Grand Prix Gold: 1982 Swiss GP

Keke Rosberg breathes a little easier this week. On Sunday he won the Swiss Grand Prix, his first, and he moves into a conclusive lead in the world championship. Having taken the race in brilliant style, he can now feel more comfortable with his thoughts of the title. This was a magnificent performance.

He cut it fine. For most of the afternoon, Alain Prost's Renault looked supremely in control, under possible threat only from Rene Arnoux's sister car. As has so often happened to the Renault team, however, victory slipped away in the dying laps. Arnoux, apparently on the verge of taking the lead, retired with a fault in the electronic fuel injection, and Prost, with half a skirt missing for the last quarter of the race, began to lose pace. When Rosberg, driving at the limit, attacked with a couple of laps to go, Prost was unable to respond. At the finish the Williams was four seconds ahead, and Frank had his first victory in nearly a year.

For the close finish the crowd had Andrea de Cesaris to thank. As Rosberg, with Niki Lauda's McLaren close behind, came up to lap the Italian's Alfa Romeo soon after half distance, de Cesaris decided that he wished to keep him back. In five laps Rosberg and Lauda lost 10s to the Renaults, and it took a necessarily forceful manoeuvre to put the young man in his place. Without his absurd baulking tactics, Rosberg would have passed Prost with time to spare.

Lauda, troubled by a front end vibration towards the end, finished third, ahead of the Brabham-BMWs of Nelson Piquet and Riccardo Patrese, which were more reliable and less competitive than expected. Piquet had a pitstop race, while Patrese went the distance on one set of tyres. For both men it was a dispiriting afternoon, the cars at no time handling with anything like their usual efficiency.

Off the pace, too, were the Lotuses. After Elio de Angelis's splendid display at the Osterreichring, it was expected that the 91s would be close to the pace at Dijon. Not so; they qualified badly, but determined drives by de Angelis and Nigel Mansell brought them to sixth and eighth at the flag.

There were many good drives last Sunday. John Watson, for instance, would probably have finished in the first three had he not needed to stop to have a damaged skirt replaced. That meant he was only 13th.

Tambay qualified but had to withdraw due to injury, leaving Ferrari without representation at Dijon © LAT

The Swiss GP was run without a Ferrari. Patrick Tambay qualified his car, but had to withdraw from the race. Since the Austrian GP he has been in great pain from a pinched nerve, and was in no condition to tackle 80 laps of Dijon. Ferrari's lead in the constructors' championship is now under serious threat.

Towards the end of the race there appeared to be some doubt of its length. In the minds of the organisers, anyway. After 78 of the scheduled 80 laps, the man with the flag made ready to wave it. The fact that Prost's Renault still led, very tenuously, from Rosberg can have had no effect on his intent. Let us be charitable and say it was a mistake. He then decided that 80 laps were insufficient, giving Rosberg the flag after 81.

Entry and Practice

You had to feel just a touch of sympathy for the fans patient enough to endure Dijon's appalling traffic arrangements last Saturday afternoon. Having parked their overheating cars, cooled their overheating tempers, they then walked across endless ploughed fields for a glimpse of their heroes. They had arrived for the final qualifying session of a world championship grand prix - and they could have been forgiven for not realising it. Not much was doing on the circuit. There was no Lauda, no Ferrari with Tambay aboard. And the two Renaults were cruising. Whatever happened to the white-hot competition of F1? More of that later.

About the circuit of Dijon-Prenois feelings are inevitably mixed. The track itself is too short, with a lap taking just over a minute, but it is a testing one, with some excellent corners. It is in the heart of Burgundy, and therefore is situated in one of the most beautiful areas of God's Earth. The cuisine of the area is legendary, and so - more important by far - is the wine. If, like me, you would willingly settle for hamburgers every night, so long as they are accompanied by the odd bottle of Corton or Vosne-Romanee, you can be happy here. And if a magnificent steak replaces the burgers, you are home free, a million miles from the nylon shrimp cocktails of Watkins Glen.

But it is good that you can bring the day to a happy conclusion, because chances are that it will be necessary. However much I approve of the track, it must be said that it has one of the most unpleasant and officious administrations to be found anywhere. They do not ask, they shove. No opportunity to be awkward or ill-mannered is missed, and their behaviour inevitably provokes rancour. Last year, indeed, they messed around the motorhome crews so much that retribution followed. When the officials returned to their offices the day after the race, they found, at the door, large quantities of used food. It was, felt those beleaguered by red tape and bloody mindedness, the simplest means of communicating to Monsieur Chambelland and his Storm Troopers their dissatisfaction.

This year, the party trick was to close the centre of the circuit to all traffic after 8:30am, but being sly boots, they put their piece of inspiration into effect only on the second day. Fooled a lot of people, that did. After that, all cars were directed, with the very minimum of haste, into the public car parks some way from the paddock. Fans up and about early, in fact, will have had a field day with their autograph books, many of the world's top drivers parking in among the tents and concession stands. By Saturday morning, patience was in short supply at Dijon, but at least there were no reported beatings-up this year, which was nice...

