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Keke Rosberg F1 stats & info
| Name | Keke Rosberg |
| Country |  Finland |
| Height | 1.70 meter / 5 feet 7 inch |
| Place of Birth | Solna |
| Date of Birth | Dec 6th 1948 - 76 years old |
| Season Entries | 9 |
| Car Number | 2 |
| First Race | 1978 South African F1 GP |
| Last Race | 1986 Australian F1 GP |
| First Pole | 1982 British F1 GP |
| Last Pole | 1986 German F1 GP |
| First Win | 1982 Swiss F1 GP |
| Last Win | 1985 Australian F1 GP |
| F1 Teams History | Theodore (1978) ATS (1978) Wolf (1978-1979) Fittipaldi (1980-1981) Williams (1982-1985) McLaren (1986) |
Keke Rosberg F1 Stats | |
| Drivers' Titles | 1 |
| Grand Prix Entries | 128 |
| Grand Prix Starts | 114 |
| Total Points | 159.50 |
| Avg. Points per GP | 1.25 |
| Grand Prix Wins | 5 (3,9%) |
| Pole Positions | 5 (3,9%) |
| Front Row Starts | 10 (7,8%) |
| Avg. GP Grid | 9.0 |
| GP Podiums | 17 (13,3%) |
| GP Fastest Laps | 3 (2,3%) |
| GP Points Finish | 38 (29,7%) |
| Avg. GP Position | 5.8 |
| GP Retirements | 73 (57,0%) |
| GP DNF's | 51 (39,8%) |
| Total GP Laps | 5.306 |
Biography
Keke Rosberg Biography
Keke Rosberg
Keke Rosberg won the World Drivers' Championship in 1982 with Williams.
Born on the 6th of December of 1948, Keijo Erik Rosberg had a very different journey from other drivers until finding a spot into Formula 1 racing. Arriving into Formula 1 at the age of 29, Keke’s unconventional path shaped a certain style of driving, which he showed at the highest level and helped him cement a legacy that will always be defined by an illustrious phrase: Formula 1 World Drivers’ Champion.
Rosberg was born in Stockholm, Sweden, where his Finnish parents, a veterinarian and a chemist, were studying. He started racing karts at a very early age, though he wanted to be a dentist or a programmer. His parents were racers too and participated in various rallies.
His success as a racer was unstoppable and, of course, changed his desires and Motorsport quickly became his life. Keke Rosberg won multiple karting championships in Finland and in 1973 won the Scandinavian and European championships. The success made him go deeper into racing and he entered several categories, including Formula Vee, Super Vee for Fred Opert, Formula Atlantic, Formula Pacific, and Formula Two. He was quick and won many races during his participation in those series.
Nico and Keke Rosberg.
Photo: Sam Bloxham/Williams F1
Rosberg's efforts were rewarded with a Formula 1 seat for 1978 with Theodore. His debut race was the 1978 South African Grand Prix on the 4th of March. Just 15 days after his first race, Rosberg shocked the paddock with a stunning victory in the non-championship 1978 BRD International Trophy under heavy rain.
He had a streak of four races without qualifying before Theodore decided to stop racing. ATS signed Rosberg, but his results did not improve that much, as he could only achieve a 15th place as his best results in three races with ATS. For the last six races of 1978, Rosberg drove four with Theodore (with Wolf chassis) and the last two with ATS again, without big results.
Rosberg started 1979 without an F1 seat and competed for Ron Dennis’ Project Four Racing in the European Formula 2 Championship for free. He drove two races with Dennis’ team and won at Hockenheim driving a BMW-powered March 792.
Midway through 1979, he signed with Wolf Racing for the last eight Grands Prix of the year and left behind his seat in the Can-Am Series. His best result with the struggling Wolf team was a ninth-place finish in the 1979 French Grand Prix. A move to Fittipaldi Automotive for 1980 started off beautifully after Keke Rosberg scored the first podium of his career with a third place in the 1980 Argentine Grand Prix, the first race of the season.
