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Promising Brits

25. Apr 2022 
by Ziv Knoll
2792 views

The 1985 San Marino Grand Prix was held at Imola on 5 May 1985. The race was won by Elio de Angelis, driving a Lotus-Renault, after McLaren driver Alain Prost had been disqualified for being underweight. Thierry Boutsen was a fine second in an Arrows-BMW, with Patrick Tambay third in a Renault.

Picture above: Tambay’s team mate at Renault, Derek Warwick (left) chats with fellow Brits Nigel Mansell (Williams) and Martin Brundle (Tyrrell) ahead fo qualifying.

These three very capable drivers were expected to soon win races in Formula 1, but only Nigel Mansell, with 31 Grand Prix victories and the 1992 World Drivers’ Championship to his name, succeeded to do so.

Limited fuel allowance played a big part in the race, as a succession of drivers ran out of fuel in the last few laps. Summing up the general feeling that these fuel rules had seen F1 races reduced to mere economy runs, Williams driver Nigel Mansell, who finished fifth, two laps down, noted that “it wasn’t really racing.”

Picture below: an original podium – with de Angelis, who will finally be declared as the winner, Prost and Boutsen.

Source: DR

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