Everything about The 1982 Formula One Season totally explained
The
1982 Formula One season was the 33rd
FIA Formula One World Championship season. It commenced on
January 23,
1982, and ended on
September 25 after sixteen races. For the first time since the inception of Formula One, there were no non-Championship races run during 1982. This situation would become permanent from onward. It was also the only season to host three Grand Prix in the same country (United States): the
Las Vegas Grand Prix,
United States Grand Prix East and
United States Grand Prix West.
Season summary
1982 was a season of tension. Swedish born Finn Keke Rosberg won the championship, but only won one race. The season featured tremendous on-track action and was extremely competitive, as
Keke Rosberg (driving for
Williams),
René Arnoux and
Alain Prost (
Renault),
Patrick Tambay and
Didier Pironi (
Ferrari),
John Watson and
Niki Lauda (
McLaren),
Nelson Piquet and
Riccardo Patrese (
Brabham),
Elio de Angelis (
Lotus), and
Michele Alboreto (
Tyrrell) all won races. However, the season was marred by the deaths of drivers
Riccardo Paletti and
Gilles Villeneuve.
The controversies began even before the first race of the season in South Africa. Two-time champion Niki Lauda, who was returning to F1 after a 3-year break, took exception to FISA's new super-license, and led a drivers' strike. The strike was resolved before the race, and Alain Prost's Renault won. Prost also won the second round in Brazil, but only after the top two finishers (Nelson Piquet and Keke Rosberg) were disqualified for running an illegal water-cooled brakes system. Lauda won the next race in Long Beach, USA for McLaren.
At this point, off-track struggles for control of the sport took center stage as the
FISA-FOCA War broke out again. Angered by the Piquet and Rosberg's disqualification in Brazil, the FOCA teams boycotted the San Marino Grand Prix, leaving Renault and Ferrari as the only front-running teams in that race. Tyrrell was also forced to compete due to sponsorship obligations. In the race, both Renault cars broke down, leaving the Ferraris running alone in front, with Gilles Villeneuve ahead of Didier Pironi. Near the end of the race, the Ferrari team ordered the drivers to slow down to conserve fuel and reduce the risk of mechanical failure. Villeneuve thought this meant that Pironi was supposed to stay in second place, but Pironi didn't see it this way and passed Villeneuve on the last lap for the win. Villeneuve was irate, and swore he'd never speak to Pironi again. This promise was fulfilled, as in the next race, in Belgium, Villeneuve was killed in qualifying. He was on his hot lap, with
Jochen Mass cooling down in front of him. Mass moved to the inside to let Villeneuve through at the first half of Terlamen, just as Villeneuve moved to the inside to pass. Villeneuve' Ferrari struck Jochen Mass's car, throwing the Ferrari into the air. Villeneuve was catapulted out of the wreck in midair, across the top of the corner, ejecting him right into the fencing, without his helmet, which flew off of his head due to the immense G-Forces of the impact. Ferrari withdrew from the race, and John Watson won for McLaren after Rosberg spun off the track in the final laps.
The next race in Monaco was an instant classic. The Renaults led from the start, with Arnoux ahead of Prost. Arnoux spun out of the race at about half distance, leaving Prost with a dominating lead. However, in the final laps rain began to fall on the track, leading to absolute chaos.
Keke Rosberg,
Michele Alboreto,
Alain Prost, and
Derek Daly (
Williams) all crashed while in potential race-winning positions in the final laps. Patrese spun and stalled the lead away, while Pironi,
Andrea de Cesaris (
Alfa Romeo), and Daly (who managed to keep running despite his crash) all had their cars stop with mechanical failures while leading on the last lap. Amid the chaos, Patrese managed to bump-start his car by coasting down a hill and finish his last lap to take his first career win.
Watson won again at Detroit, before tragedy struck again in Canada. Pironi qualified on pole, but stalled at the start. His stationary car was hit by the
Osella of young Italian
Riccardo Paletti, who was killed in the impact, and resultant fire. Piquet won the re-started race. Pironi came back to take a dominant victory in Holland, where Arnoux was lucky to escape uninjured from a massive crash after his Renault's throttle stuck open.
Lauda won in Britain, but the real star of the race was
Derek Warwick, who hustled the unfancied
Toleman into second place late in the race and was closing on Lauda before the car broke down. The next race in Le Castellet's Circuit Paul Ricard saw Frenchman Arnoux take victory in his French Renault, which was popular with the crowd but not with the team, as Arnoux was supposed to give the win to teammate Prost to help the latter's championship cause. As it was, Pironi seemed poised to run away with the title, but his quest was ended prematurely at the next race in Germany. During a wet qualifying session, Pironi plowed into the back of Prost's Renault. The Ferrari was launched into the air in an eerily similar accident to the one that killed Villeneuve. Fortunately, Pironi wasn't thrown from the car, but he suffered career-ending leg injuries. Ferrari chose to compete in the next day's race, and Patrick Tambay (who Ferrari had picked to replace Villeneuve) took a somber win after Piquet crashed out of the lead while lapping
Eliseo Salazar (Piquet famously punched Salazar for his trouble).
Elio De Angelis scored his first win in Austria, as Rosberg's last-lap lunge for the win came up 0.050 seconds short. However, Rosberg wasn't to be denied at the next race, a second French round in
Dijon-Prenois named the 'Grand Prix of Switzerland' (motor racing was prohibited in Switzerland at the time; many Swiss automobile clubs race in Dijon). After toiling in the mid-field for the first half of the race, the Finn went on a charge, and was on Prost's tail on the penultimate lap. Rosberg passed Prost on the last lap and held the lead for the remainder of it.
Suddenly, Rosberg (who had scored zero points the previous season) was leading the championship. He duly held onto that lead in Italy (where Arnoux beat the two Ferraris) and in the final round at Las Vegas (where Alboreto took an unlikely win) to become the first Finnish World Champion.
Drivers & Constructors
Season review
- Note -- the 1982 Argentine Grand Prix, set for March 7, was canceled. This was possibly due to the FISA-FOCA war.
1982 Constructors Championship final standings
1982 Drivers Championship final standings
Further Information
Get more info on '1982 Formula One Season'.
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