Street Fighting Man — Exploring Keke Rosberg’s Underrated Formula 1 Career
When the name Keke Rosberg is mentioned, it’s probable that one of two things springs to mind.
First, is his son Nico, with whom he holds the rare distinction of being one of just two father-son pairs to have won the F1 world championship (with Graham and Damon Hill).
The other is his record, jointly held with Mike Hawthorn, of having won the F1 world championship with the fewest victories in a season — just one in the entire year.
These factors being most prominent when Keke’s name is mentioned is somewhat understandable — after all, Nico’s F1 career is far more recent and accessible than his father’s, and the unusual nature of Keke’s championship win is the most immediately striking thing about it.
To me though, it is still something of a shame that so many people only remember Keke Rosberg in this way. When I first found myself delving into the back-catalogue of old races which I have spent so much time watching since, Rosberg was one of the drivers who immediately jumped out at me as one of the most talented, fast and most importantly entertaining of his era, and this article seeks to explain why.
Rosberg’s early career was typified by low quality equipment as he sought to establish himself in Formula 1. His first season was 1978, and even in these cars of dubious quality, it did not take long for him to attract attention. During that year, he drove for two teams — Theodore and ATS.
Both of these teams were uncompetitive, and there were no results to speak of during the actual Formula 1 season. At the time though, Formula 1 cars also ran in a number of non-championship races alongside the world championship events, with big name drivers from the main world championship regularly taking part.
One of these events was the British Racing Drivers’ Club International Trophy, held at the Brands Hatch circuit, and it was here that Rosberg first made his mark.
He qualified well down the order, as was to be expected from his uncompetitive Theodore in a field consisting of some of the biggest names in F1.
On race day though, the heavens opened and torrential rain hit the circuit — perfect conditions for someone to spring a surprise. Rosberg did just that. With his Finnish background which gave him experience in controlling cars in slippery conditions, and of course his natural talent, he kept the car on the island as several other big names like James Hunt and Niki Lauda spun off.
After carving his way through the field in a Theodore which could scarcely even qualify for a world championship race, he crossed the line to win, in what was only his second Formula 1 drive.
While there was much praise for Rosberg after this showing, it was not enough to attract the patronage of a quality team, and Rosberg remained mired in the lower half of the F1 field scrapping for the occasional point for several years.
By 1980 he was driving for the Fittipaldi team, owned by Wilson Fittipaldi and his legendary double world champion brother Emerson, who was also one of the team’s drivers.
At the first round of the 1980 season — the tumultuous Argentine Grand Prix — Rosberg showed the type of class which would typify his later career, quietly managing to work his way up to P3 by the chequered flag after a dramatic race on a track whose surface was breaking apart due to the forces exerted by the ground effect cars of the day.
Again, several big names had struggled in the extreme conditions with almost everyone taking a trip off circuit at some point during the race, yet Rosberg kept a cool head once more and was able to deliver a result in a relatively uncompetitive car — this time for world championship points.
By 1981 Rosberg was lead driver at Fittipaldi, as Emerson called time on his successful F1 driving career. That year’s car unfortunately proved to be awful though, failing to even qualify at many races. However, a fortunate turn of fate would occur for Rosberg which would change the path of his career.
Towards the end of the season, the frontrunning Williams team’s number 1 driver Alan Jones suddenly announced his retirement from F1.
What followed this shock was a phone call from Williams to Rosberg asking him to come and test their car at the Paul Ricard circuit — the team apparently having been impressed by Rosberg’s showings in his comparatively hopeless equipment the past few years. Rosberg turned up for the test, went out in the Williams FW07C and proceeded to break the lap record on the immensely fast French circuit.
The contract with Williams was signed the same day, and completely out of the blue, Rosberg had finally got himself into a car befitting his talent after four years in the F1 doldrums.
Truth be told, watching races from the 1982 season is where Rosberg first caught my attention. Williams started the year using a development of the same FW07 car that they had been using since 1979, and were up against a field of fancy new turbocharged machines from big names like Renault and Ferrari, as well as a crop of more modern normally aspirated cars like the revolutionary carbon-fibre McLaren MP4/1.
Rosberg’s teammate was experienced Argentine campaigner Carlos Reutemann, who had excruciatingly missed out on the championship in controversial circumstances the previous season by a single point, as was outlined in a previous article.
Rosberg wasn’t intimidated though, and made his presence felt immediately by outqualifying Reutemann in his first race in the Williams. The canny Reutemann was able to finish ahead of Rosberg in the race with a strong second place, but Rosberg nonetheless claimed a solid two points for fifth.
