Keke's diary

Qualified: 9th Result: 3rd

Keke was five seconds off the pace of Pironi’s Ferrari in qualifying: “Rain was the thing we wanted; it would give us some chance. Snow would have been even better.”

The rain came on Saturday morning -with dreadful results. Pironi’s legs were smashed when he slammed into the back of Prost’s unseen, cruising Renault.

“It was so unnecessary. It was an untimed session; Didier was much quicker than anyone, but he was driving so hard in terrible visibility. He showed a lack of judgement. But I think Alain made a mistake, too, by driving so slowly.”

In the race, Watson’s McLaren passed Keke early on, and they stealthily climbed through the field. Then John’s suspension collapsed, result of an off in warm-up.

“It was some kind of miracle to finish third there. We’d scored a decent amount of points. But at that moment, we didn’t know its significance. Didn’t even think about it, to be honest. At that time, it seemed 1982 was less about the championship and more about hospital.”

Championship positions:

1 Pironi 39;

2 Watson 30;

3 Rosberg 27;

4 Prost 25;

5 Lauda 24;

6 Patrese, Amaux 19;