We talk about Keke Rosberg and compare him with Nico
Just a few days before his father's birthday, newly crowned world champion Nico Rosberg decided to say goodbye to Formula 1. Moreover, today, December 6, on the day of the 68th birthday of the 1982 world champion Keke Rosberg, Mercedes management can name his son's successor. Against this background, we recall and compare the careers of the Rosbergs.
Who would have thought?
After several years of living in Theodore (Manor of those times) and Fittipaldi, at the beginning of 1982 no one would bet Keke Rosberg on the championship. However, before the start of the season, he replaced Alan Jones at the Williams. A few weeks later, Keke unexpectedly became the leader of the British team after an even more unexpected end to the career of Carlos Reutemann. Only the death of Gilles Villeneuve in Belgium, the injury of Didier Pironi in Germany, who drove the winning Ferrari 126 C2 Turbo, and his own stability allowed him to come to the final stage as the leader of the championship. Before the last race of the championship in Las Vegas, Rosberg Sr. was ahead of John Watson by seven points.
On the track, nicknamed Mickey Mouse and equipped in the parking lot of the Caesar Palace casino, René Arnoux started from pole but retired very quickly. Alan Prost was also in trouble. Watson made his way to second while Keke was in fifth, enough to win the title. So they finished, and Alboreto won his first victory at the wheel of the Tyrrell. Who would have thought at the beginning of the year?
Monaco
But unlike his son, he did not leave, because he did not achieve all his goals. It remained only to win at home - in Monaco. In 1983, Williams did not yet have Honda turbo engines - the team continued to operate the famous Ford Cosworth DFV. On the streets of Monte Carlo, all the advantage of turbo engines was leveled, besides, it began to rain. Rosberg took advantage of this, surprised his competitors and brought the concerto for one violin to its logical conclusion.
In the name of the father
Rosberg Sr. spoke about three goals after the end of the 2016 championship:
“I had to achieve three goals: to win for the first time, to win for the first time in Monaco and to become a champion. I told Nico about it. Now he can forget about it and say that he was there and achieved it.”
It is obvious that Niko won the title for himself, but he certainly always sought to repeat the achievement of his father, whom he called ger. Otherwise, he would not have told his father:
“I have proved that I am your equal. My goal is achieved, I can do something else.
Son is better than father
In fact, Niko surpassed most of his father's achievements.
Title: Keke - in the fifth season out of nine, Niko - in 11 out of 11
We have already mentioned the title of Keke. He, like Hawthorne, became a one-win champion and has the lowest winning percentage in a season of any champion at 6.25%. The championship is unique in that Keio hadn't scored a single point a year earlier. Finn needed 51 starts to triumph in the championship, which is four times less than Niko, and nine times fewer wins. Keke became the champion in his first season at Williams, Nico in his seventh with Mercedes. Both wore the championship crown at the last Grand Prix.
Starts: Keke - 114 (88.37% Grand Prix), Niko - 206 (100%)
In his first season, Keke drove for Theodore and ATS and failed to qualify in a third of the races. After the transition to Emerson Fittipaldi's team, the situation improved slightly. Before moving to Williams, Keke started in thirty-six of fifty-one races. Niko immediately landed on the team his father had won and never had a problem qualifying, simply because in his day there were never more drivers entered than there were seats at the start.
Wins: Keke - 5 (4.39%), Niko - 23 (11.16%)
Keke won for the first time only in the 49th race. In every season from 1982 to 1984, the Finn won one race per season. Only in 1985 he climbed to the top step of the podium twice. Nico won his 111th race (China 2012) in his third season with Mercedes. In each subsequent championship, the German did not remain without victories. In 2013 alone, Nico won more races than Lewis Hamilton. However, do not forget that Niko won seven races in a row - more than his father in general.
