1982 F1 Season
16 races · Williams FW08
No season in history had as many winners: eleven different drivers in sixteen races, and none won more than two. The champion, Keke Rosberg, won just one, at Dijon, and took the title with 44 points thanks to consistency, ahead of Didier Pironi and John Watson, level on 39.
Behind that figure is the hardest year Ferrari ever went through. Gilles Villeneuve was killed in qualifying at Zolder, the fifth race. Pironi carried on, won two races and arrived at Hockenheim leading the championship by nine points, but he was injured in practice and never raced again. He still finished second, and Ferrari won the constructors' championship with 74 points.
The year had its comeback too: Watson won in Detroit from seventeenth on the grid. And it is proof that the most open championship is not necessarily the fairest. In 1982 five or six cars could win on any given Sunday, and the title went to the man who most often finished in the points.
Drivers’ Champion
Keke Rosberg
Williams FW08
Constructors’ Champion
Ferrari
16 races
Ver en españolKey moment
«Eleven different drivers won a race in 1982, and the champion, Keke Rosberg, won only one.»
How 1982 actually ended
The official final standings, from the South African Grand Prix to the Caesars Palace Grand Prix. This is the real result.
| Driver | Points | Wins | Podiums | Poles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Keke RosbergWilliams | 44 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
| 2Didier PironiFerrari | 39 | 2 | 6 | 2 |
| 3John WatsonMcLaren | 39 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| 4Alain ProstRenault | 34 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| 5Niki LaudaMcLaren | 30 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| 6René ArnouxRenault | 28 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| 7Patrick TambayFerrari | 25 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 8Michele AlboretoTyrrell | 25 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Rosberg took it by 5 points with 1 wins and 1 poles across 16 races. 11 different drivers won that season, and the last Grand Prix went to Michele Alboreto.
Official FIA standings via Jolpica (formerly Ergast).
1982, race by race
All 16 races: who started first, who won and from where, and how many cars reached the flag.
11different drivers won: Arnoux 2 · Lauda 2 · Pironi 2 · Prost 2 · Watson 2 · Alboreto 1 · Angelis 1 · Rosberg 1 · Patrese 1 · Piquet 1 · Tambay 1.
7different teams won: McLaren 4 · Renault 4 · Ferrari 3 · Brabham 2 · Lotus 1 · Tyrrell 1 · Williams 1.
7different drivers took pole: Arnoux 5 · Prost 5 · Pironi 2 · Cesaris 1 · Rosberg 1 · Andretti 1 · Piquet 1.
18different drivers stood on the podium.
3one-twos for a single team: Brabham 1 · Ferrari 1 · Renault 1.
2 of 16races were won from pole position.
5first-ever wins: Riccardo Patrese (Monaco Grand Prix), Patrick Tambay (German Grand Prix), Elio de Angelis (Austrian Grand Prix), Keke Rosberg (Swiss Grand Prix), Michele Alboreto (Caesars Palace Grand Prix).
From 17ththe win from furthest back: John Watson, Detroit Grand Prix.
24 years, 142 daysthe youngest winner of the year: Elio de Angelis, Austrian Grand Prix.
44%of starts reached the flag (175 of 394).
5 of 20cars finished the Monaco Grand Prix, the race with fewest survivors.
| # | Grand Prix | Winner | Started |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South African Grand Prix | Alain ProstRenault | 5th |
| 2 | Brazilian Grand Prix | Alain ProstRenault | 1st |
| 3 | United States Grand Prix West | Niki LaudaMcLaren | 2nd |
| 4 | San Marino Grand Prix | Didier PironiFerrari | 4th |
| 5 | Belgian Grand Prix | John WatsonMcLaren | 10th |
| 6 | Monaco Grand Prix | Riccardo PatreseBrabham | 2nd |
| 7 | Detroit Grand Prix | John WatsonMcLaren | 17th |
| 8 | Canadian Grand Prix | Nelson PiquetBrabham | 4th |
| 9 | Dutch Grand Prix | Didier PironiFerrari | 4th |
| 10 | British Grand Prix | Niki LaudaMcLaren | 5th |
| 11 | French Grand Prix | René ArnouxRenault | 1st |
| 12 | German Grand Prix | Patrick TambayFerrari | 5th |
| 13 | Austrian Grand Prix | Elio de AngelisLotus | 7th |
| 14 | Swiss Grand Prix | Keke RosbergWilliams | 8th |
| 15 | Italian Grand Prix | René ArnouxRenault | 6th |
| 16 | Caesars Palace Grand Prix | Michele AlboretoTyrrell | 3rd |
Pole goes to whoever started first, after penalties. «Finished» counts classified cars that took the flag. Our source has no fastest laps before 2004.
1982 predates 1988, the year our simulator starts, so this page tells what happened and has no simulation. From 1988 on, every season can be run again a hundred times with its drivers and cars.
See 1988, the first simulated season →Drivers of 1982
Keep reading
What we have measured about 1982 and about what decided it, with our own numbers.
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