Keke Rosberg

Keke Rosberg is a Finnish former racing driver best known for his Formula 1 career, during which he became the 1982 Drivers’ Champion with the Williams team.

Nationality	Finnish
Born	Keijo Erik Rosberg 6 December 1948 Solna, Sweden

Born in Sweden and raised in Finland, Rosberg began his racing career in karting, eventually advancing to Formula Vee in 1972. After securing the Finnish Championship in 1973, he progressed to Formula Super Vee, where he won the German Championship in 1975. Rosberg then moved to the European Formula Two series, competing between 1976 and 1979. At 29, he made his Formula One debut with Theodore Racing at the 1978 South African Grand Prix. Although he struggled to score points during the rest of the 1978 season with both Theodore and ATS, Rosberg achieved a win in the non-championship BRDC International Trophy in only his second Formula One race.

In 1979, Rosberg replaced the retiring James Hunt at Wolf Racing, though his season ended without a classified finish. He joined Fittipaldi Automotive in 1980 alongside Emerson Fittipaldi, where he earned his first Championship points finish and podium on his debut with the team.

Rosberg’s biggest career move came in 1982 when he signed with Williams. Despite securing only one race victory that season at the 1982 Swiss Grand Prix, his consistent podium finishes were enough to help him win the 1982 Drivers’ Championship, making him the first Finnish driver to claim the title. Rosberg’s title defence in 1983 was hindered by Williams’ struggles adapting to the turbo era, though he did win the 1983 Monaco Grand Prix and the final non-championship Race of Champions. He secured more victories for Williams in subsequent years, winning the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix and the Detroit and Australian Grands Prix in 1985. In 1986, Rosberg moved to McLaren to partner with Alain Prost, but despite competitive drives, he was unable to secure a win that season and retired from Formula 1 at the end of the year.

After Formula One, Rosberg continued to compete in other racing series, winning multiple races in the World Sportscar Championship with Peugeot (1990-1991) and in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft (DTM) from 1992 to 1995.

Post-retirement, Rosberg moved into driver management, guiding the careers of notable drivers such as JJ Lehto and Mika Hakkinen. He also managed and coached his son, Nico Rosberg, from his early karting days to his eventual 2016 Drivers’ Championship. That win made Nico and his father Keke the second father-son duo to win the World Drivers’ Championships, following Graham Hill and Damon Hill.

Keke Rosberg Formula One World Championship career

F1 Career	1978–1986
Teams	Theodore, ATS, Wolf, Fittipaldi, Williams, McLaren
Engines	Ford, Honda, TAG
Entries	128 (114 starts)
Championships	1 (1982)
Wins	5
Podiums	17
Career points	159.5
Pole positions	5
Fastest laps	3
First entry	1978 South African Grand Prix
First win	1982 Swiss Grand Prix
Last win	1985 Australian Grand Prix
Last entry	1986 Australian Grand Prix

Keke Rosberg Teammates

10 Teammates	Involvement	First Year	Last Year
Jochen Mass	3	1978
Emerson Fittipaldi	14	1980
Chico Serra	15	1981
Carlos Reutemann	2	1982
Mario Andretti	1	1982
Derek Daly	12	1982
Jacques Laffite	31	1983	1984
Jonathan Palmer	1	1983
Nigel Mansell	16	1985
Alain Prost	16	1986

Race Wins

Race wins

Win Number	Grand Prix
1	1982 Swiss Grand Prix
2	1983 Monaco Grand Prix
3	1984 Dallas Grand Prix
4	1985 Detroit Grand Prix
5	1985 Australian Grand Prix

Complete Formula One results

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	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	BRA	RSA Ret	USW DNPQ	MON DNPQ	BEL DNQ	ESP DNPQ										NC	0
	ATS Racing Team	ATS HS1	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8								SWE 15	FRA 16	GBR Ret
	Theodore Racing Hong Kong	Wolf WR3	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8											GER 10	AUT NC
		Wolf WR4	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8													NED Ret	ITA DNPQ
	ATS Racing Team	ATS D1	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8															USA Ret	CAN NC
1979	Olympus Cameras Wolf Racing	Wolf WR8	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	FRA 9		GER Ret			ITA Ret		USA Ret		NC	0
		Wolf WR7	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8									GBR Ret
		Wolf WR9	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8											AUT Ret	NED Ret		CAN DNQ
1980	Skol Fittipaldi Team	Fittipaldi F7	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	ARG 3	BRA 9	RSA Ret	USW Ret	BEL 7	MON DNQ	FRA Ret	GBR DNQ									10th	6
		Fittipaldi F8	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8									GER Ret	AUT 16	NED DNQ	ITA 5	CAN 9	USA 10
1981	Fittipaldi Automotive	Fittipaldi F8C	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 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	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8	RSA 5	BRA DSQ	USW 2	SMR													1st	44
		Williams FW08	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8					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	Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 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 RA163E 1.5 V6 t															RSA 5
1984	Williams Grand Prix Engineering	Williams FW09	Honda RA163E 1.5 V6 t	BRA 2	RSA Ret	BEL 4 †	SMR Ret	FRA 6	MON 4 ‡	CAN Ret	DET Ret	DAL 1								8th	20.5
		Williams FW09B	Honda RA164E 1.5 V6 t										GBR Ret	GER Ret	AUT Ret	NED 8 †	ITA Ret	EUR Ret	POR Ret
1985	Canon Williams Team	Williams FW10	Honda RA164E 1.5 V6 t	BRA Ret	POR Ret	SMR Ret	MON 8	CAN 4												3rd	40
		Williams FW10	Honda RA165E 1.5 V6 t						DET 1	FRA 2	GBR Ret	GER 12 †	AUT Ret	NED Ret	ITA Ret	BEL 4	EUR 3	RSA 2	AUS 1
1986	Marlboro McLaren International	McLaren MP4/2C	TAG TTE PO1 1.5 V6 t	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

Sources:

1. Keke Rosberg. Wikipedia.com