KEIJO"KEKE"ROSBERG"THE FLYING FINN"(SUOMI-FINLAND)

Keke Rosberg

Keke Rosberg

Nationality Finnish
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	1978 - 1986
Teams	Theodore, ATS, Wolf, Fittipaldi, Williams, McLaren
Races	128 (114 starts)
Championships	1 (1982)
Wins	5
Podiums	17
Career points	159.5
Pole positions	5
Fastest laps	3
First race	1978 South African Grand Prix
First win	1982 Swiss Grand Prix
Last win	1985 Australian Grand Prix
Last race	1986 Australian Grand Prix

Keijo Erik Rosberg ( pronunciation (help·info)) (born December 6, 1948 in Solna, Stockholm County, Sweden), nicknamed "Keke", is a Finnish former racing driver and winner of the 1982 Formula One World Championship. He was the first Finnish driver to compete regularly in the series. Rosberg grew up in Oulu and Iisalmi, Finland. He is the father of current Mercedes GP driver Nico Rosberg.

Contents [hide] 1 Minor teams 2 The sharp end 3 Racing after Formula One 4 The next generation 5 Complete Formula One World Championship results 6 References

[edit] Minor teams

Rosberg in the Wolf pits in 1979.

Rosberg had a relatively late start to his F1 career, debuting at the age of 29 after stints in Formula Vee, Formula Atlantic and its antipodean counterpart Formula Pacific and Formula 2, then "feeder" series to F1. His first F1 drive was with the Theodore team during the 1978 season.^[1] He immediately caught the attention of the F1 paddock with a superb drive in the non-Championship BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone in just his second race with the team, emerging victorious after many of the big names had been caught out by a tremendous downpour. Rosberg wasn't able to qualify for a race afterwards, and was signed by another uncompetitive team, ATS, for 3 races after the Theodore team scrapped its unreliable car design. He returned to Theodore after they acquired old chassis from the Wolf formula 1 team, but these were also uncompetitive and Rosberg returned to ATS to end the season.

He next emerged onto the F1 stage with the Wolf team, midway through the 1979 season. However, the team was having difficulty staying solvent, and Rosberg had problems in finishing races. Rosberg soon had to change teams again when Wolf left F1, and signed with Fittipaldi Automotive which had bought the remains of Walter Wolf's squad. He had his first two point-scoring results in the 1980 season - including a podium - but often failed to finish or qualify; 1981 was worse — he failed to score at all.

[edit] The sharp end

Rosberg's championship-winning Williams FW08 at the 2008 Silverstone Classic race meeting.

Rosberg won the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix in a Williams FW09.

Despite this, Williams was interested in Rosberg, with the retirement of former World Champion Alan Jones leaving a seat open for the 1982 season.^[1] Given a competitive car, Rosberg was a revelation that year. Rosberg consistently scored points and earned his first victory in the Swiss Grand Prix at Dijon-Prenois late that year. Rosberg's first memorable season came in a year where no driver won more than two races, (though it must be said that the highly successful Ferrari season was damaged by the injuries to Didier Pironi and the tragic fatality of Gilles Villeneuve at Zolder, not to mention the astounding unreliability of the turbocharged Brabham-BMW and Renault cars) and consistency won Rosberg the Drivers' Championship, despite using the once ubiquitous Ford/Cosworth normally aspirated V8 against turbo-engined rivals.

Rosberg driving for Williams at the 1985 German Grand Prix.

Rosberg's post championship years would be hamstrung by both uncompetitive chassis from Williams, and the powerful but unreliable (until 1985) Honda turbo engine. Cruelly, the Honda engine began producing regular results just after Rosberg had signed for McLaren in mid-1985. Rosberg's pole position-winning lap at that year's British Grand Prix stood as the fastest (highest average speed) single lap in F1 history until 2001. The Williams-Honda team would go on to dominate grand prix racing through 1987- with both Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell benefitting from the work Rosberg had done to develop the engine in conjunction with Honda. At the time, Rosberg's move to McLaren for the 1986 season^[1] had seemed a master stroke - the team was coming off back to back championships in 1984/85. However, Rosberg found himself in an underpowered McLaren and was soundly beaten by teammate Alain Prost (whose smoother driving style seemed to be more effective in the inherently-understeering MP4/2C chassis). On top of that, the fatal crash of Elio de Angelis while testing a Brabham in France deeply affected him (Rosberg and de Angelis were close friends) and he retired at the end of the season. He would later admit that he retired "too soon".

[edit] Racing after Formula One

In 1989 Rosberg made his comeback in the Spa 24 Hours in a Ferrari Mondial run by Moneytron (cf. Jean-Pierre Van Rossem and Onyx), the same team that gave Rosberg's protege JJ Lehto his debut in Formula One. Rosberg was a key element of Peugeot's extremely competitive sportscar squad in the early 1990s.^[1] But after two years with the marque and varied successes (two victories and a failed attempt at the 24 Hours of Le Mans), he moved on to the German Touring Car Championship, the DTM, driving for Mercedes-Benz and Opel. Here he set up his own team, Team Rosberg, in 1995 and at the end of that year withdrew from driving to concentrate on running it.

Team Rosberg ran for another year in the DTM, until the series collapsed, and has been present in Formula BMW, German Formula Three, the Formula Three Euroseries and A1 GP since. Team Rosberg returned to the revived DTM in 2000, entering two Mercedes. Success, or even just scoring points, became harder with each passing season and Team Rosberg quit the series after their 2004 campaign, only to return in 2006, this time with Audi.

[edit] The next generation

Rosberg later spent a long time managing his countrymen Jyrki Järvilehto and future world champion Mika Häkkinen. Until 2008 he also managed his son Nico, who entered Formula One in 2006 driving for WilliamsF1.

