1982 Formula One World Championship

Eventual champion Rosberg won only one race all season – the Swiss Grand Prix – but consistency gave him the Drivers' Championship, five points clear of Pironi and John Watson . Rosberg was the second driver to win the championship having won only one race in the season, after Mike Hawthorn in 1958 . Eleven different drivers from seven different teams won a race during the season, with no driver winning more than twice; there was also a run of nine different winners in nine consecutive races fro...

All teams and constructors who had competed in 1981 returned for the new season. Brabham had entered an engine supply deal with German car manufacturer BMW for the use of their inline-four turbo engines. The team announced in January that they were committing to the use of the new BMW engine throughout the season, [ 3 ] but after experiencing reliability problems with it, they reverted to the Cosworth DFV motor several times during the season. [ 4 ]

At the end of the 1981 season, both Williams drivers, 1980 World Champion Alan Jones and Carlos Reutemann , had announced their retirement from racing. [ 5 ] Reutemann did in fact return for 1982, [ 6 ] competing in the first two races, before retiring unexpectedly at the end of March. [ 7 ] Jones was replaced by Keke Rosberg , who had previously entered 36 Grands Prix, with a third-place finish as his best result. [ 8 ]

The off season saw rumours of several former champions returning to the sport, [ a ] but in the end only double World Champion Niki Lauda returned to Formula One after an absence of two years to partner John Watson at McLaren . [ 9 ] Ferrari and Renault retained their race-winning line-ups of Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi and Alain Prost and René Arnoux , respectively. [ 10 ] At Brabham, defending World Champion Nelson Piquet remained with the team, and was partnered by Riccardo Patrese , ...

The Osella team gave Riccardo Paletti his Grand Prix debut, while Toleman replaced Brian Henton with Teo Fabi , also a newcomer to Formula One. [ 11 ] Marc Surer was hired by Arrows, but broke both his feet in pre-season testing at Kyalami . He was set to be replaced by Patrick Tambay , who was then fired after taking part in the drivers' strike at that race and the seat went to Henton. [ 12 ] Eliseo Salazar transferred from Ensign Racing to the ATS team. [ 13 ]

Following Reutemann's retirement, Williams hired 1978 World Champion Mario Andretti as a one-off replacement for the United States Grand Prix West . [ 7 ] Derek Daly then became the permanent second driver at the team, as Andretti had racing obligations in the United States to fulfill. [ 14 ] Andretti returned with Ferrari for the last two races of the season, replacing Pironi, who had suffered career-ending injuries at the German Grand Prix . [ 15 ] Villeneuve, who died following a crash in qua...

At Team Lotus , Nigel Mansell missed two races due to injuries from a crash in Canada . His substitute at the Dutch Grand Prix was Roberto Moreno , who failed to qualify. [ 17 ] Mansell attempted a comeback at Brands Hatch , but was again replaced at the French Grand Prix , this time by Geoff Lees . [ 18 ] An accident at the race in France led Jochen Mass , already deeply shaken by the fatal crash of Villeneuve, in which he was involved, to walk away from Grand Prix racing. [ 19 ] He was replace...

The Australian Grand Prix was a reserve race to be held in Ravenhall on the outskirts of Melbourne , with a date of 3 October. [ 26 ]

The Argentine Grand Prix was scheduled to take place on 7 March, but was cancelled due to lack of sponsors, as several pulled out due to uncertainty following the drivers' strike in the opening race. [ 27 ] The Grand Prix was also cancelled due to political unrest in Argentina. [ 28 ]

Starting in the early 1970s, Bernie Ecclestone , owner of the Brabham team, had seized control of the Formula 1 Constructors Association, later renamed Formula One Constructors' Association. In this role, he began to negotiate more lucrative contracts between the teams and the track owners, including obtaining full control over television rights for FOCA. [ 35 ] Realising the growing influence of Ecclestone and FOCA, the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA)...