Poles: Keke - 5 (4.39%), Niko - 30 (14.56%)
Keke's first pole position in Brands Hatch 45 was one he failed to take advantage of as a fuel pressure problem forced him to start from the pit lane. Not a single pole has turned into a victory. And Niko converted his first pole position in China 2012 and half of his starts from first place.
Fastest lap: Keke - 3 (2.63%), Niko - 20 (9.71%)
This, to be honest, is not Keke's strong point - all three circles were installed in 1985. The first of them - in the 89th race in France, the rest - in South Africa and Australia. Niko, as you know, did not shelve this item and already in his debut race in Bahrain 2006 set the best lap time. The next one had to wait three years before the 2009 Australian Grand Prix. After moving to Mercedes, he drove 18 fastest laps. Note that Lewis has one more in the Silver Arrows.
Podiums: Keke - 17 (14.91%), Niko - 57 (27.67%)
This is the only thing that the Finn did not have a chance to wait until 1982. For his first of seventeen podiums, Keke climbed in Argentina in 1980 - the first Grand Prix for Fittipaldi. If he knew what awaits him in the Brazilian team next. 1982 was the most successful year in terms of podiums (six podiums): 1983 and 1984 - two each, 1985 - five and one in 1986. Obviously, according to this indicator, Niko is significantly ahead of his father. Both made their first podium in the first race of the third season. In 2008, the German took the podium in Australia and Singapore. On the remaining fifty-five podiums, he climbed in the Silver Arrows jumpsuit, including forty-six in the last three years.
Leading: Keke - 512 laps (9.65%), Niko - 1532 (13.73%)
It is for this indicator that the gap between father and son is the smallest. Keke led 20 races (17.54%): sixteen with Williams and four with McLaren. The first kilometers he drove in Belgium-1982, the last - in Australia-1986, when he retired after fifty-six leading laps. Niko, in turn, led the peloton in fifty-five races (26.7%). It first happened in Singapore in 2008, where he received an insane fine for crossing the white line at the pit lane exit, so he lost the race. In fifty-two races, he led the Mercedes car. Keke led the entire race only once - in Monaco 1983. After 20 years Nico, also in Monaco, led from start to finish. There were six such races in total, and in 2016 he won the Grand Slam in Russia and Azerbaijan.
Keijo Eric "Keke" Rosberg was born on December 6, 1948 in Solna near Stockholm, Sweden.
Early years and career start
Keijo was the first child of Finnish students Lars and Leah Rosberg and had two younger sisters. Lars and Leah were in love with rally racing. This passion for racing was transferred to Keke, as he later dubbed himself, so that it was easier to pronounce. The first time Keiyo got behind the wheel, he blew out the door of his father's garage.
In 1965, Keke made his debut in the Finnish Karting Formula. The following year, he won two series of the SM and PM karting championships at once. In 1967 he repeated his victory in SM. True, then there was no talk of a career as a racer, he wanted to become a dentist or a programmer.
Then he joined the army, but upon his return in 1970, he took part in karting races for another three years, was the Finnish champion in this sport five times.
In 1972 he moved to Formula Vee. And in his debut season, he showed the third result in the SM series. During the period from 1973 to 1976, Keke took part in a huge number of championships: Formula Vee, Formula Atlantic and Formula 2. He rejoiced in victories and suffered defeats, but stubbornly walked towards his goal.
Formula 1
The debut in Formula 1 took place on March 4, 1978 as part of the Theodore team in the off-champion race of the Formula 1 International Trophy, in which, despite adverse weather conditions, Rosberg confidently won. In subsequent races, the car refused to obey the driver to the point that Rosberg could not even overcome the pre-qualification barrier. For the second half of the season, Rosberg alternated between ATS and Wolf.
In 1979, he was invited to his team by Walter Wolf, but then he sold the team to the Fittipaldi brothers, moreover, along with the pilot. The next season, Keke earns a podium in Argentina. In 1981, Rosberg continued to work with Fittipaldi.
