Keke was my 1st F1 hero. he was a flat-out-all-the-time racer. A cigarette smoking mustachioed swashbuckler. gave it everything and often more. a true racer.
The legendary lap at Silverstone in qualifying had the tale of him being asleep, waking up to have a cigarette, then doing the fastest lap ever recorded, then getting back out of the car and going back to sleep again. I want to believe that story!
Keke's World Championship year 1982 is hugely underrated. He won the title with an non-competitive and antique car. Idiots call it luck but if it were Senna who won the title, everyone would rave how amazing feat it was. Too bad he switched to McLaren just when Williams started to be competitive again. McLaren didn't suit Keke's driving style at all. Also one thing that the UK-centered F1 media always seems to "forget": Keke soundly beat Nigel Mansell when they were teammates at Williams 1985. Actually Keke said he quit in Williams because he couldn't get along with Patrick Head.
I met Keke in '83 when he was racing in the Detroit Grand Prix. ICI had reserved the restaurant I worked at for his reception dinner the day before qualifying. Pretty cool for a 19yo kid to meet the F1 World Champion. Sadly I couldn't go watch the race live, as a restaurant worker rarely gets a weekend day off (busiest night of the week).
Yes that's epic. Keke had probably 150 hp less. Gilles always passed him on straights but Keke got the corners. He really was a badass driver. His later career 83-85 Williams and also 1986 McLaren was very unreliable. Lots of tech. retirements from top places. That was one of the main reasons he retired. Also his close friend Elio de Angelis death was a factor.
@@teroalho847 Well Keke earned the Finnish Sports Personality of the Year in 1982 whereas the previous year Ari Vatanen came second to biathlete Heikki Ikola
@@janiandelin93 OK new info for me.👍 Good that he got some credit on thosr Times not just laughs like " DNF Keke" "worst world champion in F1 history" 😅
I'll never forget the crowds chanting "Ke-Ke! Ke-Ke! Ke-Ke!" with a rising inflection like a engine revving, after Keke won the Inaugural Australian GP ibn 1985.
Keke Rosberg is one of the best to ever do it, but, as far as I’M concerned, no one will ever take the title of F1 badass away from Niki Lauda; the man had balls of steel big enough to fit in a dump truck, and what he pushed himself through to get back out on the track after that horrific ‘76 crash wasn’t just badass, it was damn near superhuman
If anyone wants to see visual evidence of Keke’s no-holds barred and sideways style, watch the 1985 South African GP. The last part of the race he drove so hard and so spectacularly around that fast, dangerous circuit to try to catch his teammate who was leading. Keke finished 2nd- he would have won if he hadn’t been tripped up by a huge oil slick at the first corner dropped off by another car.
In the 1970's, Canadian TV carried the Formula Atlantic series, which is where I first saw Rosberg. He was very competitive in that series. I was not surprised that he showed up in F1, but was quite surprised when he won the title in 1982. "Oh, he really is that good!" Some people I knew dismissed his title as being won by default, due to the death of Villeneuve and the career ending crash of Pironi that year (i.e. two "real" champions in waiting).
Keke often had two cigarettes going at the same time just before his final qualifying lap; the only driver who needed an ashtray in the car... I believe he also held the fastest F1 lap record from 1986 at Silverstone (160 mph) that stood until 2003. He was very fast.
5:16 To be fair: Under normal circumstances, Ferrari-driver Didier Pironi would have won the championship in 1982. But Rosberg definately deserved a title.
Following this logic we could say that Schumacher didn't deserve the 1994 and 1995 WDC's because Senna died. It doesn't work that way. And Pironi had WAY superior car. Keke won with a car that had 200hp LESS and was consistent.
He won Adelaide in 1985. And retired from tech. issue from a slight lead in 1986. His last race. That kind of summed up his career. Always very unreliable cars.
So what. With an antique and underpowered car. If Senna had done it, it would have been praised by the media since 1982. Keke soundly beat Nigel Mansell at Williams 1985. Something that UK fanboys never seem to remember.
As a Finn, I'm amazed you managed to correctly pronounce Rosberg and Lehto, but mispronounce Häkkinen. Usually it's the other way around with English speakers.
Keke only won the one race in 1982, and wins were pretty spread out that competitive season. However, worth noting that season had the Ferrari team lose both their drivers, Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi, killed & permanent injury respectively. Either could have been the likely title winner. Ferrari had the excellent 126C2-turbo, that gave them the 1982 Constructors title, in spite of a tragic season, with replacement drivers Patrick Tambay & even Mario Andretti late on, taking over Villeneuve & Pironi's seats.
Nah,Gilles was not consistent enough to do it. This wlhurt him in 1979,was he faster than Sheckter? Yes. But Schekter actually finished the race,got the points.
Gilles way overrated by the media. Sure he was a spectacular driver but made a lot of mistakes. That kind of argument is just as valid as if Senna had been alive, Schumacher wouldn't have won any of his titles at Benetton.
"You can pick any lap of the Monaco GP showing Keke Sliding and drifting around Massenet and casino square, with perfect car control" then shows a video clip of Keke going round Massenet and Casino, like he is on rails. Not denying Keke's driving skills, just the awful monotonous American commentary and horrendous research and presentation of this.
You’ve also missed that Rosberg was suffering from a virus all weekend and actually threw up in his helmet later on. somehow still finished/won the race.
Soory, no. Juan Manuel Fangio. Early in his career he won a 6,000 - yes, 6,000 - mile long stock car race in a 1940 Chevrolet sedaan. Keke was a hard man, but he never was the equal of Fangio, nor has been any other F1 driver.
@@fiarandompenaltygeneratorm5044 what are you talking about, the OP rightly pointed out the difference in driving styles between father and son. You quite obviously have an obsession with Nicos ex team mate. Strange way to show your attraction to him but all good ❤️🌈
I doubt VERY much that Keke would of won the Championship in 1982, had not Didier Pironi have his horrible crash. When Didier crashed at the German GP, where Keke finished 3rd, Didier had a 39 to 27 pts lead over Keke. With the four remaining GPs, ending in Las Vegas, Keke only won the Championship by 5 pts and Didier was tied for 2nd spot with John Watson.
Yeah, again, if wishes were horses we'd all have a stable. Pironi didn't win, though he did contribute to the death of his teammate. Rosberg won. Period.
That has to be one of the worst voices on a video I've heard, trying to put to much importance into every sentence, when it's not needed, doesn't really work well outside the US. Just saying.
