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Keke Rosberg | |
|---|---|
 Rosberg at the1982 Dutch Grand Prix | |
| Born | Keijo Erik Rosberg (1948-12-06)6 December 1948 (age 76) Solna, Stockholm, Sweden |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Nico Rosberg |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  Finnish |
| Active years | 1978–1986 |
| Teams | Theodore,ATS,Wolf,Fittipaldi,Williams,McLaren |
| Entries | 128 (114 starts) |
| Championships | 1 (1982) |
| Wins | 5 |
| Podiums | 17 |
| Careerpoints | 159.5 |
| Pole positions | 5 |
| Fastest laps | 3 |
| First entry | 1978 South African Grand Prix |
| First win | 1982 Swiss Grand Prix |
| Last win | 1985 Australian Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1986 Australian Grand Prix |
Keijo Erik "Keke"Rosberg (Finnish pronunciation:[ˈkekeˈruːsbæri]ⓘ; born 6 December 1948) is a Finnish formerracing driver andmotorsport executive, who competed inFormula One from1978 to1986. Rosberg won theFormula One World Drivers' Championship in1982 withWilliams, and won fiveGrands Prix across nine seasons.
Born inSweden and raised inFinland, Rosberg started his racing career inkarting before graduating toFormula Vee in 1972. Upon winning Finnish Championship the following year, Rosberg progressed toFormula Super Vee, where he won theGerman Championship in 1975. He then moved toEuropean Formula Two, competing from1976 to1979. Aged 29, Rosberg made his Formula One debut forTheodore at the1978 South African Grand Prix. He spent the remainder of the1978 season with Theodore andATS, winning thenon-championshipBRDC International Trophy with the former in his second Formula One appearance. Rosberg returned in1979 withWolf, replacing the retiredJames Hunt from theFrench Grand Prix onwards. After anothernon-classified championship finish, Rosberg signed forFittipaldi in1980 to partnerEmerson Fittipaldi, scoring his maiden points and podium finishon debut.
After two years with Fittipaldi, Rosberg signed forWilliams in1982. He secured his maiden victory during his first season with the team—at theSwiss Grand Prix—and his five further podiums saw him clinch the title at thefinal race of the season, becoming thefirst World Drivers' Champion from Finland. Rosberg was unable to defend his title in1983 as Williams struggled to adapt to theturbo era, despite winning theMonaco Grand Prix and thefinal non-championship Race of Champions. He took further wins for Williams at theDallas Grand Prix in1984, and theDetroit andAustralian Grands Prix in1985, finishing third in the latter championship. Moving to reigning championsMcLaren in1986 to partnerAlain Prost, Rosberg was unable to win all year as his teammate took the title, retiring at the end of the season with five race wins, five pole positions, three fastest laps and 17 podiums. Outside of Formula One, Rosberg achieved multiple race wins in theWorld Sportscar Championship withPeugeot from1990 to1991, and was a race-winner in theDeutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, competing from1992 to1995.
Since retiring from motor racing, Rosberg has moved intodriver management, formerly managing two-time24 Hours of Le Mans winnerJJ Lehto and two-time World Drivers' ChampionMika Häkkinen. He also coached and managed his sonNico from karting at an early age to winning the World Drivers' Championship in2016. Since 1994, he has owned and managedTeam Rosberg, leading them to championships inGerman Formula Three,Formula BMW, theDeutsche Tourenwagen Masters, andExtreme E.
Rosberg was born on 6 December 1948 inSolna,Sweden, where his father studied veterinary science.[1] Rosberg's father Lars Rosberg and mother Lea Lautala were both natives ofHamina,Finland.[2] The family moved back to Finland in the spring of 1950, originally settling in aSwedish-speaking village inLapinjärvi, where young Rosberg had language problems with other children, because his family spoke Finnish. The family later moved to Hamina,Oulu andIisalmi.[2]
Rosberg had a relatively late start to hisFormula One career, debuting at the age of 29 after stints inFormula Vee,Formula Super Vee,Can-Am,Formula Atlantic,Formula Pacific andFormula Two, then "feeder" series to Formula One. He raced forFred Opert, his American patron. His first Formula One drive was with theTheodore team during the1978 season.[3] He immediately caught the attention of the Formula One paddock with a superb drive in the non-ChampionshipBRDC International Trophy atSilverstone in just his second race with the team, emerging victorious after many of the big names had been caught out by a tremendous downpour. Rosberg was not able to qualify for a race afterwards, and was signed by another uncompetitive team,ATS, for three races after the Theodore team scrapped its unreliable car design. He returned to Theodore after they acquired chassis from the Wolf Formula One team, but these were also uncompetitive and Rosberg returned to ATS to end the season.
