challenge for many as Nigel Mansell and Eddie Cheever took heavy hits to their cars during the warm-up meaning they would have to start from the pit lane with their spare cars. Renault driver at the time, Patrick Tambay said “It was survival of the fittest.”

Source: Autoweek.com

With a good start of the line, Senna was very quickly in a world of his own. After 15 laps no one could see him again. His teammate, Elio de Angelis also had an incredible start jumping into second place, fending off Alain Prost who made several attempts to overtake him.

The treacherous conditions meant that many drivers would have difficulty keeping the car on track and this included Prost who was in third place before he lost his car halfway down the pit straight on lap 31. Senna too, struggled at times, at one point sliding off the track, to which he later said he was “lucky to stay on the road.” Niki Lauda had called for the race to be stopped earlier due to the terrible weather, as it was incredibly dangerous for them to drive in.

Before the end of the race, Michele Alboreto and Patrick Tambay would pass di Angelis, leaving him to finish in fourth place. It was a slow puncture that meant di Angelis had to reduce his pace if he wanted to stay on track that left him vulnerable to Tambay’s overtake. Senna was untouchable, a full minute ahead of Alboreto who was the only driver not lapped by Senna. Nigel Mansell made a recovery drive after his difficult start, he finished fifth, ahead of Stefan Bellof who was the last point scorer of the race. The race time limit was reached at two hours due to the tricky conditions that cut the race distance short by two laps.

Source: Ayrton-senna-dasilva.com

Of the 26 cars that started the race, only nine of these were classified. Seven of the 15 cars that did not finish the race were because of the tough weather conditions that caused the cars to spin off the track.

Lotus were joyed at the win and the podium celebrations were full of emotion. But the team still clearly had work to do as it was only their second win in six seasons.

Source: Racefans.net

Nevertheless, this tale will be passed on for years to come as the sensation made his mark in F1 with this maiden win. His memorable career will never be forgotten and the legacy of the Senna name will always remain in F1.

We hope you enjoyed this special #FlashbackFriday, make sure you come back next week for another one. You can follow us on our social media to keep up to date with all the latest happenings in the #F1 community.