Image: Rivals - Pironi, Prost and Lauda
1982 Rivals
The Rivals for the Title
Winning the 1982 F1 World Championship was far from easy for Keke. He had a number of rivals who were just as eager to win the title as he was. His five main rivals all had superior machinery, but in the age of turbo engines Keke proved that driver skill was just as important.
Five main rivals made up the main team gunning for the crown in ‘82 and all five of them wanted it just as badly as Keke. Each one had a good chance at winning the title that year and all scored two wins to Keke’s single victory but they all suffered from bad luck in the form of reliability and other problems. It is also worth mentioning that Gilles Villenuve would most definitely have been a major title contender if not for his tragic and fatal accident at Zolder earlier in the year.
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The key to Keke’s success was that he kept scoring consistantly throughout the season taking points from many of the races. At the end of the season Keke had won with 44 points and one win, needing only a sixth place in the last race of the year. Michele Alboreto won the race but Keke did more than he needed and came a very deserved 5th. It is worth noting that this was during the era when only the top 6 scored points with the winner receiving just nine.
Finishing second in Austria by only 0.050 seconds, completing the most laps of any driver and scoring points at ten of the sixteen races is proof that Keke was more than deserving of his 1982 crown. Through determination and raw talent Keke was able to beat some of the best drivers the sport has ever seen and picking up the ultimate accolade, the 1982 F1 Drivers World Championship.
The Five Main Challengers
These five drivers; Didier Pironi, John Watson, Alain Prost, Niki Lauda and René Arnoux formed the main rivalry for the 1982 Drivers Championship. Each scored a win more than Keke but only John Watson matched Keke's consistency of six podium finishes.
Didier Pironi
Season Info
Team: Ferrari
Engine: Ferrari 021 1.5 V6
Wins: 2 (San Marino, Netherlands)
Podiums: 5
Points: 39
Final Position: = 2nd
Story of the Season
This was Didier Pironi’s fifth season in F1 with the 29 year old was already a Le Mans winner with Renault in 1978. He made a slow start to the season with only a single point in the first three races, however 6 podiums in the next 8 races would catapult him into the lead of the championship. However three keys events would define Pironi’s season and career. The first would be the ‘betrayal’ of his friend Villeneuve by winning in Imola. The Ferrari team were keen to guarantee a 1-2 finish had ordered both cars to slow down. Villeneuve did so but Pironi believed they were still racing and the two swapped positions multiple times before Pironi would controversially grab the win. The second key event was a race later at Zolder. Villeneuve still raging at Pironi’s betrayal was desperate to beat Pironi in qualifying and attempting to overtake Mass’s slower March the two collided sending Villeneuve airborne and killing him in the aftermath. Ferrari withdrew their cars and didn’t race in the Grand Prix. The final in Germany would end not only his challenge but his F1 career. During qualifying Pironi crashed into Prost trying to avoid Daly’s Williams. He would suffer multiple fractures to both of his legs and was unable to compete in the final five races.
Image Source:
Hans van Dijk for Anefo / neg. stroken, 1945-1989, 2.24.01.05, item number 932-2368, Watson at 1982 Dutch Grand Prix, CC BY-SA 3.0 NL
John Watson
Season Info
Team: McLaren Ford
Engine: *Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8
Wins: 2 (Belgium, USA East)
Podiums: 6
Points: 39
Final Position: = 2nd
*non turbo engine
Story of the Season
The oldest of the main rivals for the 1982 championship, 36 year old veteran Watson was entering his 10th year racing in F1, his forth season for McLaren. Watson would make a strong start to the season scoring points and a podium in the early rounds before being forced to miss Imola with the other drivers of British teams. The following four races saw Watson surge with a win in Belgium and Detroit and a podium in Montreal. The second half of the season would be disastrous and ultimately costly with Watson failing to score a single in point in the next 6 rounds due to accidents and mechanical failures. However with a fourth place in the penultimate race in Monza, Watson went into the final race as the only driver able to fight Rosberg for the title. In the end a second place in Las Vegas wasn’t quite enough due to Keke finishing in 5th and sealing the World Championship.
Alain Prost
Season Info
Team: Renault
Engine: Renault-Gordini EF1 1.5 V6t
Wins: 2 (South Africa, Brazil)
Podiums: 4
Points: 34
Final Position: 4th
Story of the Season
For 27 year old Alain Prost this would be his third year in F1 and fighting for the title was his goal having taken his first wins in the series the year previous. It would be a dream start to the season with wins in the first two races, his second in Brazil assisted by the disqualification of Piquet and Rosberg ahead. His title fight would then unravel with a run of seven consecutive races without scoring points. The end of the season was only marginally better with Prost only finishing in the points in four out of the seven remaining events including two second places in Paul Ricard and Dijon. Inter-team rivalry would also play a part in the title failure during the French Grand Prix when Arnoux ignored a team agreement for Prost to win if they were running first and second. Ultimately too many mechanical retirements and scoring in only six of the sixteen races were defining reasons for where Prost finished in the standings.
Niki Lauda
Season Info
Team: McLaren Ford
Engine: *Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8
Wins: 2 (USA West, Great Britain)
Podiums: 3
Points: 30
Final Position: 5th
*non turbo engine
Story of the Season
The most experienced of the title contenders was former F1 champion and multiple race winner Niki Lauda who returned to the sport after a 3 year hiatus. Lauda had left the sport before ground effects cars had become the dominant force and had to rapidly get up to speed with this new form of racing and his new McLaren team. His return got off to a great start with a fourth and a win in the opening three races. There were then two blanks as FOCA teams sat out Imola and Lauda was disqualified from 3rd place in Belgium for being underweight. The remaining races of the season would be a mix of points, highlights being a win at Silverstone and a 3rd in Dijon, and retirements. These failures were largely due to mechanical issues but it is worth noting that he chose not to start the German race after Pironi’s accident. A lack of consistency and bad luck would prove to be defining issues for Lauda’s season.
René Arnoux
Season Info
Team: Renault
Engine: Renault-Gordini EF1 1.5 V6t
Wins: 2 (France, Italy)
Podiums: 4
Points: 28
Final Position: 6th
Story of the Season
For 34 year old Frenchman René Arnoux this would be his fifth season in F1 and his fourth racing for Renault. Arnoux would make a solid start with a third in the first race at Kyalami but then a run of nine consecutive races without scoring a point derailed any challenge for the title. Eight of these blanks were due to retirements from a mix of issues including engine and turbo failures, collisions and spins. The scariest of these DNFs was at Zandvoort, on lap 21 pole sitter Arnoux entered the Tarzan corner with his throttle stuck open, hit the tyre barriers hard but was luckily uninjured (see images). Arnoux was fast throughout the season with five poles but rarely converted these strong starts into points. He would only have three further points finishes in the season but crucially two were wins in the French and Italian GP’s, with a second place in Germany. Winning his home race at Paul Ricard would also be controversial due to breaking a team agreement for Prost to finish ahead.
The Championship Battle
The graph below shows how many points each driver scored and the frequency with which they did this. The largest circles represent a win (9 points), the next largest for second (6 points), all the way down to sixth (1 point) with the smallest circles. The championship leaders are also displayed and despite winning two races a piece, neither Lauda or Arnoux would lead the championship.
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The graph shows how consistency was key in 1982. The attritional nature of F1 during this era meant regularly finishing races was vital in scoring points. Keke's consistency, completing the most racing laps in 1982 (88.73%), was how he repeatedly outscored his competition. All of the rivals in comparison had large gaps in which they failed to score either due to unreliability or driver errors.
Chart - 1982 Points Scoring Comparison
Championship leader