Michele Alboreto took his final pole in Brazil

Michele Alboreto took pole position for the Brazilian Grand Prix on April 7, 1985, giving Ferrari the fastest car over one lap at the opening round of the season. It was the second pole of his Formula 1 career, and the last.

At Jacarepaguá in Rio de Janeiro, Alboreto produced a 1:27.768 lap to edge Keke Rosberg’s Williams-Honda by less than a tenth. It was a sharp start to a season that would become the strongest of his Formula 1 career, and a useful reminder that Ferrari had arrived in 1985 with a car capable of more than respectable afternoons.

Alboreto was never a serial qualifier in the Senna mould. He was a measured, intelligent driver, usually stronger across a race distance than in headline-grabbing Saturday performances. That made Brazil stand out. His only other pole had come at Zolder in 1984, which left Jacarepaguá as both his second and final time at the front of a Formula 1 grid.

Sunday did not quite complete the picture. Alain Prost won for McLaren, while Alboreto finished second, but the weekend still felt significant. Ferrari had shown real pace immediately, and Alboreto had laid down an early marker in what became his title-chasing year. He never took another pole, which gives this one an oddly neat place in his record: not the start of a pattern, just a brief and very convincing statement.