Over the following years, a power struggle developed between FOCA and FISA and Ecclestone and Balestre in particular. This conflict is generally referred to as the FISA–FOCA war . [ 37 ] FOCA consisted of the majorly British constructor teams, while the manufacturer or "works" teams (Renault, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Talbot-Ligier ), together with Osella and Toleman were aligned with FISA. [ 38 ] [ d ]

The conflict came to a head at the 1980 Spanish Grand Prix , where the drivers of teams belonging to FOCA boycotted the obligatory drivers' briefing and were threatened by FISA with having their licences revoked. The race went ahead as a non-championship event, without the non-FOCA aligned teams participating. [ 35 ]

The new rules for the 1982 season included an increase in the number of cars permitted to enter a Grand Prix from 30 to 34, and the number of starters from 24 to 26. [ e ] To avoid having all 34 cars on the track at one time, a pre-qualifying session was introduced in which the three teams with the worst record in the previous year would compete to be allowed into qualification proper. Just as the previous year, the best eleven results from all the races counted towards the Drivers' Championship...

In the years leading up to 1982, two major technological developments had shaped Formula One: the turbocharged engine and " ground effect ". In 1977 , Lotus had revolutionised aerodynamics in Formula One by introducing the Lotus 78 , known as the "wing car". [ 40 ] The car used what is commonly referred to as "ground effect", with the physical principle applied being the " Venturi effect ". The sides of the underside of the car would be shut off with skirts to trap the under-pressure airflow und...

For 1982, both regulations were reversed as a result of the new Concorde Agreement. [ 39 ] [ 43 ] The skirts around the underpart of the chassis, which locked the airflow underneath the car, necessitated very stiff suspensions to work properly. [ 39 ] This meant that every bump on track was putting enormous strain on the drivers, shaking them around in the cockpit. Additionally, the cornering speed and the resulting high g-forces put pressure on both the drivers and the cars' suspensions, making...

The potentially dangerous implications of "ground effect" were only worsened by the advent of very powerful turbocharged engines. In 1977, Renault had introduced the first turbocharged engine into the sport with their Renault RS01 . The regulations at the time allowed for either three-litre normally aspirated or 1.5-litre turbocharged engines, with Renault being the first to attempt to go the latter route. [ 46 ] Over the next few seasons, the turbo engines proved fast, yet unreliable. The cars ...

Alfa Romeo retained what motorsport writer Doug Nye called the most powerful three-litre engine seen in Formula One at that time, with 548 bhp (409 kW). [ 48 ] They tested their turbocharged V8 engine during practice for the Italian Grand Prix , but did not race with it until 1983 . [ 49 ] Most FOCA teams still relied upon the Cosworth DFV engine, which had been introduced by Lotus in 1967 . [ 50 ]

In 1981, McLaren had built the first monocoque car from carbon fibre composite. This resulted in lighter cars, while at the same time being more rigid. McLaren had proven that carbon-fibre cars could be quick, with John Watson winning the 1981 British Grand Prix . Watson's lack of severe injuries following a severe accident at that year's Italian Grand Prix had shown the superiority of the material in terms of safety. [ 51 ] Lotus followed suit for 1982, introducing carbon fibre for their Lotus ...

The week before the first Grand Prix weekend of the season in South Africa, teams gathered for a test session which was conducted at the Kyalami circuit. Prost set the fastest time during testing, at 1:05.71, almost eight seconds quicker than the previous track record. Surer, driving for the Arrows team, broke his feet in an accident and had to be replaced by Tambay. [ 55 ] Mass also crashed in his March 821, but escaped uninjured. Ferrari did not have their new car, the 126C2 , ready for testin...

Before the start of the season, all drivers had received a letter from FISA, containing an application form for a new Super Licence . This new document stated that drivers would not be allowed to switch teams freely during the course of the season, with their licence being withdrawn should they do so. Additionally, the document forbade drivers from actions "which might harm the moral or material interests" of Formula One. [ 56 ] The returning Lauda was displeased by this and communicated with Pi...