Non-Random Champion
At the end of 1981, Alan Jones left the Williams team. He was replaced by 31-year-old Keiyo Rosberg. So in 1982 he became a partner of Carlos Reitemann, who also soon retired from motorsport and Keke got the lead in the team.
The 13th stage of the championship, which took place in Austria, did not bring such a long-awaited victory to the Finn. But Rosberg was second in the standings. But at the Swiss Grand Prix, he did climb to the top step of the podium. This victory put him in the lead of the championship, and he kept this championship until the very finish. It was a dramatic season for many riders, with 11 drivers at the top of the list, but the experienced 34-year-old Finn was on his way to victory. Rosberg became the champion, having won only one race in the season.
What happened next
Of course, Rosberg's contract was extended and until 1985 he played for Williams, but without any tangible success.
Keke Rosberg spent his final season with McLaren. His partner was Alain Prost. The Finn left Formula 1 in the middle of the season. He worked as a sports manager and brought JJ Lehto and Mika Hakkinen to the big sport.
At the very beginning of the 90s, Rosberg performed at Le Mans. Then the DTM series as part of Mercedes and Opel. And in 1994, Rosberg founded his own Opel Team Rosberg.
Family
In 1983, Keke married a German woman, Sina, and in 1985 they had a son, Niko.
Known as the "Flying Finn," Keke is a proud father who lived to see his son win a Grand Prix. In addition, he is the manager of his son, Nico Rosberg, who represents Germany.
Look at this gray-haired macho. Would you believe that last Saturday he celebrated his 60th birthday? Meanwhile, the “flying Finn” Keio Eric Rosberg, or simply “Keke”, as he once dubbed himself in the Brazilian manner, continues to receive countless congratulations on his anniversary from Formula 1 fans around the world. And, first of all, from Finland, Sweden and Germany. Fans of these countries consider Keke Rosberg "their" and have every right to do so.
Erik was born in Stockholm on December 6, 1948 in a family of students: Finn father Lars studied as a veterinarian, and Swedish mother Lia as a chemist. However, it was not without "racing genes". The parents of the future F1 world champion were active in rally racing, and Lars was one of the best karting drivers in Finland, where his parents moved with their son and daughter Seio after graduation.
As a child, Eric dreamed of being like his dad and treating animals. For this reason, Rosberg came to motorsport rather late: he did his first race on a go-kart track only in 1965. However, he quickly began to progress, won the European Championship and became the fifth in the World Championship.
Studying at the Faculty of Informatics, and then working in a company as a systems analyst, prevented me from fully concentrating on motorsport. And yet, Keke found time to race in the Formel Vee (FV) series, the cars of which were equipped with 1300 cc engines from the Volkswagen Beetle. Successes in 1973 (winning the Finnish, Scandinavian and European FV championships) and 1974 (second place in the Euroseries Formula Super Vee 1600 and third in the Castrol GTX series) convinced the 25-year-old Finn to take his professional racing career seriously.
TOJ 201 BMW
In 1975, Rosberg took an unpaid year off, settled near the legendary Hockenheimring circuit and concentrated on performances in the German Formula Super Vau GTX 1600. The public instantly fell in love with the mustachioed, shaggy Finnish hippie for his aggressive piloting style, fearlessness and personality.
Fans were especially impressed by the event that occurred in the Jim Clark Memorial race. Rosberg touched the rear wheel of the car in front, his car took off into the air, made several somersaults. After landing, absolutely unharmed and imperturbable, Keke left the cockpit, took out a cowboy hat from it and bowed to the stands. "I was a cheeky bastard. And I knew it," recalled Rosberg. And the public loved it!
In 1975, having won the Castrol GTX Trophy with a clear advantage (9 wins + three podiums), Eric moves to a higher level in the European Formula 2 series. It took Rosberg quite a long time to get used to driving the more powerful TOJ 201 BMW: it was only at the seventh stage on the French Rouen-Les-Essarts track that he managed to earn his first points. And the first wins in F2 came the following season, when Keke moved to Fred Opert's Canadian team and took a seat in the cockpit of a Chevron B 40 Hart.
