Drive of the decade

1985 Portuguese grand prix

View the highlights of this race here, with commentary from Ayrton
So here we go, my first drive of the decade post. I've waited for a long time to watch this full Grand Prix, I've seen the highlights in full many times, but never the full 2 hours and 30 minutes of it.

the older title sequence not like todays

The titles roll into the familiar voice of Murray walker as he interviews Niki lauda and I try to transport myself to 1985 and imagine watching this live, putting what I know about the outcome to the back of my mind.

The conditions are awful and the pictures from the helicopter show this as the cars line up on their grid spots with the familiar yellow helmet in p1 for the first time. I wait to hear Murray walkers voice when a very 80's tune hits me as well as some very random video footage of golfing, before the roar of v6's ring and a slide show of the cars and drivers of 1985 come on and the camera returns to estoril and to Ayrton sennas cockpit where the Brazilian looks focused and ready for what lies ahead for him. Prost chats with his race engineer as Rosbergs car gets a final look over. Elio de Angelis in the number 11 lotus looks on through his helmet as does alboreto in the scarlet Ferrari, still with no commentary this grid walk is far different to that of Martin brundles today. Then out of nowhere Murray walker with no introduction talks tyres and explains with little detail wet weather tyres as he fights against the loudspeaker trackside.

The quite frankly awesome (no sarcasm here) 1985 graphics shows the championship table as James hunt starts talking and gives good insight to the conditions. The grid is so packed, I'm actually a bit shocked as teams decide on tyre compound to run with. Murray starts to chat sennas qualifying time as engines start revving up on the grid. Thus far, senna has been fastest in all four practice sessions and hunt makes the good point that the lotus' have a better chance in the wet as it lowers fuel consumption which lotus have struggled with. Nigel Mansell will start from the pit lane after a spin on the warm up lap. The parade lap begins. Senna leads Prost, rosberg and de Angelis into the first corner. The spray looks very bad even at slow speeds. Senna takes the warm up lap cautiously and the track looks, "quite wet" as hunt puts it. The cars form up on the grid.

The lights show red, now green , a good start from senna, Elio up to p2, rosberg stalls. All but senna start cautiously  as he gets away from his team mate. Mansell spins already. Senna finishes the first lap and I'm going to sit back and watch the Brazilians opening laps. The "masterful" senna, driving for the first time in his 97t in the wet, dances with his car with de Angelis in tow they get away from Prost who is being chased by alboreto. A good battle shapes up between piquet and Johansson for p9 and then patrese joins in. Piquet starts a train of five on lap 4 as three wide go into t1 as Johansson's Ferrari is hit by patrese who is out of the race, the Ferrari re-joins.

A big crash with Bellof involved, the drivers are really struggling. Piquet is sliding around with a 1000hp turbo charged behind him. These powerful cars are really hard to handle in the wet by the look of things. A battle begins between alboreto and Prost for p3, lauda watches on in fifth. We reach 1/10th distance. As walker puts it the calm collected and slightly aloof senna is still driving away as the conditions don't improve. The camera turns to senna as he looks as if he is driving in the dry. Senna narrowly misses a spinning baldi as he continues to pull away from his team mate through the traffic. Prost starts to hassle de Angelis after trouble with Backmarkers, three cars in a fight for p2. A beautiful bit of car control from alboreto as he fights Prost who is still hassling de Angelis who is holding them up.

Prost verses de Angelis

Alliot walks back to the pits in the rain as senna has a 13 second lead. Martins car is removed from the racing line by a truck as de Angelis avoids it narrowly. Prost getting a face full of spray fights against Elio, hunt compares it to driving behind a lorry in heavy rain on the motorway. The field up to piquet has now been lapped. Lap 13 and senna still has a healthy lead as the fight for p2 increases. Oh and thank god the commentary is interrupted as the bbc tell us about the show jumping to be shown at 4 o'clock safe to say I wouldn't have been tuning into that. More battles shaping up as Derek Warwick surges past piquet as he slides his Renault. Prost continues to struggle behind de Angelis as senna has a 15 second lead, alboreto has dropped back to 7 seconds behind Prost. O lap 15 senna sets the fastest laps as he continues to drive away he is showing the class we all know he had. I've never seen conditions so bad as Prost gets out of the cloud of spray he was surrounded in, in another failed attempt to pass the no 11 lotus. Brundle flies past boutson in his under powered Tyrrell.

Rosbergs car surrounded

The power differential between the turbos and the normally aspirated cars is shown as de Angelis breezes past bellof who has re-joined the race and is now 2 laps down. A Ferrari mechanic kicks at Johansson's right front to get it off. More spins from rosberg and baldi, as marshals run to the stranded Williams avoiding the cars still battling for second place who are driving at 100 mph, I've never seen anything like this! The conditions get worse as Prost continues to get frustrated in third. Alboreto closes on Prost once more. We haven't seen senna for a while, testament to his incredible driving, he now has a 30 second lead on lap 20. Rosbergs smashed up car remains on the track as Murray finds it laughable, he is sure British marshals would have sorted that in "the twinkling of an eye" got to love his commentary. Senna returns to the screen. After admiring two laps of sennas awesome driving in these terrible conditions, we see the three way battle for second once more, what a great battle this is.

On lap 25 we are just over 1/3 through the Grand Prix. We hear the lovely sound of the Renault v6 turbo as the commentary stalls. Senna holds his advantage at 30 seconds as Johansson starts to shape up a move on Prost who has dropped back form de Angelis. The commentary resumes as the engine sounds die down. As hunt points out Prost is going to have to "shut his eyes and have a go" soon, he has been held up long enough now. We enter lap 27/70. Hunt points out the race may have to be stopped before the 70 laps due to a time limit of 2 hours as the rain is getting harder Murray compares the conditions to Monaco 1984.

