The 1985 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Paul Ricard on 7 July 1985. It was the seventh race of the 1985 Formula One World Championship. It was the 63rd French Grand Prix and the ninth to be held at Paul Ricard. The race was held over 53 laps of the circuit for a total race distance of . The race was won by Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet, driving a Brabham-BMW. It was the 35th and final Formula One victory for the Brabham team, as well as the first F1 victory for Italian tyre manufacturer Pirelli since . Finn Keke Rosberg finished second in a Williams-Honda, having started from pole position, with local driver Alain Prost third in a McLaren-TAG. Prost moved to within five points of Drivers' Championship leader, Italian Michele Alboreto, who retired on lap 6 with a turbo failure in his Ferrari. This was to be the last French Grand Prix held on the full Paul Ricard circuit until 2018. A shorter, circuit would be used from 1986 until 1990, following Elio de Angelis's fatal accident during a test session in May 1986. Qualifying report Qualifying saw Keke Rosberg take pole position in his Williams-Honda with a time of 1:32.462, averaging , with Ayrton Senna alongside him on the front row in his Lotus-Renault. On the second row were Michele Alboreto in the Ferrari and Alain Prost in the McLaren, and on the third were Nelson Piquet in the Brabham and Niki Lauda in the second McLaren. Completing the top ten were Elio de Angelis in the second Lotus, Gerhard Berger in the Arrows, and the two factory Renaults of Patrick Tambay and Derek Warwick, Tambay driving a 'B' specification of the RE60. Rosberg's Williams teammate, Nigel Mansell, had set a time good enough for eighth on the grid when he had a high-speed crash at the Signes corner, located at the end of the long Mistral Straight. A puncture caused the car to plunge off the track at over and into catch fencing; one of the poles struck Mansell on the head, giving him a concussion which forced him to miss the race. The race was also the first in which the Tyrrell team used Renault turbo engines, thus becoming the last F1 team to go over from naturally aspirated engines to turbos. However, only Martin Brundle drove the new Renault-powered