By April of 1982, Keke Rosberg must have wondered – but could never have guessed – what was coming next. Thrust from lowly Fittipaldi into a prime Williams seat as replacement for 1980 world champion Alan Jones, who had made a snap decision to walk away from Formula 1, life in a topline team was proving something of a soap opera for F1’s first Flying Finn.
There had been the drivers’ strike he didn’t particularly agree with, at his first race for the team in South Africa; a maiden podium at his second in Rio, which was then stripped away by disqualification 29 days later; a subsequent boycott of the San Marino Grand Prix. Oh, and amid all of that his illustrious 12 GPs-winning team-mate had upped sticks and stalked off without a backward glance after a messy DNF in Brazil. It was enough to make your moustache curl.
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