Next race in Brazil, Rosberg proved himself again, qualifying an exceptional third behind only two turbocharged cars. In the race he drove to a fine second place, but in in one of the many cases of drama during 1982 was subsequently disqualified along with first place finisher Nelson Piquet due to their cars being under the weight limit.
The reason for this was that both the Williams and Brabham teams, who were using non-turbo engines, had contrived to fit their cars with water cooled brake systems which consisted of a large water tank which would be emptied onto the brakes, allowing the car to run most of the race below the weight limit before being filled back up before the car was weighed (the rules specified that any fluids lost during the race could be topped back up before the car’s weights were checked).
The rules of the time set the minimum weight limit for cars very high, which the teams using non-turbo engines saw as favouring the heavier turbo cars, and they therefore sought a method of circumventing the weight restriction — with watercooled brakes being the method that they settled on.
Regardless of the reason behind the use of this system, disqualification from a solid second place for reasons he couldn’t personally control was the result for Rosberg, which is worth remembering given some of the jibes thrown at his 1982 campaign.
Following this race, Rosberg’s teammate Reutemann announced his retirement from F1, meaning that Rosberg suddenly found himself as Williams’ clear number 1 driver in just his third race with the team.
That race was Long Beach, which was to be the final race for the venerable FW07C chassis, as the all-new FW08 was mooted for the next round in Imola. Rosberg gave the FW07 a fine send off, driving a charging race which proved to be the first of many outstanding performances on street circuits which gave this article its title.
Rosberg’s race notably included a ding-dong battle with Gilles Villeneuve which eventually saw Rosberg triumphant despite the Williams’ huge power disadvantage to the turbocharged Ferrari. A strong second place to the recently un-retired Niki Lauda in his McLaren was Keke’s reward for a fine drive.
The FW08 did not end up debuting in Imola, as Williams boycotted the race along with most of the other non-turbo teams in protest of the Brazil disqualifications, meaning the much-anticipated new car finally made its first appearance at round 5 of the season in Belgium.
The Belgian Grand Prix weekend proved to be a sombre affair though, as qualifying for the race saw the tragic death of immensely talented Ferrari driver Gilles Villeneuve, who Keke had had such a fantastic battle with at Long Beach just weeks earlier.
Despite the circumstances the race went ahead, and Rosberg gave the FW08 an auspicious debut by leading almost the entire race, though he was denied a first championship victory by tyre issues on the final lap allowing the chasing John Watson past to sneak the win from under Rosberg’s nose.
Another second place nevertheless provided more good points for Rosberg in his first season at a top team.
As the season developed, Rosberg and the FW08 proved to be a match made in heaven. The FW08 was still a non-turbo car, using a 3 litre Cosworth DFV which had been ubiquitous in F1 for over a decade.
Williams did however have their engines specially tuned by John Judd, which allowed them to produce over 500 horsepower compared to the roughly 480 of a typical DFV. This meant that Williams’ power deficit to the turbo-engined teams, who typically had in the region of 550 to 600 horsepower, was lessened.
The FW08 also had fantastically efficient aerodynamics designed by Frank Dernie, with the car producing immense downforce but with very little drag, which further maximised the engine’s power and suited Rosberg’s attacking driving style perfectly.
As a result of these combined factors, Williams was able to be a threat even on some fast circuits, though on true full-throttle blasts like Monza and Paul Ricard they still struggled to live with their turbocharged rivals.
For much of the year it seemed like Rosberg was cursed not to win races. He led the Detroit Grand Prix in another fine street track performance, before gearbox issues dropped him down to fourth by the chequered flag.
Then at Brands Hatch he produced a brilliant qualifying lap to put his Williams on pole — the only Cosworth pole of the year, and one of only two non-turbo poles of the season (the other being taken by a V12 engined car).
On the grid however, Rosberg’s car refused to start, and while the Williams mechanics were eventually able to get it going, Rosberg had traded the front of the grid for the very back on a circuit where passing was extremely difficult.
Keke proceeded to put in an absolutely stunning charge, showing the kind of speed which would have had him dominating the race if he had started from where he had qualified. This stirring drive sadly ended in retirement on lap 50 when the fuel system on his car gave up, by which time he was looking at a probable podium despite having started from 26th and last.
By the latter phases of the season, the title contenders were fairly well defined. Didier Pironi in the second Ferrari was a frontrunner for the crown, with Watson in his McLaren, Rosberg, and Alain Prost in his Renault also being in the hunt.
A sequence of events then occurred which served to propel Rosberg forward into the box seat when it came to winning the championship.
First, at round 15 in Germany, Pironi had a horrendous accident during the wet qualifying session for the race. While he thankfully survived, his injuries put him out for the rest of the season and sadly ended his F1 career.
