The Ferrari 156/85 was a Formula One car designed by Mauro Forghieri and Harvey Postlethwaite and manufactured by Scuderia Ferrari for use in the 1985 Formula One season. Michele Alboreto drove the car to second place in the 1985 World Drivers' Championship. It was also driven by René Arnoux and Stefan Johansson. Arnoux was to drive for the season but was mysteriously sacked after the opening Brazilian Grand Prix in which he finished a fine 4th. Johansson was hired to drive in his place for the rest of the season.
The exhaust systems were set outside of the vee, opposite to the preceding 126C4. The turbocharger for each bank was located at the outside of the vee. Thus the intake chambers were located inside the vee. The Ferrari Tipo 031/2 V6 Turbo produced around 900 bhp (671 kW; 912 PS) during the 1985 season.
The 156/85 proved to be fast and reliable in the early part of 1985 but as the season wore on, the Ferraris became increasingly fragile in both qualifying and race trim with numerous engine and turbo failures throughout the season. It was this unreliability that ultimately would cost Alboreto, who actually led the points standings for most of the season, the drivers' championship. Alboreto retired from four of the last five races in 1985 and retired but was classified as 13th due to completing 90% of the race in the other (Spa) allowing McLaren's Alain Prost to come from behind and win his first championship. He famously drove half a lap of the Brands Hatch circuit on lap 13 of the European Grand Prix with the rear of his car on fire following another turbo failure. He drove the on-fire car into the pits and straight to his Ferrari pit. Many observers saw this as Alboreto's way of showing that the Ferrari's unreliability had cost him the World Championship which Prost won by finishing 4th at Brands. Interestingly, while Alboreto had unreliability his team mate Johansson finished 5th twice and 4th once with only two retirements in the last five races. The Constructors Championship had the same story as Alboreto's. Ferrari's unreliability allowed McLaren to overtake them in the points leaving the Maranello outfit as runners up.