He next emerged with theWolf team, midway through the1979 season. However, the team was having difficulty staying solvent, and Rosberg had problems in finishing races. Rosberg soon had to change teams again when Wolf left Formula One, and signed withFittipaldi Automotive which had bought the remains of Walter Wolf's squad. He secured his first two point-scoring results in the1980 season, including a sensational podium at the season-opening race at Buenos Aires, but the uncompetitiveness of the Fittipaldi car meant that Rosberg often failed to finish or qualify. 1981 was worse as he failed to score at all.[4]
Despite this,Williams was interested in Rosberg, with the retirement of1980 World ChampionAlan Jones leaving a seat open for the1982 season.[3] Given a competitive car, Rosberg had a highly successful year. He consistently scored points and earned his first victory in theSwiss Grand Prix atDijon-Prenois late that year[5] (despite being called the "Swiss Grand Prix", the race was held inFrance due toSwitzerland's ban on motor racing in effect since the1955 Le Mans disaster).
In a year where no driver won more than two races, withFerrari's season marred by the death ofGilles Villeneuve atZolder and the career-ending injuries toDidier Pironi atHockenheim, and the turbochargedBrabham-BMW andRenault cars suffering from poor reliability (and not helped by Brabham continually changing between the Ford V8 and the BMW turbo), consistency won Rosberg theDrivers' Championship. This was despite hisWilliams FW07C using the normally-aspiratedFord DFYV8 engine which was considered outdated and out-matched against the vastly more powerful turbo cars. Rosberg won the championship with a five-point lead over Pironi, who had missed the last four races of the season due to injuries sustained at the German Grand Prix. Rosberg's 1982 Championship proved to be the last World Championship win for the oldCosworth DFV engine which had been introduced to Formula One byLotus in1967 (the DFY was a development of the DFV). To celebrate the victory, Frank Williams gave Rosberg two days off from testing and allowed him to smoke in the team mobile home.[6] As a result of winning just one race in his title winning season Rosberg equalled the record set byMike Hawthorn in1958 for the fewest number wins scored by a driver during a World Championship winning season, a record he still jointly holds with Hawthorn as of 2023.[7]
Rosberg's post-championship years would be hamstrung by both uncompetitive chassis from Williams, and the powerful but unreliable Honda turbo engine. For his title defense in1983, Rosberg was again using the reliable Ford DFY V8. However, by this time, the reliability of the Ferrari, Renault and BMW turbo engines was starting to match their speed and power output. Rosberg still put hisWilliams FW08 on pole for the opening race of the season inBrazil (where he was disqualified from 2nd place because he was push started in the pits after he was forced to abandon his car in his pit bay due to a fuel vapor fire), and then won both the non-championshipRace of Champions atBrands Hatch and inMonaco thanks to a choice of slicks at the start when all others started on wets, but it was increasingly obvious that without a turbocharged engine, results would be scarce. To that end, Frank Williams concluded a deal to run theHondaV6 turbo engine in his cars. Honda had come back into Formula One that year with theSpirit team and results had been slow with unreliability, but they were enthusiastic about joining Williams who had a reputation as a Championship-winning team. Rosberg and teammateJacques Laffite first got their Honda turbos in the season endingSouth African Grand Prix atKyalami and immediately the newWilliams FW09 was on the pace. Rosberg finished in 5th place to give him 5th place in the championship.
Despite the powerful Honda engines, Williams and Rosberg struggled in1984 mostly due to the FW09B chassis not being rigid enough to handle the power delivery of the 850 bhp (634 kW; 862 PS) V6. The Finn managed to tame both the car and engine long enough to win theDallas Grand Prix,[8] but his only other podium for the year was a second at the season opener inBrazil (the third time in succession he finished second in Brazil, but the only one from which he was not disqualified). After a frustrating year he finished the championship in eighth place with 20.5 points.