[edit] Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points
1978	Theodore Racing Hong Kong	Theodore TR1	Cosworth V8	ARG	BRA	RSA Ret	USW DNPQ	MON DNPQ	BEL DNQ	ESP DNPQ										NC	0
	ATS Racing Team	ATS HS1									SWE 15	FRA 16	GBR 17
	Theodore Racing Hong Kong	Wolf WR3												GER 10	AUT NC
		Wolf WR4														NED Ret	ITA DNPQ
	ATS Racing Team	ATS D1																USE Ret	CAN NC
1979	Olympus Cameras Wolf Racing	Wolf WR8	Cosworth V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	FRA 9		GER Ret			ITA Ret				NC	0
		Wolf WR7										GBR Ret
		Wolf WR9												AUT Ret	NED Ret		CAN DNQ
		Wolf WR8/9																USE Ret
1980	Skol Fittipaldi Team	Fittipaldi F7	Cosworth V8	ARG 3	BRA 9	RSA Ret	USW Ret	BEL 7	MON DNQ	FRA Ret	GBR DNQ									10th	6
		Fittipaldi F8										GER Ret	AUT 16	NED DNQ	ITA 5	CAN 9	USE 10
1981	Fittipaldi Automotive	Fittipaldi F8C	Cosworth V8	USW Ret	BRA 9	ARG Ret	SMR Ret	BEL Ret	MON DNQ	ESP 12	FRA Ret	GBR Ret	GER DNQ	AUT	NED DNQ	ITA DNQ	CAN DNQ	CPL 10		NC	0
1982	TAG Williams Team	Williams FW07C	Cosworth V8	RSA 5	BRA DSQ	USW 2	SMR													1st	44
		Williams FW08						BEL 2	MON Ret	DET 4	CAN Ret	NED 3	GBR Ret	FRA 5	GER 3	AUT 2	SUI 1	ITA 8	CPL 5
1983	TAG Williams Team	Williams FW08C	Cosworth V8	BRA DSQ	USW Ret	FRA 5	SMR 4	MON 1	BEL 5	DET 2	CAN 4	GBR 11	GER 10	AUT 8	NED Ret	ITA 11	EUR Ret			5th	27
		Williams FW09	Honda V6 (t/c)															RSA 5
1984	Williams Grand Prix Eng.	Williams FW09	Honda V6 (t/c)	BRA 2	RSA Ret	BEL 4	SMR Ret	FRA 6	MON 4	CAN Ret	DET Ret	DAL 1								8th	20.5
		Williams FW09B											GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED 8	ITA Ret	EUR Ret	POR Ret
1985	Canon Williams Team	Williams FW10	Honda V6 (t/c)	BRA Ret	POR Ret	SMR Ret	MON 8	CAN 4	DET 1	FRA 2	GBR Ret	GER 12	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA Ret	BEL 4	EUR 3	RSA 2	AUS 1	3rd	40
1986	Marlboro McLaren Int.	McLaren MP4/2C	TAG V6 (t/c)	BRA Ret	ESP 4	SMR 5	MON 2	BEL Ret	CAN 4	DET Ret	FRA 4	GBR Ret	GER 5	HUN Ret	AUT 9	ITA 4	POR Ret	MEX Ret	AUS Ret	6th	22

[edit] References

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Heikki Ikola	Finnish Sportspersonality of the year 1982	Succeeded by Tiina Lillak
Preceded by first winner	Autosport International Racing Driver Award 1982	Succeeded by Nelson Piquet
Sporting positions
Preceded by Mikko Kozarowitzky	Formula Vee Finland 1973	Succeeded by Harry Nurminen
Preceded by James Hunt	BRDC International Trophy winner 1978	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Nelson Piquet	Formula One World Champion 1982	Succeeded by Nelson Piquet
Preceded by Gilles Villeneuve	Brands Hatch Race of Champions winner 1983	Succeeded by Incumbent

[show] v • d • e Formula One World Drivers' Champions 1950 G. Farina 1951 J.M. Fangio 1952 A. Ascari 1953 A. Ascari 1954 J.M. Fangio 1955 J.M. Fangio 1956 J.M. Fangio 1957 J.M. Fangio 1958 M. Hawthorn 1959 J. Brabham 1960 J. Brabham 1961 P. Hill 1962 G. Hill 1963 J. Clark 1964 J. Surtees 1965 J. Clark 1966 J. Brabham 1967 D. Hulme 1968 G. Hill 1969 J. Stewart 1970 J. Rindt 1971 J. Stewart 1972 E. Fittipaldi 1973 J. Stewart 1974 E. Fittipaldi 1975 N. Lauda 1976 J. Hunt 1977 N. Lauda 1978 M. Andretti 1979 J. Scheckter 1980 A. Jones 1981 N. Piquet 1982 K. Rosberg 1983 N. Piquet 1984 N. Lauda 1985 A. Prost 1986 A. Prost 1987 N. Piquet 1988 A. Senna 1989 A. Prost 1990 A. Senna 1991 A. Senna 1992 N. Mansell 1993 A. Prost 1994 M. Schumacher 1995 M. Schumacher 1996 D. Hill 1997 J. Villeneuve 1998 M. Häkkinen 1999 M. Häkkinen 2000 M. Schumacher 2001 M. Schumacher 2002 M. Schumacher 2003 M. Schumacher 2004 M. Schumacher 2005 F. Alonso 2006 F. Alonso 2007 K. Räikkönen 2008 L. Hamilton 2009 J. Button

[show]

v • d • e

Winners of Autosport's International Racing Driver Award