Though the year started off well, the performance of the car faded and he could only finish six other races during the rest of the season. Rosberg scored points in the 1980 Italian Grand Prix with a solid fifth place.
After finishing 10th in the 1980 World Drivers’ Championship with six points, Rosberg had a rough 1981 with Fittipaldi. He did not score a single point in 1981 and even failed to qualify for five races throughout the season.
Alan Jones, who had given Williams’ its first World Drivers’ Championship in 1980, retired from the sport and left a seat available in the competitive Williams squad. Frank Williams decided to go after Keke Rosberg and signed him for the 1982 season to drive alongside Carlos Reutemann, though the Argentine retired just two races into the season due to the Falklands War.
Keke Rosberg driving the Williams FW07 in Austria (1982)
Rosberg started 1982 well, with a fifth-place at South Africa and second in Brazil. However, himself and race-winner Nelson Piquet were disqualified for underweight cars due to water-cooled brakes. That decision prompted a boycott from the Formula One Constructors’ Association teams for the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix.
Before missing the race at Imola, Rosberg achieved his first podium for Williams at Long Beach. In a season where six drivers won races in the first eight weekends on the calendar, the parity was amazing. After the first eight races, Rosberg saw himself in fifth place in the WDC, having finished in the podium just twice and scored points in other two occasions.
Keke Rosberg finished third in the 1982 Dutch Grand Prix and then earned Pole Position for the first time, during the 1982 British Grand Prix. However, he had to start the race from the back of the field as his engine did not start for the parade lap. Earlier that day, the engine of Rosberg’s car had failed, which forced the team to put a different engine in the car, which ultimately hindered the Finnish driver.
He recovered some positions but retired due to fuel system issues after 50 laps. At this point, he was fourth in the WDC 14 points behind the leader, Ferrari’s Didier Pironi. A fifth place in the following race at Paul Ricard saw him fall to fifth in the championship. Then came the 1982 German Grand Prix at Hockenheim. During Qualifying, the championship leader, Pironi, suffered a huge crash after clipping the back of the Renault of Alain Prost. Ultimately, the crash ended Pironi’s racing career due to the injuries caused to his lower extremities.
Rosberg started the German GP from ninth on the grid and finished third, achieving his fourth podium of 1982. He climbed up to third in the championship, behind the injured Pironi and John Watson.
The next race, at Austria, saw the ninth different driver win a race during 1982. However, Rosberg was not the one as he finished second, just 0.050s behind Elio de Angelis’ Lotus. Though he did not win at Austria, Rosberg took second place in the WDC and was six points behind Pironi’s tally with three races left.
Keke Rosberg, Williams Honda FW10, British GP (1985)
The next race saw Rosberg win his first-ever Grand Prix and become the tenth different race-winner of 1982. The Williams driver won the 1982 Swiss Grand Prix, held at Dijon-Prenois, France, after starting from eighth place. The victory, the first for a Finnish driver in F1 history, gave Rosberg the championship lead.
With just two races left, Rosberg was on course to win the title. He finished eighth at Italy after a tough race, but his closest rival without counting Pironi was nine points behind entering the last race at Las Vegas.
Watson had a shot at winning the championship in the last round. As the victory was worth nine points, Watson needed to win the Grand Prix with Rosberg finishing outside the points. After qualifying, Rosberg looked well for the title, as he was set to start from sixth and Watson from ninth place.
The race was held on a Saturday, the 25th of September of 1982. Watson was running 12th in the early stages of the race, however, he fought back and reached second place in the closing laps. Rosberg had a steady race and finished fifth, securing the World Drivers’ Championship in his favour. Michele Alboreto won the race for Tyrell, becoming the 11th race winner of the season, which still stands as the record for more race winners in a year.
Rosberg became the first of three Finnish drivers to win the WDC (Mika Hakkinen in 1998 and 1999 and Kimi Raikkonen in 2007). After taking the title in 1982, Rosberg could not fight for the championship again, though he added more race wins to his resume.