Finally, in 1978, Rosberg was invited to join his team by Hong Kong film director Teddy Yip, and the Finn got a coveted F1 seat behind the wheel of Theodore Ford Cosworth. The first race, as expected, came out lumpy: the 30-year-old F1 debutant did not reach the finish line due to clutch problems. But the second start in the F1 car became the main sensation of the “royal class” in 1978: in the off-champion, but extremely prestigious race of the XXX BRDC International Trophy at the Silverstone track, Keke managed to win in a bitter struggle with Emerson, Fittipaldi was ahead of the Brazilian by 1.9 seconds.
The profession of a racer made Rosberg work hard, and the diligent Finn worked conscientiously, not giving up starts in numerous series on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Pacific and Atlantic formulas, Formula 2 and CanAm championships, mountain races and rallies - 36 race weekends, 41 races in a year!
And in Formula 1, things have not yet developed. Rosberg, who never climbed into his pocket for a word, characterized Theodore Ford as "a real pig out of all cars." The car refused to go already at the qualifying stage. The Finn's patience snapped, and he moved to ATS. At the end of the season, under the persuasion of Yip, who bought a couple of used cars from Wolf Racing, Keke returned to Theodore Racing Hong Kong, but did not manage to earn his first points in the first season.
The 1979th "Flying Finn" started out without a place in the "royal class" of motorsport, but in the middle of the season, after the sudden departure of James Hunt, Rosberg was called to his place by Walter Wolf. Closer to the finish of the Championship, the Austrian loses interest in a too expensive and not too successful undertaking and sells the team to the Fittipaldi brothers Emerson and Wilson. Keio Erik retains his driver's seat and earns a podium finish in the first race of the new 1980 season in Argentina. True, it was not possible to develop success: 6 points in the 80th and “steering wheel” in the next.
Before the start of the 1982 F1 World Championship, there was very little time left. Frank Williams searched in vain for a candidate to replace Australian Alan Jones. Rosberg was given one chance in the tests and the Scandinavian used it by booking a co-pilot seat. Interestingly, risking a place in the team, the independent Keke did not betray himself for a minute: the Finn, who smoked like a steam locomotive, showed up at the office of an ardent tobacco hater Williams with a cigarette in his mouth to sign the contract!
As co-driver for the TAG Williams Racing Team, Keke was to support Argentinian Carlos Reutmann in the fight for the championship title. However, after two races, the 38-year-old "Loli" (nickname of Roitmann - author) decided to "quit" with motorsport, and the status of the team's prima passed to the pilot from Finland. Several times Rosberg was in close proximity to the top of the podium - not enough luck. And here in France at the Circuit de Dijon-Prenois, where the Swiss Grand Prix took place, Keke finally wins!
It was a dramatic season. The death of Gilles Villeneuve, the death of Ricardo Paletti and the serious accident of Didier Pironi. Cold war between motorsport management (FISA) and teams (FOCA). Boycott the San Marino Grand Prix. None of the pilots managed to win more than two races, and only 11 pilots were on the top of the podium. Under these conditions, the 34-year-old Rosberg, wise by experience, managed to maintain stability throughout the Championship and rightfully won the world title.
In the "stable" Williams, Rosberg played until 1985, winning 4 more races, and in 1986, paired with Alain Prost, he raced in the "silver arrows" of McLaren. After the announcement of the "retirement" Keke as a manager took under the wing of talented Finnish youth Jyrki-Juhani Järvilehto (JJ Lehto) and Mika Hakkinen.
With Mika Hakkinen
Three years later, Rosberg returned to racing by racing a Ferrari Mondial at the 24 Hours of Spa. Then there were successful performances on the Peugeot 905 sports prototypes in the World Sportscar Championship and the DTM touring series under the banner of Mercedes and Opel. In 1994, Rosberg founded his own Opel Team Rosberg, headquartered in Rüsselheim. The pilots of his team performed quite successfully in the DTM, GT, Formula 3 and Formula BMW Euroseries championships. Until 2002, Keke worked with Mika Hakkinen, who became a two-time world champion in 1998 and 1999.
Living in Monte Carlo and Levi (Lapland) Keke, however, in 1983 he married a German woman Zina, who two years later gave birth to his son Niko in Wiesbaden. At 17 years old, the hereditary racer became the youngest test driver in Williams F1 history, and Rosberg Sr. has since focused exclusively on the career of a talented offspring as a consultant. Last season, the ex-world champion could often be seen on German TV screens: Pay TV invited Keke as an expert, which he did not fail to take advantage of.
One can only envy the energy and vital optimism of this, without exaggeration, a wonderful pilot and person, wish health and good luck to him and his promising ward.
Father and son
With Bernie Ecclestone
Mikhail Valentinov.
Does the Finnish Swede have a well-deserved title?
Until now, disputes do not cease, did Keke Rosberg deserve his only title in F1 or was it an accident?
I would like to note right away that any championship title is deservedly earned in the fight against rivals, and everyone was on an equal footing. Secondly, it’s hard for a modern fan relying on statistics to believe it, but Keke was one of the best in the late 1970s and the first half of the 1980s: tough, stubborn, who was not easy to overtake and who bit into his opponents and fought for each position. And the fact that he has only five victories in F1 (in fact, seven, and at the same time look how and where he got them) is not an indicator at all - he had only a season and a half at his disposal with competitive equipment in F1. If he hadn’t left Williams at the end of 1985, tired of tormenting himself with Honda (and he taught Japanese engines to drive) and tired of the authoritarian style of Frank Williams and Patrick Head, he would have had two more titles.
Well, in the main, let's look at this "random" title. There were eleven winners in that year's sixteen races - no one won more than two races. Yes, Villeneuve died. Yes, Pironi was injured. But, by and large, the Ferrari drivers are to blame for this: no one forced the Canadian to recklessly overtake Mass. Yes, and the Frenchman, by and large, is to blame himself - there was no point in driving him in the rain, because. anyway, the pole position was his, and it was he who flew into Prost from behind, and not vice versa. No one disputes that without these tragedies, the title would have gone to one of the Scuderia racers, but what happened happened, and let's look at the alignment before the start of the German BP:
- 5 races to finish;
- 45 more points in the draw;
- the leader of the standings, Didier Pironi, has 39 points.
Those. all (!) drivers of the F1 World Championship after 2/3 of the season still claim the title. But the main contenders are:
- John Watson, 30 points, aspirated McLaren;
- Alain Prost, 25 points, Turbocharged Renault;
- Niki Lauda, 24 points, aspirated McLaren;
- Keke Rosberg, 23 points, aspirated Williams;
- Riccardo Patrese, 19 points, turbocharged Brabham;
- Nelson Piqué, 17 points, turbocharged Brabham;
- René Arnoux, 13 points, turbocharged Renault;
- Elio de Angelis, 13 points, aspirated Lotus;
- Patrick Tambay, 7 points, turbocharged Ferrari.
Look at these names - the giants and legends of Grand Prix racing! Any of them, with the right approach, could become a champion in 1982. But what did they all do for this?
Germany. Tambe and Arnoux finish first or second, Rosberg on the turbo track (old Hockenheim, if anyone doesn’t know) drags third place, Watson crashes out, Prost, Patrese and Pique drive engines (okay, the Brazilian was taken out, but telemetry showed that he still would soon retire due to engine failure), Lauda refuses to go to the start, de Angelis fails steering (“Lotus” same). But everyone is still in the championship race.
Austria. De Angelis wins, Rosberg almost takes away his victory at the finish line, Tambe after a puncture managed to get fourth place, Lauda quietly finishes fifth. The rest of the applicants drove their engines, except for Piqué - the Brazilian had problems with electrical equipment. But still all nine riders are in the game, moreover, theoretically, Michele Alboreto, who is in 11th place with 14 points, also claims the title. And this is three races before the end of the season! It's like that this season before Austin, the drivers of the first five teams in the Constructors' Championship, plus Alonso, kept the chances for the title.
Dijon. Rosberg drags the victory, catching up and overtaking Prost to the finish line! Moreover, almost all competitors finish in the race: Lauda third, Piquet fourth, Patrese fifth and de Angelis sixth. Watson also finishes, but 13th and three laps behind - the Irishman overdid it when overtaking Patrese and damaged his skirt when hitting a curb, as a result of which he had to stand in the pits for a long time. Arnoux once again started the engine, and Tambe did not start due to back problems. As a result, two races before the end of the season, Rosberg takes the lead, 11 points behind Prost and 12 points behind Watson and Lauda; 18 points in the draw, there are no other contenders for the title.
Italy. On the turbo track, Watson becomes the best aspirated, finishing fourth. On lap 25, Rosberg had one of the rear fender plates blown off, and as a result of a misunderstanding with the team, he drove into the pits, thinking that he had a puncture in the rear tire - finishing only eighth. Lauda drove the brakes, and Prost the engine, so only two contenders remained before the last race of contenders for the title - Rosberg and Watson, and the McLaren driver only had to win while Rosberg finished no higher than seventh place. At the same time, if it were not for this stupid race in the pits, Keke would have finished in the top 6 and would have issued the title ahead of schedule. Before the last stage, the Williams driver is 9 points ahead of Watson and in order to take the title, you need a victory with Rosberg finishing outside the top six.
Las Vegas. Watson is not even able to realize his goal - to win the race - losing the Alboreto Grand Prix. Rosberg, for the first third of the distance, fought on the verge of sixth place, then entrenched himself in fifth, where he calmly rolled to the finish line.
What is the conclusion from this? Rosberg won the World Cup not by chance - in each of the races he fought, showing decent results. Objections regarding equipment failures from rivals are not accepted - in those days, most of the problems arose due to the too unkind treatment of riders with materiel. The only one who is partly justified by this is the Brabham pilots - BMW has just begun its turbo program and the engines are still “learning” how to drive.
Unfortunately, the 1982 title remained the only one for Keke Rosberg (except for titles in junior formulas in the 1970s). The 1986 season was the last for Rosberg in Formula 1 - in 1984 he decided that he would spend two more years and that was enough. Performances for McLaren did not bring victories - one of the reasons was that the flying styles of Prost and Rosberg were too different, and the team preferred to work for their champion, allowing the Finn to use their settings only in the second half of the season.
After spending two years away from racing (Rosberg later said he finished too early), in 1989 the Finn returned to the sport, starting at the 24 Hours of Spa, in 1990 he drove two races in sports prototypes for Peugeot, and in 1991 -m returns to the full schedule. Rosberg takes an active part in fine-tuning cars, wins two victories, but at the end of the year he leaves for the DTM, and others again use the fruits of his work. But even in German bodies, Keke went well - fifth at the end of the season with one victory, which, unfortunately, was the last in his career. The 1993-1995 seasons did not bring much fame, in 1995 Rosberg founded a team named after himself and at the end of the year decided to hang his helmet on a nail, deciding to focus solely on management. The team is still thriving, playing in the DTM, also noted in F3, and in the BMW formula, and in the GT races. In addition, since the 1980s, Rosberg has worked as a driver manager - Jyrki Järvilehto (Jyrki Juhani Järvilehto) and Mika Häkkinen, and in the 2000s he brings his son, Nico Rosberg, to the people, winning three more titles with them, including .h. and in Formula 1 🙂