This month in history: 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix

When he died tragically on 1 May 1994 after a violent crash six laps into the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, Ayrton Senna had claimed some sixty-five pole positions, forty-one race wins, and three Formula 1 drivers’ world championships (1988, 1990, and 1991). However, the Brazilian had begun to acquire mythical status back at the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix when he had produced an incredible drive in his humble Toleman to catch Alain Prost, the leading F1 driver at the time, before the race director decided to stop the race due to the treacherous conditions, thus depriving him of a maiden win. It was therefore not until the Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril, round two of the 1985 season, that he finally claimed his debut win in his new ELF-backed Lotus Renault 97T. 

The future world champion made the perfect start to his weekend, grabbing the first pole position of his career at twenty-five years of age. In the race itself, Ayrton Senna made a clean getaway from the starting grid to take the early lead, before going on to dominate the race, despite a heavy downpour, leaving his rivals a long way back. On lap fifteen, he was even able to enjoy the luxury of setting the fastest race lap. After completing sixty-seven of the sixty-nine laps, the race was stopped by the race director due to the track having been made impassable by the heavy rain, and Ayrton Senna was able to celebrate the first F1 win of his career. “It was a difficult, tactical race, with the conditions changing on every corner, and on each lap,” he said at the time. “The car was sliding all over the place – it was very difficult to keep it under control. At one point, I ran wide and had all four tyres on the grass, completely out of control, but somehow I managed to get the car back onto the track.” He would go on to record another five wins whilst driving for the ELF-backed Lotus team.