TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY
We often hear cliched sentiments such as "this season had it all", but 1982 literally had everything. A season that just about began in South Africa in January thanks to a drivers strike produced 11 different winners by the time of the sixteenth and final race in Las Vegas in September. Nine consecutive races were won by nine different drivers. There was the incredible finale at Monaco, the phenomenal charge from the back of the grid to victory for John Watson in Detroit, the ongoing attempts to finally accomplish mid-race refuelling by Brabham and the surprising but fully deserved success of Keke Rosberg, the Flying Finn.
On the other end of the scale there was the tragic loss of the mercurial Gilles Villeneuve, regarded by many then and still some now as the fastest and most spectacular driver in the history of the sport. Formula Ones darker side also claimed the life of the young Italian driver Riccardo Paletti. Frenchman, Didier Pironi's career came to an abrupt end after a dreadful accident in qualifying for the German Grand Prix, just when he looked set to clinch the championship.
1982 marked the high point of the FISA-FOCA war, FISA President Jean-Marie Balestre had introduced a clause into the drivers' super licences which stated that they must drive for the team they were currently contracted to and no others. Leaders of the Grand Prix Driver's Association, Didier Pironi and the returning ex-World Champion Niki Lauda organised a strike, this subsequently did not go ahead and 26 cars started the opening race of the season. Balestre imposed fines of between $5000 and $10,000 for the striking drivers, an action which resulted in FISA being criticised for their handling of the situation. The process of reaching this compromise position took several weeks and contributed to the cancellation of that year's Argentine Grand Prix, scheduled to be the second race of the year.
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| Alain Prost's left rear tyre makes a bid for freedom |
In the race itself Alain Prost recovered from a puncture to take victory ahead of Carlos Reutemann's Williams and his Renault team mate Rene Arnoux. Hardly surprising considering the advantage that the turbocharged cars had in the altitude of the Kyalami circuit. Round two in Rio de Janeiro produced a thrilling race in soaring temperatures, Gilles Villeneuve spun off whilst leading on lap 29, that left local hero and reigning World Champion Nelson Piquet to take a popular victory ahead of the very impressive Keke Rosberg in the Williams. Although this was just on the track, Piquet and Rosberg were later disqualified when their cars were discovered to be underweight. Thus Alain Prost inherited the win with John Watson 2nd and Nigel Mansell 3rd.
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| Nelson Piquet collapsed on the podium in Brazil, showing the effort of driving a ground effect car in searing heat |
The Brazilian Grand Prix was the last for Argentine, Carlos Reutemann who left the sport after 10 years. The man who had missed the 1981 championship by just 1 point was replaced by Mario Andretti for the United States Grand Prix West, before Irishman Derek Daly filled the vacancy for the rest of the year.
In Formula One's history World Champion's have come out of retirement and struggled to recapture their former glory (Michael Schumacher's difficult 2010 campaign a prime example), but Niki Lauda famously predicted he would be a winner again within 3 races. Low and behold, the third race of the season in Long Beach, California was won by the Austrian with Keke Rosberg coming home 2nd, again protests regarding the legality of the Ford powered cars (Williams and McLaren being the prime contenders along with Lotus, Tyrrell and Brabham before their switch to BMW Turbo power mid-season) were lodged although this did not prove successful and the top 2 positions remained the same. Gilles Villeneuve was excluded from 3rd place however as Ferrari's innovative and ugly rear wing did not comply to the regulations. After three races Prost was leading the championship with 18 points, from Lauda on 12 with Rosberg and Watson tied for third sport with 8 points apiece.
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| Villeneuve's radical rear wing did not conform to the regulations |
The San Marino Grand Prix saw FISA-FOCA relations hit rock bottom, in response to the disqualification of Piquet and Rosberg at the Brazilian Grand Prix, the majority of the FOCA teams led by Bernie Ecclestone boycotted the event, though Tyrrell, Toleman, Osella and ATS opted to race. The decimated field left Renault and Ferrari untroubled at the front, although both the French cars retired. Thus the Ferrari's of Villeneuve and Pironi were left to battle for the lead in front of the delighted tifosi, in the end it was Pironi who defied his team orders by overtaking Villeneuve in the dying moments of the race to take the victory. The Canadian was incensed at Pironi's betrayal, his body language on the podium emphasised how enraged he was by Pironi's actions. He was quoted afterwards as saying, "I'll never speak to Pironi again in my life."
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| The expression of Villeneuve (far left) says it all as team mate Didier Pironi sprays the champagne |
Alas, Villeneuve, still not on speaking terms with his team mate when the F1 circus moved on to the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder, was killed in a violent accident after he clipped the back of the March driven by Jochen Maas, just as Pironi had set a faster qualifying time. Ferrari withdrew Pironi's car from the event. The race was held under a cloud and it was John Watson who triumphed after a mistake by Keke Rosberg promoted the Ulsterman into the lead. Not for the first time in 1982, the results changed as Niki Lauda was excluded from third place when his car was discovered to be underweight in post-race scrutineering. Eddie Cheever's Ligier was promoted to 3rd.
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| GILLES VILLENEUVE (18 January 1950 - 8 May 1982) |
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| Riccardo Patrese loses it at Lowes... |
Monaco was next, Ferrari ran just one car out of respect for Villeneuve (who coincidentally had won at Monaco in 1981). This race proved to be the one that nobody seemed to want to win, Rene Arnoux led comfortably early on until he spun at the Swimming Pool complex, handing the lead to his team mate Alain Prost. The French dominated proceedings until rain began to fall in the closing stages, with two laps remaining Prost crashed out. Riccardo Patrese's Brabham inherited 1st place only to spin at Lowes hairpin and hand the lead to Didier Pironi. Unbelievably the Ferrari ran out of fuel just half a lap away from the chequered flag, the Alfa Romeo of Andrea de Cesaris which would have taken the lead also ran out of fuel.
While Derek Daly lost all the gearbox oil from his Williams which ground to a halt. BBC's commentator James Hunt was startled, "Well we've got this ridiculous situation where we're all sitting by the start-finish line waiting for a winner to come past and we don't seem to be getting one!". In the end the "lucky" winner was Patrese, who bump started on the downhill gradient towards Portier and drove steadily across the finish line. Pironi and de Cesaris was classified 2nd and 3rd. In the championship, Prost still led despite not scoring since Brazil. Watson was second with 17 points and Pironi moved to third with 16.
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| ... but he had the last laugh amongst the chaos and took his first career victory |
The streets of Detroit played host to seventh round. The new venue was poorly organised, so much so that Friday's Qualifying session was postponed and 2 hour-long sessions were held on Saturday. The unpredictability of the season again was evident as Nelson Piquet, the reigning World Champion failed to qualify after numerous problems with the BMW engine. On Sunday, John Watson's McLaren sliced through the field like a hot knife through butter, in one single lap he managed to overtake team mate Lauda, Eddie Cheever's Ligier and Pironi's Ferrari, amazing considering everyone else had spent the race trying and failing to overtake anybody. After starting 17th he took an outstanding famous victory. The Ulsterman also took the lead in the championship with 26 points, six points ahead of Pironi.
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| Back to front: Watson came from 17th on the grid to win in Detroit |
The next race in Canada unfortunately saw the 23-year-old Italian, Riccardo Paletti die after his Osella slammed into the rear of Pironi's stalled Ferrari. His car caught fire whilst the doctors attended to him, Paletti already suffering severe chest injuries from the crash was without a pulse by the time the fire was extinguished, a further 25 minutes past before he was finally extracted from the car and taken to hospital where died shortly after arriving. 1981 World Champion Nelson Piquet won the race in the turbocharged Brabham BMW ahead of his team mate Riccardo Patrese, the Italian still running the normally aspirated Ford DFV engine. Watson's third place extended his lead in the championship to 10 points.
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| RICCARDO PALETTI (15 June 1958 - 13 June 1982) |
On a more entertaining note, qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix saw the first of two televised fights between drivers. Brazilian Chico Serra felt his fellow countryman Raul Boesel had spoilt one his flying laps, the heated argument between the two in the pit lane turned into a brawl!
Didier Pironi took a dominant victory at the Dutch Grand Prix to close the points deficit to John Watson to just a single point, the Ulsterman having failed to score. A highlight of the race was Rene Arnoux escaping unscathed from a frightening accident at the infamous Tarzan corner, caused by a stuck throttle. Furthermore, Ferrari recruited Patrick Tambay to replace the late Gilles Villeneuve.
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| Rene Arnoux was unhurt in this accident at Zandvoort |
Brands Hatch hosted the British Grand Prix in 1982 (at that time the race alternated between Silverstone and the Kent circuit). The race saw the Brabham team continue their innovative streak by and using Gordon Murray's radical strategy of refuelling mid-way through the race to run at the front of the field on numerous occasions, but this was not to be at Brands as Patrese stalled at the start and was assaulted from behind by Rene Arnoux's Renault, and Nelson Piquet retired from the race after just 9 laps. Niki Lauda emerged victorious ahead of Pironi and his new team mate Patrick Tambay. However, the hero of the race was Brit Derek Warwick driving the unfancied Toleman, which had once held the unflattering tag as "the turbo-engined truck" due to the overweight chassis. Warwick was lying in 2nd place until he retired on lap 40.
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| Derek Warwick proved a star on home soil at Brands Hatch |
The French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard brought another tail of inter-team squabbling and disobeying orders. This time it was, quite conveniently on French soil, Renault. Rene Arnoux violated a pre-race agreement with Alain Prost, who was better placed in the championship. Arnoux did not let Prost take the lead and win the race, and just like in Imola with the two Ferrari's the pair's relationship soured. The French crowd however were absolutley thrilled as the two Renault's were first and second, followed by the two Ferrari's driven by French drivers. The Brabaham's master plan of mid-race refuelling came to nothing again as both cars suffered engine failures.