In 1983, Rosberg had a regular season, with just a couple of podium finishes, including a victory in the 1983 Monaco Grand Prix. He finished inside the top five in six of the first eight races of the season and was in the title fight, just five points behind the leader Prost and two behind Nelson Piquet and Patrick Tambay. However, Rosberg could only score two points in the second half of the year with a fifth place in the final race of the year at South Africa, where the team fitted the Honda turbocharged engines in the cars and Rosberg finished fifth.
The Honda turbocharged engine was not a huge improvement for 1984. Though Rosberg won the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix and finished in the podium at Brazil, he only scored 20.5 points and finished eighth in the WDC. Williams finished sixth in the 1984 World Constructors’ Championship.
McLaren MP4-2C Porsche driven by Keke Rosberg in Monaco (1986)
The 1985 season was very good for Rosberg, as the Honda upgrades permitted him to be competitive from the sixth race of the year, which he won at Detroit. Then, he had a streak of two consecutive Pole Positions but did not convert any of those into a win, as he only finished second in France. A series of DNFs followed until he was able to close the year strongly with four consecutive top-four finishes and three straight podiums, including a win in his last race with Williams, at Australia.
Rosberg finished the 1985 WDC in third place with 40 points, his second-highest tally of points in Formula 1.
He moved to McLaren for the 1986 season. McLaren had won the last two drivers’ titles with Niki Lauda and Prost, but 1986 was not a dominant season for the team. Rosberg struggled against Prost, who was able to consistently win races and finish on the podium.
Rosberg only managed to put his MP4/2C in the podium once, though he was hit by many reliability issues during the year, including a tyre failure in the last race at Australia when he was leading the race. Prost won the championship in front of the two Williams drivers, who had the faster car regularly.
After his retirement, Rosberg competed in various series, including the World SportsCar Championship, DTM, and the International Touring Car Championship. Also, he competed in the 1991 24 Hours of Le Mans for Peugeot.
Keke Rosberg, Williams FW07 & Nico Rosberg, Mercedes W07 driving their championship car in Monaco (2018)
He managed the careers of drivers too, with JJ Lehto and World Champion Hakkinen preceding his son Nico. Nico himself became a Monaco Grand Prix winner in 2013, which made them the only father-son combo to win the race. Also, Nico won the 2016 World Drivers’ Championship, which made him the second son of a World Champion to win the title, after Damon Hill (son of two-time champion Graham Hill) won the title in 1996.
Rosberg created his own team, Team Rosberg, which has participated in various series and most prominently, the DTM.
Rosberg’s retirement from Formula 1 racing was also prompted by his friend Elio de Angelis’ tragic death during a test at Paul Ricard, in which Rosberg was present. Years later, he spoke about it to Motorsport Magazine:
“I was at the Paul Ricard test that May when Elio crashed. I was stunned. I went to the hospital in Marseille with Elio’s sister and brother. I drove back to Ricard with Nigel Mansell, to carry on testing. Neither of us spoke, until suddenly Nigel said in the silence, ‘How long is a piece of string?’ I’ll never forget that.”
“I’d decided to go public with my retirement at the German GP, in my adopted homeland. After Elio’s death, it wasn’t difficult to stick to the plan. I made the announcement on Saturday morning, and in the afternoon put the McLaren on pole. I didn’t want anyone saying I was retiring in the cockpit. It would’ve been good to win, too, and in the race, I was leading almost to the end, but then the bloody fuel ran out again.”
