EF4 engine in the 95T The car was driven by
Elio de Angelis and
Nigel Mansell, both of whom were consistently competitive in a season otherwise dominated by
McLaren. De Angelis finished in the top five on eleven occasions, including four podium finishes; he also took pole position at the opening race in
Brazil. With 34 points, he was third in the Drivers' Championship. Mansell, meanwhile, finished third in
France and the
Netherlands, and was running second in the final race in
Portugal when his brakes failed (which handed
Niki Lauda the Drivers' Championship by half a point from
Alain Prost). However, he also crashed out of the lead at a rain-hit
Monaco (which prompted team boss
Peter Warr, with whom he had a difficult relationship, to famously declare, "He'll never win a Grand Prix as long as I have a hole in my arse"), and in oppressive heat at
Dallas he took pole position and led the first half of the race, before his gearbox failed on the final lap and he collapsed from exhaustion trying to push the car to the finish line. He ultimately finished equal ninth in the Drivers' Championship with 13 points, the same tally as
Ayrton Senna, who would replace him for . With a total of 47 points, Lotus placed third in the Constructors' Championship, its best placing since . The 95T was seen by many in Formula One as being as good as the dominant
McLaren MP4/2, its biggest problems being the tyres, the gearbox and the Renault engine, which despite being powerful and reliable was not as fuel-efficient as the
TAG-
Porsche engine in the McLaren. Nonetheless, the car had helped to re-establish Lotus as consistent front-runners, and would be succeeded for 1985 by a further development, the
Lotus 97T. ==After Formula One==