On the Wednesday between testing and the first practice session of the South African Grand Prix, during a meeting of the Formula One Commission, [ f ] Pironi, on behalf of the drivers, objected to the licence application. Balestre reacted strongly, excluding all drivers who had not signed from the following day's practice session. The drivers, almost all of them [ g ] and not just the ones who had refused to sign, in turn reacted by going on strike the next day, boarding a bus to a nearby hotel....

When qualifying finally commenced, Arnoux took pole position from Piquet, with Villeneuve and Patrese on the second row of the grid. At the start, Arnoux led while Piquet did not get away well and was overtaken by several cars, including Prost, who jumped from fifth to second. Piquet and Villeneuve retired early, while Prost took the lead from his teammate Arnoux on lap 14. He would lead until lap 41, when he punctured his left rear tyre, forcing him to come into the pitlane for new tyres. He em...

The teams then travelled to Brazil for the second round. Brabham abandoned their turbo-charged BT50 for the time being on grounds of its unreliability, reverting to an updated BT49D for this race, powered by the Cosworth DFV engine. [ 65 ] The cars once again proved just how quick they had become, when Prost qualified on pole position 6.27 seconds faster than Piquet had done the year before . [ 66 ] Villeneuve was second on the grid and went into the lead at the start, followed by Rosberg, with ...

The heavy strain posed onto the drivers by the bumpy circuit and hot, humid weather was showcased not only by Patrese retiring on lap 34 due to exhaustion, but also when Piquet fainted on the winners' rostrum. [ 69 ] Following the race, both Ferrari and Renault protested the first- and second-place finishes of Piquet and Rosberg, citing the water tanks used by Brabham and Williams to be illegal. The case was taken to FISA in Paris, with no outcome until after the next race. [ 70 ]

In the week before the next round, the San Marino Grand Prix , the FIA International Court of Appeal sided with Ferrari and Renault on their complaint over the water tanks at the race in Brazil and disqualified Piquet and Rosberg, handing victory to Prost. It was further decided that the cars would now be weighed after the race in the condition in which they had finished, eliminating the Cosworth-powered teams' use of water tanks to increase their performance. [ 74 ] All other runners' results f...

With the FOCA teams boycotting the race, the San Marino Grand Prix was run with just 14 cars present. [ h ] The turbocharged Renaults and Ferraris were heavily favoured and Arnoux duly took pole position ahead of Prost, with Villeneuve and Pironi on the second row. Due to the fast nature of the Imola track , Ferrari team boss Mauro Forghieri told his drivers to save fuel. Arnoux led from the start while Prost lost two positions to the Ferrari drivers on the first lap. He eventually retired on la...

"I've declared war. Absolute war. Finishing second is one thing – I'd have been mad at myself for not being quick enough if he'd beaten me. But finishing second because the bastard steals it..." Gilles Villeneuve describing his relationship with teammate Didier Pironi after the San Marino Grand Prix . [ 82 ]

Two weeks later, the paddock moved to Zolder for the Belgian Grand Prix. In qualifying, Villeneuve went out onto the track on his second set of fast tyres, which were already used and had only one more fast lap to go before their performance became compromised. On his flying lap, he failed to better the time of teammate Pironi, but instead of slowing down, as drivers usually did on laps at the end of which they were supposed to head back to the pits, Villeneuve continued to drive fast. [ 83 ] It...

Ferrari withdrew from the race, which Watson won for McLaren. [ 87 ] His teammate Lauda, who had finished third behind Rosberg, was disqualified after the race for an underweight car. The results were dominated by the returning FOCA teams; even the only turbo-engined finisher, Piquet, was one of them, after Brabham reintroduced the BMW-powered BT50 for this race. [ 88 ] [ 89 ]

The next race was the inaugural Detroit Grand Prix , which was marred by lack of track preparation, delaying the practice session on a circuit that had never hosted a motor race before. During the shortened qualifying session, Prost took pole position ahead of de Cesaris, with Rosberg in third. The big surprise of the day was defending World Champion Piquet, who failed to qualify as his Brabham BT50 had engine problems and the spare car was not performing well either. In the race, Prost led comf...