Rosberg proceeded to finish third in the race despite the high-speed nature of the circuit, behind only the turbo cars of Patrick Tambay, who had been drafted in at the Ferrari team to replace Villeneuve, and Prost’s Renault teammate Arnoux, who was well out of the championship fight.
Secondly, Williams discovered a trick which proved to be a mighty boon to Rosberg’s hard-charging driving style. They began starting races with substantially lower tyre pressures than they would usually run.
This gave Rosberg a harder time early in the race, but as his tyres got hotter as the race went on, and the tyre pressures subsequently rose, it allowed him to put in immensely quick late-race charges which saw him rocketing up the field as others struggled with their tyres.
This was on full display in Austria, where another key event occurred. Rosberg’s race started in relatively pedestrian fashion with his Williams mired down in the midfield.
First the turbocharged Brabhams (who were running light on fuel due to a plan to reintroduce mid-race refuelling to F1 for the first time since the 1950s) and then Prost’s Renault ran away at the front of the field. By the closing stages of the race Prost had an enormous lead as the Brabhams had retired, while Rosberg’s close friend Elio de Angelis ran an excellent second in his typically midfield Lotus, and Rosberg ran behind him in third.
As the race drew towards its climax, De Angelis’ tyres began to fade right as Keke’s came on song as a result of Williams’ lower pressure trick, and Rosberg began to close rapidly on the second placed Lotus.
Then, 30 seconds in front of either of them and with just 5 laps to go, Prost’s engine went bang — a result of Renault’s policy of not giving their drivers the option to turn down their turbo boost pressure to increase reliability.
Rosberg and de Angelis were now racing for the win, and the Williams was visibly quicker than the Lotus as the laps ticked down. Entering the final lap the gap between Rosberg and de Angelis was 1.6 seconds, which came down inch by inch until the FW08 was right on the Lotus’ gearbox through the final sector of the lap.
De Angelis defended strongly but fairly, blocking the inside and forcing Keke to go the long way around. Rosberg carried extra speed through the final Rindt curve though, and the two cars came out of the corner side by side and crossed the line in an absolutely grandstand finish.
The margin? 0.05 seconds… to de Angelis — the young Roman just holding on to claim his own first F1 victory.
The win, it seemed, was fated not to be for Keke, but with Prost’s retirement and a string of poor results and luck for Watson in recent races, Rosberg was now well-placed in the championship. Just six points separated him from absentee championship leader Pironi with three races to go.
It was at this crucial time, as the championship fight reached fever pitch, that the breakthrough finally came for Keke. The fast, undulating Dijon-Prenois circuit which hosted what was ostensibly the Swiss Grand Prix (motorsport had been banned in Switzerland after the 1955 Le Mans disaster) was where that the triumph came.
Yet again it was a late-race charge that set Keke up for the win, but this time he got the move for the lead done, passing the Renault of Alain Prost with a opportunistic move up the inside with just two laps to go.
It was a fine victory, and gave him a lead in the world championship which he would not relinquish, even after a rear wing failure at Monza resulted in him not scoring at the penultimate round.
5th place in the finale in Las Vegas secured the title for the driver who was drafted in at short notice and who had to contend with all manner of drama denying him wins all season long.
Let it never be said that someone who came so close to victory on so many occasions during his title campaign was undeserving because fate only allowed him to win once that year.
While this article has primarily focused on Rosberg’s title winning season, his following campaigns were no less impressive. In his first race as reigning world champion in 1983 he took the redoubtable Cosworth DFV’s last ever pole position, and the last pole position for a non-turbo car until turbo engines were banned for 1989, in an updated FW08C.
Rosberg’s luck reared its head again in the race when he had a fueling issue during his pitstop, and had to be push started by his mechanics, which resulted in his second disqualification from a podium position at the Brazilian Grand Prix in as many years.
That year he also won F1’s last ever non-championship race after a titanic battle with Tyrrell driver Danny Sullivan, fittingly at Brands Hatch where he had made his name in the Theodore some five years earlier.
Another victory as reigning champion came in Monaco (a further street circuit triumph, if you’re counting) through an inspired decision to start on slick tyres on a damp track.
It was clear by mid season though that non-turbo cars could no longer be truly competitive, despite Rosberg’s heroics which saw him finishing constantly as the highest placed non-turbo car in both qualifying and the race.
Williams had therefore inked a deal with Honda to run V6 turbocharged engines from the Japanese firm. 1984 marked the first full season running these engines after a one-off jaunt with them at the final race of 1983.
Williams’ 1984 car — the FW09 — proved to be a real pig to drive however, with the Honda engine providing abrupt power delivery which made the car extremely challenging to drive.
The ungainly-looking chassis, which still used a primarily aluminium monocoque where many other teams were now using carbon fibre, was also not stiff enough to handle this power which exacerbated the handling issues.
Rosberg worked what many consider to be miracles in the FW09, managing a podium in Brazil (which he actually got to keep this time) and even winning a race on the Dallas street circuit, where he handled a disintegrating track surface and extreme heat better than any other driver, just as he had done in Argentina back in 1980.
Rosberg’s suffering through the FW09, which even saw the normally gritty and determined Finn retire from a race out of fear for his own safety at Austria due to the car’s evil handling, was rewarded in 1985 with the FW10 — Williams’ first all carbon fibre car.
The FW10 proved excellent, though results were initially hampered by still using the 1984-spec Honda engine in early races. When Honda introduced their true 1985 engine, the car took a huge step forward and became a contender for wins on a regular basis, before becoming even stronger when a B-spec car with a new rear end designed by Enrique Scalabroni was introduced.
Rosberg dominated the first race after the new Honda engine was introduced on the streets of Detroit, and was also set to win in Italy when the engine let go with 10 laps remaining.
Keke also recorded the significant achievement of the fastest lap in Formula 1 history at the time, recording an average speed of 160.9 miles per hour on his qualifying lap for that year’s British Grand Prix, which stood unbeaten for 17 years despite Keke having a deflating rear tyre for much of the lap.
Rosberg did however announce that he would be leaving the Williams team at the end of 1985 to join world champions McLaren, where he would partner reigning world driver’s champion Alain Prost.
He would finish third in the championship in his final year with Williams, behind only Prost and an excellent campaign from Michele Alboreto which I have written about previously.
If not for reliability issues and those early season races with the old Honda engine, Rosberg would likely have been right with Prost and Alboreto in the title fight, but alas it was not to be. With a new chapter beginning, Keke nonetheless underlined his class by winning his final race for the team he’d won his championship with in fine style on the new Adelaide street circuit.
Sadly, McLaren would prove to be an underwhelming ending to Rosberg’s career. He struggled with understeer all season long, with his aggressive style not suiting the John Barnard designed McLarens nearly as well as the smooth, clinical style of teammate Prost, who put in a bravura season-long performance to eventually win the title.
Barnard would also initially not really listen to Rosberg’s feedback on setup as a result of ongoing negotiations for him to move to Ferrari which left him somewhat distracted.
There were still some highlights even in this frustrating phase of the season, including a fantastic charge in Monaco where he rose from 9th on the grid to second at the flag, with almost all of the positions gained through on-track passes, but Rosberg was clearly not totally at one with the car.
When Barnard did finally allow setup changes, Rosberg’s performance picked up, though he was well out of the championship fight by that point. He also took a major blow when his friend Elio de Angelis, who he had fought for victory in Austria during his title winning year, was killed in a testing accident at Paul Ricard while driving for his new Brabham team.
This accident contributed to a decision by Rosberg to retire at the end of 1986. He had entered F1 relatively late, even for the era, at the age of 29, and now as a 37 year old he found himself disenchanted by the rules of the day which prioritized race management and fuel saving as opposed to the hard charging style which he had made his trademark.
He announced his retirement at the German Grand Prix, which he duly marked by taking pole and leading much of the race, before running out of fuel due to an error in McLaren’s calculations which saw both their cars run out within sight of the finish line — serving to underline Rosberg’s reasons for retiring.
Rosberg’s last hurrah was at Adelaide, where he had won his final race for Williams a year previously, and he was on fine form again in 1986. While he qualified only 7th, he put in a characteristic charge to lead the race by lap 7, and simply drove away from the field as the three title contenders of former teammate Nigel Mansell, current teammate Prost and Nelson Piquet all battled for position.
It was a lead that Keke would hold comfortably until lap 62, when the track conditions which proved so instrumental in that 1986 title fight (with both Prost and Mansell suffering punctures — Mansell’s being race-ending) caught him out too, as his tyre delaminated and put him out of the race.
It was a sad end to what could have been a brilliant capstone on Rosberg’s F1 career, but the drive nonetheless showcased what had made him such a thrill to watch throughout the 1980s.
Keke rounded out his driving career with successful stints with Peugeot in sportscar racing, and in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, which included creating his own team.
He also, of course, watched over his son Nico’s career, though he largely maintained a level of distance from the F1 media circus even when his son was engulfed in his own title battles.
The result of this distance was that he was rarely caught up in the kind of war of words that drivers’ families and former F1 stars can often find themselves in, and his legacy therefore remains comparatively untarnished.
We can therefore happily look back and appreciate his brilliant career without issue, as befits such a fantastic one-of-a-kind driver, and a true street fighter.