In November 1984 following the Formula One season, Rosberg, along with fellow Formula One driversNiki Lauda (the 1984 World Champion),Andrea de Cesaris andFrançois Hesnault, travelled toAustralia for the non-championship1984 Australian Grand Prix at theCalder Park Raceway inMelbourne. Rosberg managed to qualify 4th in hisRalt RT4Ford despite spending most of the day with fellow aviation enthusiast Lauda (his teammate for the race) attending an air show at the nearbyEssendon Airport. After an early race dice with Lauda and a clash with Terry Ryan while lapping the young Australian which put him off the short 1.609 km (1.000 mi) circuit, Rosberg went on to finish 2nd behind the Ralt RT4 Ford of Brazilian driverRoberto Moreno who won his 3rdAustralian Grand Prix in 4 years (having also won in1981 and1983).
1985 would prove better for both Rosberg and Williams. The Finn had a new teammate inNigel Mansell and the allcarbon fibreWilliams FW10 chassis was a big improvement over the FW09B. For the first few races the team used the 1984 engines until Honda introduced an upgraded version which improved power delivery, fuel economy and most importantly, reliability. Rosberg used the new engine to good effect, winning theDetroit Grand Prix and claiming pole in the next two races inFrance at thePaul Ricard Circuit and theBritish Grand Prix atSilverstone. Rosberg's pole-winning lap at Silverstone created history when he lapped the 4.719 km (2.932 mi) circuit in 1:05.591 for an average speed of 259.01 km/h (160.94 mph). This would remain the single fastest lap of a circuit in Formula One until broken by Williams driverJuan Pablo Montoya at the2002 Italian Grand Prix atMonza.
Keke Rosberg's fifth and final Grand Prix victory came at the1985 Australian Grand Prix on the brand newAdelaide Street Circuit. As it was the final race of the season, it was also Rosberg's final race for Williams. Keke gave the winners trophy to his race engineer,Frank Dernie. The win enhanced Rosberg's reputation as a street circuit specialist, as four of his five championship Grand Prix wins (Monaco, Dallas, Detroit and Adelaide) had come on street circuits. Rosberg handled the 35°C heat better than most and won by 43 seconds from theLigierRenaults of Jacques Laffite andPhilippe Streiff.
Just as the Honda engine began producing regular results, Rosberg decided to leave Williams at the end of 1985 and signed forMcLaren, winners of the 1984 and 1985 Drivers' and Constructors' championships. The Williams-Honda team would go on to dominate Grand Prix racing in1986 and through1987.
At the time, Rosberg's move to McLaren for the 1986 season had seemed a master stroke as they were the championship team of the previous two seasons, having done so (especially in 1984) in dominating fashion.[3] However, the 1986 McLaren was now somewhat underpowered compared to its rivals, and Rosberg, was soundly beaten by teammate, 1985 World ChampionAlain Prost (theMcLaren MP4/2C had been designed byJohn Barnard to suit the smoother style ofNiki Lauda and Alain Prost, while Rosberg had never shed theground effects style of late braking and throwing the car into a corner. It was not until it became known Barnard was leaving for Ferrari that the designer allowed Rosberg to fundamentally change his cars set up to suit his style. Ironically this coincided with Rosberg's only pole position of the season inGermany). On top of that, the fatal crash of Rosberg's close friendElio de Angelis while testing aBrabham at thePaul Ricard circuit in France in May 1986 deeply affected him and he retired at the end of the season. He would later claim that he retired "too soon"[citation needed].
Keke Rosberg dominated the final race of his Formula One career, the1986 Australian Grand Prix, though he did not win. While holding a 30-second lead overNelson Piquet (his replacement at Williams), he had a rear tyre let go on lap 62. Thinking the noise from the back of his McLaren was engine related, he shut the engine off and pulled off the circuit, only to find when he got out and checked that all he needed to do was drive back to the pits to change tyres. However, he later revealed that he would never have won anyway, that he planned to give best to Alain Prost in the Frenchman's bid for back-to-back World Championships (Prost needed to win the race with Nigel Mansell finishing no better than 4th to claim the championship, while Rosberg had dropped out of title contention some races before). As it turned out, Prost won the race and the title, and a lap after Rosberg's retirement Mansell suffered the same fate as his former teammate, though in much more spectacular fashion.