Tragedy struck again at the Canadian Grand Prix . Pironi qualified on pole, but stalled at the start. His stationary car was hit by the Osella of young Italian Riccardo Paletti, who was competing in only his second race in Formula One. Paletti suffered severe internal injuries and his car caught fire while the track marshals tried to extract him from his vehicle. He was pronounced dead upon arrival in the hospital. The race was restarted and won by Piquet in the BMW-powered Brabham ahead of team...

At the Dutch Grand Prix , Ferrari introduced Patrick Tambay as a replacement for Villeneuve. The Renault drivers once more locked out the front row, Arnoux ahead of Prost. The latter took the lead at the start, followed by Arnoux and Pironi. On lap two, Pironi overtook Arnoux and three laps later moved ahead of Prost into the lead. While Prost retired with an engine failure, Arnoux was lucky to survive a heavy accident on lap 22 at Tarzan corner. His left front wheel broke off as he approached t...

For the next race at Brands Hatch, the British Grand Prix , Brabham had devised what they referred to as "The Ploy". Inspired by Prost's comeback drive at the season opener at Kyalami, the team planned to send out their cars with tanks only half full and softer, and therefore faster, tyres. A pit stop midway through the race was supposed to refuel the car and change tyres, giving the Brabham drivers the advantage to be able to lap quicker than everybody else and gain enough of a lead to win. [ 1...

In qualifying, Rosberg surprised by taking only the second, and last, non-turbocharged pole position of the season. At the start of the warm-up lap, a fuel pressure issue led to his car being stationary on the grid while the other cars got underway. His mechanics helped him to a push start, but he did not reach the field in time and had to start the race last. This handed the front starting spot to Patrese, but he stalled. Both Arnoux and Fabi ran into him, taking all three out on the spot. Piqu...

The Renaults were dominant at their home race, the French Grand Prix at Circuit Paul Ricard . Arnoux qualified ahead of Prost, and with Prost being better positioned in the championship, the team decided that if the cars should run first and second, he should win. Arnoux did not honour the agreement and took the victory ahead of his teammate, much to Prost's dismay. Another heavy accident marred the race, as Mass ran into the back of Mauro Baldi at Signes corner. As Mass's car slid towards the b...

At the following event, the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim , Pironi qualified on pole position, but collided with Prost's Renault in wet conditions later in the session. Pironi's car was thrown into the air and though he survived the impact, he suffered severe leg injuries and would never compete in Formula One again. [ 112 ] The race took place with the first slot on the grid vacant. [ 113 ] Brabham were again attempting to employ the strategy of having their cars refuel and change tyres halfw...

"To be honest, I've hated every second of this season. There's something very wrong when the chequered flag comes down, and all you feel is relief that another race weekend is out of the way without someone getting killed." FISA circuit inspector Derek Ongaro speaking about the 1982 season. [ 123 ]

At the last race of the season, the Caesars Palace Grand Prix in Las Vegas , Prost took pole position ahead of Arnoux. The race was held in 37.1 °C (98.8 °F) degree weather during a particularly hot time of year in Las Vegas. While Arnoux retired from the race itself, Prost was hampered by blistering tyres to finish fourth. Michele Alboreto took a surprising victory for Tyrrell. Watson finished second, meaning that Rosberg's fifth-place finish was enough to secure the title. [ 124 ] [ 125 ] [ 12...

The 1982 season was the last for Lotus team owner Colin Chapman , who died on 16 December 1982 having suffered a heart attack. [ 123 ] Following "a season touched by tragedy, clouded in controversy and enveloped in excitement", [ 27 ] FISA announced that the "ground effect" would be banned for 1983 to make the cars safer. [ 123 ] Overall, the 1982 season saw 11 different winners in 16 races, with no driver scoring more than two victories. [ 27 ] This included nine different winners in the same n...

No driver classified in more than eleven points-scoring positions, so no drop-rounds applied for this season. Points were awarded in the following system: