Still hungry for more wins
"THE real key to the whole thing," said Keke Rosberg thoughtfully,
"is that I only won a single Grand Prix on my way to the World
Championship. Most people have already won Grands Prix prior to their
championship year and probably notch up three or four during the course
of their title-winning season. But for me it was very different. I only
won my very first Grand Prix towards the end of the season in which I
won the title. So if anybody thought that I was going to ease off, like
people have in the past, simply because I was World Champion, then they
were very wrong. I'm still hungry for race wins. I want to score more of
them. . ." In a nutshell, that sums up Keke Rosberg's approach to the
business of Grand Prix motor racing. When we look back over the 1983
season and assess the drivers, there are several factors that must be
taken into account — factors which affect judgement of drivers such as
Nelson Piquet just as much as Keke Rosberg. It's pretty widely agreed
that the most outstanding driver car combination of '83 was Piquet and
the
striking Gordon Murray-designed Brabham-BMW BT52B. But in accepting
that assessment, it's crucially important to remember that several
established leading lights, such as Rosberg, Niki Lauda and John Watson,
were without turbocharged cars for most of the season. From that point
of view we must look forward to 1984 with a keen sense of anticipation:
we'll be finally able to reach a conclusion as to precisely who is the
hest of the bunch.
In terms of application and effort, dogged persistence and sheer
enthusiasm, Keke Rosberg emerges at the top of the '83 pile. For much of
the first part of the season his Cosworth-engined Williams FWO8C fought
tenaciously against the turbo tide, contesting the lead in Brazil and
Long Beach and winning at Monaco in splendid style after he and his team
made the calculated gamble to start urn slick rubber on a still-damp
track — gambling that further rain would hold off. They won their gamble
and the net result was probably the single most impressive win, from
the point of view of driving prowess, seen all season. Of course, it
must be remembered that Frank Williams's decision to stick with Cosworth
power for one year longer than most of his rivals stemmed from two
factors and assumptions. Though he would be the last to admit it, it
irritated him considerably that Mansour Ojjeh's TAG cirganisation, one
of the Williams team's major sponsors for several seasons, decided to
throw in its lot backing a Porsche-built V6 turbocharged engine for
McLaren International. Frank made it clear from the outset that he
wasn't prepared to stand in a queue behind Ron Dennis for the supply of
this particular engine, so in order to make his own exclusive engine
supply arrangements. Williams had to gamble another season with the DFV.
He also felt that the reduction in the Formula One minimum weight limit
to 540 kg might just enable his team to squeeze one more year's
competitive motoring out of the FW08 design: unfOrtunately, although the
car ran close to the front for several races in the first half of the
season, mans of the turbo teams managed to build their cars
uncomfortably close to that minimum weight limit with the result that even the most agile normally aspirated car was eclipsed.
"For six months it was fantastic," grim Rosberg reflectively, "and
for six months, prior to having the Honda turbo of course, it was a
disaster. I was personally a bit disappointed when Frank told me that
were going to have to run through another year with the Cosworth, but
then he pays me to drive and if he tells me that he's going to run
16-wheelers, then I'll drive them the best that I can. No, I suppose I
didn't think that the Cosworth could hang onus long as it did. I think
we got more, much more, from the first six months of the year that we
ever expected or thought possible. You must remember that if I hadn't
been disqualified in Brazil I would have been leading the Championship
points table right through until mid-season. Who would have thought that
could have been possible? But then, of course, we did a complete hay
landing. . . ." Watching the almost brutal fashion in which Rosberg
"wrung the neck" of his FWO8C during some of the '83 World Championship
rounds, desperately cooing his car in an effort to hang onto some of the
leading turbocharged cars, there were worries from some quarters that
the Finn might find difficulty adapting to the technique required by a
heavier, 'TT° powerful IF-litre forced induction machine. "I think that
if Keke expects t° drive a turbo like he drives the Cosw0rth.. car,
he'll find a surprise coming his way, said one dist'ing-uished driver of
e• turbocharged GP car following the Belgum
Grand Prix at Spa, "there are other aspects to consider: you've got
to be far more careful with your tyres and your brakes, for example."