German driver Jochen Mass immediately retired from F1 following the race after a near-catastrophic accident with Mauro Baldi at Signes, the fast corner after the long Mistral straight. Mass's car touched Baldi's, both went off the track and Mass hit the barrier and was then catapulted into grandstands full of people. Miraculously, no one was killed.
While Didier Pironi had picked up third place at Paul Ricard, John Watson had failed to score a point for the third consecutive race, Pironi moved 9 points clear of the McLaren driver in the standings and looked odds on to clinch the crown, but it was not to be. In qualifying for the German Grand Prix, Pironi ploughed into the back of Prost's Renault and was launched into the air in a crash strikingly similar to that suffered by Gilles Villeneuve three months earlier. Pironi was not thrown from the car but he suffered career-ending injuries to his legs. Patrick Tambay took a bittersweet victory ahead of Rene Arnoux and Keke Rosberg.
Again Brabham's radical strategy went beckoning after Riccardo Patrese suffered another engine failure. Nelson Piquet assumed the lead until he came across the ATS of Eliseo Salazar. The Chilean driver rammed into the reigning champion and a furious Piquet infamously launched a flurry of karate kicks at him in front of millions of television viewers worldwide. Nonetheless, this story has a happy ending as months later Piquet was informed by a BMW mechanic that his engine was about to expire anyway and that Salazar had actually saved the German manufacturer the embarrassment of two engine failures on home turf! Piquet apologised to Salazar over the phone.
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| Nelson Piquet greets Eliseo Salazar affectionately after their clash at Hockenheim |
On to Austria and the ultra-fast Osterreichring. As was often the case at the Austrian Grand Prix, there was trouble at the start, Andrea de Cesaris collied with his Alfa Romeo team mate Bruno Giacomelli and Derek Daly's Williams. The Brabham team were still running the planned pit stop strategy, which by now some were beginning to doubt they would ever live to see. Finally in Austria it happened, Piquet stopped from the lead just before half distance and rejoined in fourth place, he retired on lap 31. His team mate Patrese also managed to stop and the Italian had built up enough of a lead to rejoin 1st. That was until an engine failure sent him spinning off the track and on to the grass banking. Alain Prost looked set for victory before he was robbed by fuel injection problems five laps from home. In the end it was a thrilling duel for 1st place between the Lotus of Elio de Angelis and Keke Rosberg. De Angelis just held on by 0.05 of a second for his first career victory and the first for Lotus since 1978. Unfortunately this would sadly be the last witnessed by Colin Chapman, the famous chairman died in December.
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| Elio de Angelis holds off Keke Rosberg... just |
The Swiss Grand Prix was held at Dijon... in France! Finland's Keke Rosberg finally won his first Grand Prix and suddenly found himself leading the championship, his consistency coupled with this victory left his tally at 42, three ahead of Pironi, who was out of the running, and 12 ahead of Watson. With two races to go, Rosberg was now the favourite for the title.
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| He came so close in Belgium and just about as close as you get in Austria, but Rosberg finally took his maiden win in Dijon |
The Caesers Palace Grand Prix, Las Vegas was the hosted the final round of the World Championship for the second year running, which would also turn out to be the last time. Not that the circuit would be greatly missed, the anti-clockwise course which ran round a car park was certainly not a favourite amongst drivers or spectators! The bizarre season delivered its final surprise with the 11th different winner of the year! It was the Tyrrell of Michele Alboreto who took the victory, the Italian's first and Tyrrell's first since 1978. There was an even happier man in 5th place, Keke Rosberg drove steadily to bring his Williams home and become the 1982 World Champion, the Finn had not even scored a point the year before and now he was ahead of them all! Watson finished the race second and was gracious in defeat with American Eddie Cheever ending an impressive season with third place. Vegas was also the last Grand Prix appearance for America's finest, Mario Andretti.
Rosberg won the title with 44 points, five ahead of Pironi who hung on to second place despite his enforced retirement with 39 points. Watson, also with 39, was classified third by virtue of fewer 3rd places. Prost ended up fourth with 34, much less than he deserved, while Niki Lauda enjoyed a fine comeback season with fifth place on 30. Arnoux ended his four-year tenure with Renault on 28 points and sixth in the final rankings as he dreamed of his first Ferrari. Patrick Tambay with 25 points scored more points in six races than several drivers did in sixteen, to ensure that Ferrari retained him for 1983. Outgoing champion Nelson Piquet endured a frustrating season with just 20 points to his tally, 1 less than his team mate Patrese and 11th in the championship, he would be back with a vengeance the following year.
Despite the trauma of 1982, Ferrari clinched the Constructors Championship with 74 points, five ahead of McLaren with Renault third on 62. Williams finished fourth with 58 and Brabham's combined total of BMW and Ford powered results came to just 41 points.
1982 was a season marred by ongoing political tension and violent accidents. But there was no denying that fans had been treated some incredible racing on the track despite the drama off it. No-one could have predicted the outcome at the start of the year, and no-one could quite believe it at the end.
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| The perfect Finnish finish, Keke Rosberg, 1982 World Champion |
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