Rosberg, who had made up his mind in mid-1984 that he would only race for two more years (but did not announce it publicly until Germany 1986), had no regrets about leaving Williams and joining McLaren at a time when the Honda engine was starting to come on strong, while thePorsche builtTAG engine (and the 3 season old MP4/2) was starting to show its age. In an interview following his retirement announcement, Rosberg said that he was glad he left Williams when he did, stating that had he stayed with them he might have quit Formula One early in the 1986 season afterFrank Williams' pre-season accident (in which he suffered a spinal cord injury which left him atetraplegic) had left someone in a position of authority within the team who he said was one of the reasons he had decided to leave Williams, adding "We simply could not stand each other". While Rosberg did not name the person, it was generally believed to be Williams head designer and Technical DirectorPatrick Head, who had taken over the day-to-day running of the team while Frank Williams recovered from his accident.
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In 1989 Rosberg made his comeback in theSpa 24 Hours in aFerrari Mondial run by Moneytron (cf.Jean-Pierre Van Rossem andOnyx), the same team that gave Rosberg's protégéJJ Lehto his debut in Formula One. Rosberg was a key element ofPeugeot's extremely competitivesportscar squad in the early 1990s.[3] But after two years with the marque and varied successes (two victories and a failed attempt at the24 Hours of Le Mans), he moved on to the German Touring Car Championship, theDTM, driving forMercedes-Benz andOpel. Here he set up his own team,Team Rosberg, in 1995 and at the end of that year withdrew from driving to concentrate on running it.
Team Rosberg ran for another year in the DTM, until the series collapsed, and has been present inFormula BMW, German Formula Three, theFormula Three Euroseries andA1 GP since. Team Rosberg returned to the revived DTM in 2000, entering two Mercedes. Success, or even just scoring points, became harder with each passing season and Team Rosberg quit the series after their 2004 campaign, only to return in 2006, this time withAudi.
Rosberg later spent a long time managing his countrymenJJ Lehto and future world championMika Häkkinen. Until 2008, he also managed his sonNico who entered Formula One in 2006 driving forWilliams F1. In 2013 he and Nico became the first father and son to both win at Monaco, 30 years apart from each other. In 2016, he and Nico became the second father son duo to both win Formula One World Championships, afterGraham Hill andDamon Hill had won the Championships of 1962 and 1968, and 1996 respectively.
In his karting years, Rosberg had a white helmet with a blue stripe, then, in Formula One, Sid Mosca (who designed helmets for Brazilian drivers including Ayrton Senna, Rubens Barrichello and Emerson Fittipaldi) painted Rosberg's helmet white with a blue circle on the top, and the stripe was divided into a large blue rectangle covering the visor area with some blue rectangles behind (similar to Didier Pironi's helmet design). In 1984, the rectangles were replaced by a yellow trapezium. His son Nico used a design that had similarities to Keke's helmet earlier in his Formula One career, with grey replacing blue and with flame motifs, before changing to a new design in 2014.[9]
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Team Warsteiner Eurorace | Toj F201 | BMW | HOC Ret | THR Ret | VAL DNQ | SAL 13 | PAU | HOC Ret | ROU 4 | MUG 24 | PER DNQ | HOC 5 | 10th | 5 | |||
| Fred Opert Racing | Chevron B35 | Hart | EST Ret | NOG | ||||||||||||||
| 1977 | Fred Opert Racing | Chevron B35 | Hart | SIL Ret | 6th | 25 | ||||||||||||
| Chevron B40 | THR Ret | HOC 8 | NÜR 3 | VAL 12 | PAU 11 | MUG Ret | ROU | NOG 13 | PER 1 | MIS | EST 4 | DON 2 | ||||||
| 1978 | Fred Opert Racing | Chevron B42 | Hart | THR Ret | HOC 8 | NÜR 2 | PAU DNS | MUG Ret | VAL Ret | ROU | DON 1 | NOG 17 | PER | MIS | HOC | 5th | 16 | |
| 1979 | Project Four Racing | March 792 | BMW | SIL | HOC 1 | THR | NÜR Ret | VAL | MUG | PAU | HOC | ZAN | PER | MIS | DON | 12th | 9 | |
Source:[11] | ||||||||||||||||||
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
† Did not finish, but was classified as he had completed more than 90% of the race distance.