Big accident for you may have guessed... Baldi. The concentration required in these conditions must be so demanding ad pointed out by Watson. A big spin from Prost who does 2 360 degree spins into the wall, he is out. The commentators and drivers including senna want the race stopped. We return to senna. His car looks so much more steady than anyone else's on lap 32. Murray talks about whether the race will reach 3/4 distance at which point they will receive full points. 1 hour completed and the conditions are not improving. We see Nigel Mansell for the first time this race as he pursues lauda. Flames shoot from the back of the fw10 as Mansell is lapped by de Angelis. Senna has lapped up to fourth and has a 48 second advantage over his teammate as the commentary has once again gone. The only battle really shaping up is alboreto, who is right on the limit, chasing de Angelis. An oversteer moment for the scarlet Ferrari as he edges closer to the lotus the gap is four seconds. The sodden spectators look on as de Angelis' lotus twitches, alboreto is now 2 seconds behind. Alboreto now submerged in the spray is under a second behind. Murray and James are still unheard. I can't be unhappy with the quality of this footage, actually looks decent on my 42" TV screen as alboreto falls back. Murray and James return and remind us of the 52 second lead senna has. Tambay is driving well in fourth. Alboreto into second as he catches Elio napping. A few corners later de Angelis slides off will he be caught by tambay? I actually can't remember. Senna "miles clear" returns to the screen calm as ever. Senna holding his 58 second lead over alboreto. The 10th place car is 4 laps down now. Walker demonstrates a good knowledge of sennas career up to this point as we watch sennas car dancing in the rain, an amazing sight.

Murray is desperate to see the battle between Mansell and lauda, as we catch the backend of the battle Mansell has gone through. 35 minutes remain, and I don't want this to end. The rain is effecting the electronics in the commentary box as I watch senna in awe, he has just lapped fourth place tambay as he speeds up opening the gap over second place to 1 minute as hunt comments, he is "totally at home in these conditions". Bellof has fought up to 6th in his under powered Tyrrell and after the contact at the start, a great drive from him. Lauda retires in the rain after he dropped out of the points. Even though the cars have been driving for over 1 and a half hours there is still no real sign of a dry line on the track. Alboreto has amazingly pulled out 35 seconds on de Angelis as senna comes up to lap his team mate who is oddly not allowing Mansell to un lap himself the number 11 is looking very frustrated. 54 laps gone as the end draws in senna is careful in lapping de Angelis and Mansell. Senna has lapped everyone but second place alboreto. With the commentary dropping out again thankfully we get to see and hear in all it's glory sennas final few laps of this amazing race. The yellow helmet piercing through the spray left behind from the car that senna is about to lap, the jps coloured number 12 driven by the 25 year old Brazilian looks in total control. Tambay is now 8 seconds behind Elio I don't think he will catch him but you never know, as bellof closes to within 5 seconds of Mansell who is in 5th. With 15 minutes left of the two hour race and tambay gets ahead of de Angelis who must have been off to take third position. Senna looks set to take the hat rick of pole, fastest lap and race win as his red gloves grip onto his lotus steering wheel as he looks in total control.

Senna celebrates

Now I have watched the 1993 donington gp in full and it was always my opinion that that was sennas greatest drive, but watching him here in a car minus traction control with a 1000hp turbo engine strapped to the back of his car in the worst conditions I have ever seen I have defiantly changed my mind. I've never seen a car look so stable in conditions like this as he drives into his last lap and I'm going to sit back and watch him finish what has been an awesome drive. The flag drops team lotus led by peter warr stand on the finish line, senna undoes his shoulder straps and is absolutely beside himself with joy as he waves to the crowd , I've never seen a driver so happy to win a brilliant sight.

Now for the podium where senna stands proud beneath his national flag. Senna comments on his reaction by saying, "it means that all the effort and the years that I have put behind motor racing since four years old are giving me something good back not just for me but for team lotus and JPS and to all the Brazilians that cheer me up a lot."

Here's how they finished up then:-

Pos	Num	Driver	Car	Laps	Difference
1	12	Ayrton Senna	Lotus-Renault	67	2hrs 00’28.006
2	27	Michele Alboreto	Ferrari	67	1’02.978
3	15	Patrick Tambay	Renault	66	1 Lap
4	11	Elio de Angelis	Lotus-Renault	66	1 Lap
5	5	Nigel Mansell	Williams-Honda	65	2 Laps
6	4	Stefan Bellof	Tyrrell-Cosworth	65	2 Laps
7	16	Derek Warwick	Renault	65	2 Laps
8	28	Stefan Johansson	Ferrari	62	5 Laps
9	24	Piercarlo Ghinzani	Osella-Alfa Romeo	61	6 Laps

 

Well what an enjoyable couple of hours watching a great grand prix, seeing what has to be one of the greatest drives ever and certainly in my opinion the best of the 1980's. Last month I was actually lucky enough to see the exact lotus senna drove in this race (a few pictures are below), and watching this race makes seeing that car mean even more. On a display board behind the car was the quote "my greatest victory" from Ayrton himself and after seeing this race in full, I have to agree with him.

I hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed watching and please comment with feedback or suggestions for my next post on drive of the decade.

Thanks for viewing, once more please follow on twitter @f1rob100 and see my youtube channel of the same name f1rob100 and keep looking on my blog for my next post !