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Race
 Most
were happy that raceday was dry - indeed, Goodyear had been very concerned,
as Zandvoort's surface had been wearing their wet tyres at an astonishing
rate on Saturday, which would have meant five or six stops for each
runner; the American company hadn't brought that many wet tyres to Holland.
While still breezy, at least it was sunny. One man who wasn't happy
was Patrick Tambay, who after his fine qualifying performance would
have to start from the pitlane when a misfire prevented him getting
onto the dummy grid in time.
 At
the start itself, both Piquet and Boutsen stalled; the Brazilian needed
a push from the marshals while the Belgian managed to roll enough to
get going. Once more it was Rosberg and Senna who leapt away, with Prost
and Fabi in close attendance and Surer next up in the second Brabham,
with Lauda and Warwick behind him. Fabi got past Prost into the first
corner, while Rosberg was really going for it and pulling away from
the following trio, who had Lauda bearing down on them having disposed
of Surer.
 Further
back, both Alfa Romeos retired on the second lap with blown turbochargers,
while Martini destroyed his Minardi in a big off. Rosberg was beginning
to pull out a lead at a rate of around a second a lap, while Prost was
back past the upstart Fabi (soon to be followed by the charging Lauda)
and closing on Senna's second place Lotus. Johansson had charged up
to 11th, only for his engine to blow on the tenth lap. Alboreto was
now in 9th, suspension revisions used in the warm-up had substantially
improved the handling. However, he would soon be caught by the charging
Tambay.
 As
the McLarens pushed Senna so Rosberg's lead began to disappear, closing
to four seconds by lap 13 as the soft tyres on the Williams began to
fade. Prost and Lauda would both pass Senna on lap 15 when the Lotus'
engine briefly cut out, while Mansell was 6th in the second Williams,
but unable to do much about Fabi and also coming under pressure from
Warwick. The Toleman would soon disappear when faulty rear wheel bearings
sent Fabi sliding over the kerbs, damaging the underside and ending
his race.
 Prost
was now pressing Rosberg hard, while there was a slight gap to Lauda,
the Austrian having to deflect the attentions of a recovering Senna.
Then on lap 21 Rosberg's Honda let go, letting Prost into the lead,
while Lauda headed into the pits, deciding to get his necessary stop
out of the way early on. This left Prost in the lead, with a lead of
just under five seconds over Senna, with the Renaults of Warwick and
Tambay in 3rd and 4th - the French team's best showing of 1985 - Mansell
5th and Alboreto 6th.
 The
Renault cars didn't last much longer - Tambay's storming race coming
to an end with apparent transmission failure on lap 33, and five laps
later Warwick was out with a broken gearbox. However, many thought the
French team were running on half tanks to put on a good showing and
convince top brass to allow the racing team to continue into 1986. Combined
with Senna and Mansell pitting, this elevated Alboreto to 2nd, but Lauda
was now in 3rd having got past Surer and looking dangerous. The big
question was when Prost was going to stop, as his main rivals Lauda
and Senna had made their only scheduled stops and were now making up
places on fresh rubber.
 Alboreto's
stint in 2nd came to its' inevitable end when he stopped for tyres on
lap 32, dropping him behind Mansell. Prost followed a lap later, with
a 25 second lead. His stop wasn't good at all, allowing Lauda and Senna
through into first and second, about ten seconds ahead of the Frenchman.
Prost soon began attacking, while Alboreto was also recovering and was
soon past Surer for 5th and setting off after de Angelis. Senna meanwhile
was trying to lap Brundle, but his old Formula 3 sparring partner perhaps
wasn't as helpful as he could have been, allowing Prost to close right
up on the Lotus.
 Senna
fought off Prost's first attempt at Tarzan, but at the end of lap 47
Prost was alongside and past on the straight, before reducing the ten-second
gap to Lauda. He closed so that by lap 62 he was right on Lauda's tail.
There was no thought of the Austrian giving way as Prost tried everything
to get past, including going wide onto the grass at one point, with
Lauda using every bit of his experience to keep his team-mate behind.
By the last lap Prost was crawling all over the Austrian, but Lauda
knew just where to put his car, and came home to score his 25th victory
(level with Jim Clark, and just two behind the all-time record held
by Jackie Stewart) by just over two-tenths of a season after a fabulous
duel.
 There
was a similar battle in the closing laps between Senna and Alboreto,
the Brazilian just about fending off the Williams. Surer had disappeared
with an exhaust problem which had got steadily worse, leaving de Angelis
5th, Mansell 6th, Brundle 7th and Piquet - further delayed by a long
tyre stop - was a disappointed 8th. Berger was the only other finisher,
though Huub Rothengatter was still driving around in front of his delighted
public, despite losing a dozen laps in the pits.
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