Seasons
Keke Rosberg Final Championship Results
| 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33rd | 34th | 11th | 22nd | 1st | 5th | 8th | 3rd | 6th |
Keke Rosberg F1 Seasons Summary
| Year | Team | Engine | GP | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Pod | Pole | Laps | FL | Avg Pts | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 |
 McLaren | TAG | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 697 | 0 | 1.38 | 22 |
| 1985 |
Williams | Honda | 16 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 736 | 3 | 2.50 | 40 |
| 1984 |
Williams | Honda | 16 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 583 | 0 | 1.28 | 20.5 |
| 1983 |
Williams Williams |
Ford Honda | 15 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 829 | 0 | 1.80 | 27 |
| 1982 |
Williams | Ford | 15 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 941 | 0 | 2.93 | 44 |
| 1981 |
 Fittipaldi | Ford | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 348 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |
| 1980 |
Fittipaldi | Ford | 11 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 531 | 0 | 0.55 | 6 |
| 1979 |
 Wolf | Ford | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 261 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |
| 1978 |
 ATS Theodore Wolf |
Ford Ford Ford | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 380 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |
Races
Keke Rosberg F1 GP Race Classifications
| 1st | 5 Times |
| 2nd | 8 Times |
| 3rd | 4 Times |
| 4th | 11 Times |
| 5th | 9 Times |
| 6th | 1 Time |
| 7th | 1 Time |
| 8th | 4 Times |
| 9th | 5 Times |
| 10th | 4 Times |
| 11th | 2 Times |
| 12th | 2 Times |
| 15th | 1 Time |
| 16th | 2 Times |
| DNF | 51 Times |
| DSQ | 2 Times |
| NC | 2 Times |
| DNPQ | 4 Times |
| DNQ | 10 Times |
Keke Rosberg F1 GP Race Results
Wins
Keke Rosberg F1 Wins
| Year | Race | No | Team | Engine | Grid | Pos | Retired | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 1985 | 1985 Australian F1 GP | 6 | Williams | Honda | 3 | 1 | 9 | |
| 4 | 1985 | 1985 Detroit F1 GP | 6 | Williams | Honda | 5 | 1 | 9 | |
| 3 | 1984 | 1984 Dallas F1 GP | 6 | Williams | Honda | 8 | 1 | 9 | |
| 2 | 1983 | 1983 Monaco F1 GP | 1 | Williams | Ford | 5 | 1 | 9 | |
| 1 | 1982 | 1982 Swiss F1 GP | 6 | Williams | Ford | 8 | 1 | 9 |
Podiums
Keke Rosberg F1 Podium Finishes
Poles
Keke Rosberg F1 Pole Positions
| Year | Race | No | Team | Engine | Grid | Pos | Retired | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 1986 | 1986 German F1 GP | 2 | McLaren | TAG | 1 | 5 | Out of Fuel | 2 |
| 4 | 1985 | 1985 British F1 GP | 6 | Williams | Honda | 1 | DNF | Exhaust | 0 |
| 3 | 1985 | 1985 French F1 GP | 6 | Williams | Honda | 1 | 2 | 6 | |
| 2 | 1983 | 1983 Brazilian F1 GP | 1 | Williams | Ford | 1 | DSQ | Disqualified | 0 |
| 1 | 1982 | 1982 British F1 GP | 6 | Williams | Ford | 1 | DNF | Fuel System | 0 |
Comparison
Keke Rosberg Teammate Comparison
| Year | Team | Team Mate | Best Pos | Points | Wins | Poles | Pos | Quali | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | ATS | Jochen Mass | 12 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Michael Bleekemolen | 13 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Wolf | Jody Scheckter | 10 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | |
| 1980 | Fittipaldi | Emerson Fittipaldi | 3 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 4 |
| 1981 | Fittipaldi | Chico Serra | 9 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 0 |
| 1982 | Williams | Carlos Reutemann | 5 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Derek Daly | 1 | 5 | 36 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 3 | 11 | 1 | ||
| Mario Andretti | 2 | 20 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 1983 | Williams | Jacques Laffite | 1 | 4 | 27 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 14 | 1 |
| Jonathan Palmer | 20 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 1984 | Williams | Jacques Laffite | 1 | 4 | 20.5 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 7 | 14 | 2 |
| 1985 | Williams | Nigel Mansell | 1 | 1 | 40 | 31 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 9 | 7 |
| 1986 | McLaren | Alain Prost | 2 | 1 | 22 | 74 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 13 | 4 | 12 |
News
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