Rosberg's response to such words of caution was probably best
illustrated by the fact that he managed to bring the debutant
Williams-Honda FW09 home fifth in the South African Grand Prix at
Kyalami, final race of the season. Unquestionably, he thinks that the
idea that one changes one's style to adapt to a turbo is not really
correct. "I'm not changing my style," he grins, "you don't think about
these things. If you have to make adjustments, compensations, because of
a car's different characteristics, then you don't actually think about
them, you do it. Intuitively. Look at Nigel Mansell — competitive in his
first turbo race. And Gilles Villeneuve didn't change his style simply
because he had a turbo, did he? I suppose it's fair to say that you
automatically adapt your driving style every day of your life, because
every day the car behaves a bit differently, has different problems. You
might have to adapt for things like turbo lag, but these are not
conscious changes, you just do it." By the middle of the 1983 season
there were rumours that Rosberg was considering a move from Williams,
possibly to Ferrari. But at the end of the day he finally stayed with
the team that gave him his break into the Fl big-time. Most commentators
and observers feel this is just as well: Keke is clearly suited to his
current team. If he had gone to Ferrari, his overalls would have been
plain red with Marlboro cigarette and Agip fuel patches on them, and
nothing more. Rosberg would thereby have been deprived of his great
passion for business
dealing, and negotiating additional personal
sponsors; one only has to look at his present overalls and helmet to
understand that he gets almost as much pleasure from this aspect of
motor racing as he does from the pure driving side. There is an element
of the street-wise, haggling deal-maker in Rosberg, an appealing facet
of his character certainly, but not the sort of trait guaranteed to
endear him to "old guard" purists like the 85-year old Commendatore.
Rosberg is not a Ferrari-style driver. To his considerable delight, Keke
finalised his 1984 commitment to Williams quite early on in the end of
season driver scramble. "I'm really happy it's all settled and I can sit
back and watch everybody else scurrying round," he said at Kyalami,
"I'm happy with my deal and I hope Frank is too. There are a lot of
quite good drivers around who'll be hard pushed getting a decent seat
for 1984, and some who obviously won't. It's hard for the newcomers on
the way up, and it's only going to get harder as I see the situation.
I've heard a number of young
guys say they'll only consider a move into Fl if they come in with a
decent team. Well, they should forget that attitude here and now. We've
got a situation now where anybody who's hoping to make it in Fl should
grab their chance here and now, like I did. Opportunities don't come
every day to get into Fl and it's getting more competitive then ever. In
1978 Eddie Cheever did a couple of races with the Theodore and packed
it in: that was my good fortune and I accepted the offer of the drive
immediately. I won the International Trophy with the car and that didn't
do me any harm at all. Motor racing is all about making opportunities
and taking the chances that are offered to you." Rosberg first handled a
Williams Fl car during a test session at Paul Fticard towards the end
of the 1981 season. Alan Jones had recently announced his retirement and
Frank was looking for a likely lad to replace him alongside Carlos
Reutemann for 1982. Rosberg was available, one of the people who'd
looked promising, and so he was invited down to try the FWO7C. Keke took
full advantage of his opportunity, never put a foot wrong and, as we
now know, never looked back from that moment.
Keke Rosberg has never had any doubts where his own ability was
taking him. He's confident to the point where some people would
interpret him as being "cocky", but when you talk to him in depth you
realise that he has a sensible and rational approach to what he's doing—
coupled with an astute financial sense of his own value!
Rosberg enjoys his jet-set life, lavishing a fair deal of money on
nice houses, nice ears and the inevitable aeroplane. "I feel I owe it to
myself to make the money I'm earning now work for me," he admits, "I
want to have a business career which extends beyond my time as an active
racing driver, like Jackie Stewart. But that means organising for it
now, not waiting until I stop racing. It must be awful to retire from
racing and then be bored, either because you know you retired too early
or you've got nothing organised to take up your time once you've
stopped. I don't have any thoughts of retirement in my mind at the
moment — but I want to make sure that neither of those situations arises
in my case when the time comes for me to stop." — A.H.
Nico
Rosberg, flanked by his teammate Lewis Hamilton (left) and Felipe
Massa, celebrates on the podium after winning the Brazilian Formula One
Grand Prix at Interlagos on November 9 2014
