Commenced on April 7th of 1985 and concluded on November 3rd , the 36th season of Formula One championship was composed of sixteen races.
Alain Prost, with his well performing McLaren-TAG team, was determined to win the title, after two consecutive seasons ended as runner-up, but Niki Lauda, in his last season wanted to conclude his career at the top.
But Alain didn’t have to challenge only his team mate, since at Ferrari they were ready to battle hard, and the Italian driver Michele Alboreto will well show during the course of the championship what he was talking about.And Lotus, with the second year driver Ayrton Senna, who replaced Mansell who moved instead to Williams team, next to the competitive Keke Rosberg. The cars were powered by a 1.5 litre turbocharged, which meant the end of the 3.0 liters Ford Cosworth: the 1.5 turbocharged offered an impressive amount of brake-horse power, reachin almost 1.150 bhp: the new challenge was becoming then the fuel economy of those engines and revealed to be a fundamental strategy to win the races. Ayrton Senna for instance lost the Imola GP due to an empty tank of fuel at four laps to the end.
In the tracks re-shuffle, Spa-Francorchamps was finally coming back in the calendar, together with the new Australian GP with the Adelaide street circuit. Sadly for the Dutch formula one fanatics, 1985 represented the last race to be host in the country.
The season revealed to be extremely exciting, with Alboreto taking the lead of the championship, which lost at the very end. The Italian driver commenced the season very well, with victories (Canada and Germany) and several podium position.
A disappointing second half of the season saw Ferrari becoming slower and not as competitive as the challenge with McLaren would have required. Moreover in several occasions, the battles with Keke Rosberg, Nigel Mansell and the Lotus of Senna helped the constant Prost to climb the overall standing.
Prost with 4 races won, won the championship, Alboreto arrived second followed by Rosberg. At the end of the championship Alfa Romeo withdrawn from the competition as a factory effort, same for Renault who may come back though in the future.
| Grand Prix | Date | Winning Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| Brazil | 07/04/1985 | Alain Prost | McLaren-TAG | 61 | 1:41’26.115 |
| Portugal | 21/04/1985 | Ayrton Senna | Lotus-Renault | 67 | 2:00’28.006 |
| San Marino | 05/05/1985 | Elio de Angelis | Lotus-Renault | 60 | 1:34’35.955 |
| Monaco | 19/05/1985 | Alain Prost | McLaren-TAG | 78 | 1:51’58.034 |
| Canada | 16/06/1985 | Michele Alboreto | Ferrari | 70 | 1:46’01.813 |
| USA East | 23/06/1985 | Keke Rosberg | Williams-Honda | 63 | 1:55’39.851 |
| France | 07/07/1985 | Nelson Piquet | Brabham-BMW | 53 | 1:31’46.266 |
| Great Britain | 21/07/1985 | Alain Prost | McLaren-TAG | 65 | 1:18’10.436 |
| Germany | 04/08/1985 | Michele Alboreto | Ferrari | 67 | 1:35’31.337 |
| Austria | 18/08/1985 | Alain Prost | McLaren-TAG | 52 | 1:20’12.583 |
| Netherlands | 25/08/1985 | Niki Lauda | McLaren-TAG | 70 | 1:32’29.263 |
| Italy | 08/09/1985 | Alain Prost | McLaren-TAG | 51 | 1:17’59.451 |
| Belgium | 15/09/1985 | Ayrton Senna | Lotus-Renault | 43 | 1:34’19.893 |
| Europe | 06/10/1985 | Nigel Mansell | Williams-Honda | 75 | 1:32’58.109 |
| South Africa | 19/10/1985 | Nigel Mansell | Williams-Honda | 75 | 1:28’22.866 |
| Australia | 03/11/1985 | Keke Rosberg | Williams-Honda | 82 | 2:00’40.473 |
Championship Final Standing – Drivers
Pos Driver Points
1 Alain Prost 73
2 Michele Alboreto 53
3 Keke Rosberg 40
4 Ayrton Senna 38
5 Elio de Angelis 33
6 Nigel Mansell 31
7 Stefan Johansson 26
8 Nelson Piquet 21
9 Jacques Laffite 16
10 Niki Lauda 14
Championship Final Standing – Constructors
| Pos | Manufacturer | Pts |
| 1 | McLaren-TAG | 90 |
| 2 | Ferrari | 82 |
| 3 | Williams-Honda | 71 |
| 4 | Lotus-Renault | 71 |
| 5 | Brabham-BMW | 26 |
| 6 | Ligier-Renault | 23 |
| 7 | Renault | 16 |
| 8 | Arrows-BMW | 14 |
| 9 | Tyrrell-Ford | 4 |
| 10 | Tyrrell-Renault | 3 |
