For the 1985 championship the McLaren MP4/2B was fielded, an evolution version of the previous year's champion car: the engine reached a race power of 850 hp, while the big rear wing used in 1984 was replaced by a more traditional one, as was the case with all the other cars, due to new regulations. After Michelin retired, the MP4/2B was fitted with Goodyear tyres. McLaren adopted the numbers 1 and 2 for Niki Lauda and Alain Prost respectively. In contrast to the previous year, however, the championship did not see another internal team struggle, but rather a two-man challenge between the Frenchman and Michele Alboreto's Ferrari. Up to three quarters of the season the fight remained very close thanks to the rediscovered competitiveness of the Scuderia di Maranello, but in the final phase began for the Italian a series of five retirements due to mechanical failures that thwarted all his championship hopes. So at the end of the season Prost became world champion for the first time (the first world title for a French driver). A season to forget instead for Lauda who only scored points on three occasions, scoring only one win at the Dutch GP at Zandvoort. McLaren MP/2B was also champion in the 1985 Constructors' Championship, closing the season with 6 wins, 2 second places and 4 thirds, and 90 points in the standings, against Ferrari's 82.