‡ Race was stopped with less than 75% of laps completed, half points awarded.
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position)(Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Class | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | GTi Engineering | C | Porsche 956 | Porsche Type-935 2.6F6t | MNZ | SIL | NÜR 3 | LMS | SPA | FUJ | KYA | 25th | 12 | ||
| 1990 | Peugeot Talbot Sport | C | Peugeot 905 | Peugeot SA35 3.5V10 | SUZ | MNZ | SIL | SPA | DIJ | NÜR | DON | CGV Ret | MEX 13 | NC | 0 |
| 1991 | Peugeot Talbot Sport | C1 | Peugeot 905 | Peugeot SA35 3.5V10 | SUZ Ret | MNZ Ret | SIL Ret | LMS Ret | NÜR Ret | 13th | 40 | ||||
| Peugeot 905B | MAG 1 | MEX 1 | AUT Ret | ||||||||||||
Sources:[11] | |||||||||||||||
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 |  Peugeot Talbot Sport | Yannick DalmasPierre-Henri Raphanel | Peugeot 905 | C1 | 68 | DNF | DNF |
Source:[14] | |||||||
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | AMG Motorenbau GmbH | Mercedes 190E 2.5–16 Evo2 | ZOL 1 11 | ZOL 2 Ret | NÜR 1 17 | NÜR 2 8 | WUN 1 4 | WUN 2 1 | AVU 1 12 | AVU 2 15 | HOC 1 3 | HOC 2 Ret | NÜR 1 3 | NÜR 2 3 | NOR 1 Ret | NOR 2 18 | BRN 1 Ret | BRN 2 2 | DIE 1 3 | DIE 2 2 | ALE 1 Ret | ALE 2 6 | NÜR 1 2 | NÜR 2 2 | HOC 1 Ret | HOC 2 DNS | 5th | 147 |
| 1993 | Joest Racing | Opel Calibra V6 4x4 | ZOL 1 | ZOL 2 | HOC 1 | HOC 2 | NÜR 1 | NÜR 2 | WUN 1 | WUN 2 | NÜR 1 | NÜR 2 | NOR 1 | NOR 2 | DON 1 | DON 2 | DIE 1 | DIE 2 | ALE 1 | ALE 2 | AVU 1 | AVU 2 | HOC 1 7 | HOC 2 Ret | 18th | 4 | ||
| 1994 | Opel Team Joest | Opel Calibra V6 4x4 | ZOL 1 12 | ZOL 2 10 | HOC 1 Ret | HOC 2 3 | NÜR 1 Ret | NÜR 2 Ret | MUG 1 13 | MUG 2 Ret | NÜR 1 9 | NÜR 2 Ret | NOR 1 17 | NOR 2 DNS | DON 1 Ret | DON 2 DNS | DIE 1 Ret | DIE 2 DSQ | NÜR 1 5 | NÜR 2 Ret | AVU 1 8 | AVU 2 Ret | ALE 1 10 | ALE 2 Ret | HOC 1 12 | HOC 2 Ret | 14th | 27 |
| 1995 | Opel Team Rosberg | Opel Calibra V6 4x4 | HOC 1 7 | HOC 2 Ret | AVU 1 9 | AVU 2 4 | NOR 1 Ret | NOR 2 Ret | DIE 1 Ret | DIE 2 Ret | NÜR 1 4 | NÜR 2 Ret | ALE 1 10 | ALE 2 Ret | HOC 1 12 | HOC 2 14 | 18th | 17 | ||||||||||
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | Pos. | Pts | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Opel Team Rosberg | Opel Calibra V6 4x4 | MUG 1 Ret | MUG 2 DNS | HEL 1 Ret | HEL 2 Ret | DON 1 13 | DON 2 Ret | EST 1 Ret | EST 2 Ret | MAG 1 12 | MAG 2 8 | 20th | 3 | ||||||||||||||
In level 7 game 11 of the video gameAngry Birds, created by the Finnish companyRovio, there is a caricature of Rosberg in a racing car sitting on the year "1982".
In 1985, renowned Finnish actorMatti Pellonpää and his band released a song called "Keke Rosberg formula rock [fi]".
In 2020, he appeared with his son Nico in aHeineken anti-drunk-driving ad.[16]
Media related toKeke Rosberg at Wikimedia Commons
