Sunday 19th May 1985

Michele Alboreto put on one of the most underrated and impressive Monaco drives ever. He started third and pulled off a superb move on Nigel Mansell at Ste Devote for second, which became the lead when Ayrton Senna’s Lotus broke down. Alboreto then lost the lead after running wide on oil from a fiery crash between Nelson Piquet and Riccardo Patrese, only to retake it a few laps later when he passed Alain Prost – this time around the outside of Ste Devote.
Alboreto’s luck then took another bad turn when he got a puncture and had to pit, dropping to fourth place and some 45 seconds behind Prost. He wasted little time in his recovery drive, slipping past Andrea de Cesaris at Mirabeau and then completing a third successful move at Ste Devote when he deprived Elio de Angelis of second place. A man on a mission, Alboreto’s best lap was more than 1.2 seconds faster than anyone else could manage and he ended up just 7.5 seconds behind Prost in a race he almost certainly should have dominated.