Admin and organisation at verged on the officious © LAT

It was curious altogether, this meeting. For a start, it was the Swiss GP, yet we were in France. And much of the F1 razzmatazz was missing. There were very few advertisement hoardings: too expensive. There were no Alfasud and Renault 5 Turbo races: too expensive.

Throughout Thursday evening and into early Friday morning we had rain, but it cleared as the light grew, and the track was dry as practice began. It took very little time to be reminded that, Swiss GP or not, Renault nearly always excels in France.

We may put aside any illusions that Arnoux is going to devote the balance of the 1982 season helping Prost to the world championship. Arnoux will be a Ferrari driver in 1983, while Prost had re-signed for the Regie. It showed in practice. Arnoux was not exactly ignored by those in yellow jackets, but whenever Prost came in his car he was positively smothered by them. Thus it was that Arnoux's many supporters permitted themselves a wry grin when his name appeared at the top of the lists of Friday morning. His team-mate (it says here) was less happy, however in fourth place and complaining of poor handling.

A change of springs and skirts brought back Prost's composure, however, and in the timed session he fought nothing less than a battle with Arnoux, finally winning it with a staggering lap of 1m01.380s (followed incidentally, by another lap of 1m01.581s). "It feels fantastic, perfect," was his comment afterwards. "To be honest, I am not surprised by the time. When we tested here, I did a lap in 1m3.10s on race tyres..."

Arnoux, though, was not too concerned, for his best lap - 1m01.740s - was not under the remotest threat from anyone else. As Maranello's new man, although not yet confirmed as such, he was under the spotlight last weekend, and seemed to enjoy it.

He was less relaxed, though, on Saturday morning. Right at the end of the untimed session, in the middle of the very fast and difficult Courbe de Pouas, the #16 Renault suddenly snapped out of line and into a spin. From there it took down a lot of catch-fencing before hitting the guardrail backwards at great speed. Practice was halted, for a few minutes there was a real disquiet, but then word filtered back that Arnoux was OK, the car not so. It was actually a write-off and that meant using the spare for the rest of the weekend. The cause of the shunt was finally traced to a rear puncture - exactly what you do not need through a 140mph right-hander...

On Saturday afternoon the Renaults simply cruised around, doing a full tank test on unmarked tyres, Gerard Larrousse having officially 'withdrawn' them from the session. That was the level of confidence in the Renault camp.

"There is no mystery," commented Jean Sage, "about why we are so quick in France. People forget that Paul Ricard and Dijon are the tracks we use for most of our testing. We know them well - and the problems they present. In the same way British teams are always in good shape at Silverstone and Brands Hatch - and we have never been competitive at Brands." Renault of course, has never lost a race at Dijon.

Those things apart, it was also clear that Michelin's qualifying tyre at Dijon was discernibly better than any other. Goodyear had a new qualifier at the weekend, but the enthusiasm for it was limited. "Our problem?" grinned Gordon Murray. "Well, we were on the wrong tyres - but unfortunately Michelin won't let us have any..."

For all that, it was Brabham-BMW that qualified third, albeit a second away from Arnoux. This was Patrese, who went out in Piquet's car towards the end of the final session and set his best lap - and the fastest of Saturday afternoon - five minutes before the end. With Piquet sixth on the grid, Brabham was in a fairly healthy position, if unable to match its Austrian form.

Piquet qualified sixth, three spots behind team-mate Patrese © LAT

There were no engine problems through the two days, and the white cars were, as usual, prodigiously quick in a straight line. It was the corners that presented the problems. "We just cannot get the cars balanced here," said Piquet. "And we've tried all the things that usually work at other places. Part of the problem for sure is that Michelin have more grip here, but there is more to it than that..."

For sheer pace, the Brabhams were unable to match the Renaults. And that made the half tank-pitstop syndrome an even more fascinating prospect than usual. Piquet and Patrese would really have to go in the first 40 laps if they were to open up enough of a gap.

At Dijon, the dramatic rise in speeds continued. In 1981 Arnoux qualified for pole with 1m05.940s. A time beaten by 21 of the 26 starters this weekend. Lap times, indeed are now close to those of the 1974 race, and that was run before the Parabolique loop was added!

Perhaps the most staggering lap of all came from Lauda, who worked his McLaren MP4/1B round in 1m02.984s on Friday afternoon. Traffic always seems to be particularly bothersome at Dijon, and Lauda said that he had managed a single lap without being held up. It was enough, nearly 2s quicker than any of his other laps!

This was the Lauda we have seen so often, fluent, calm and so deceptively fast, everything done with that superb economy of movement. The MP4/1B was working superbly at Dijon, and Lauda gave the impression of merely sitting in, and keeping an eye on it, guiding it where necessary. As at Brands Hatch, he made grand prix driving seem like an everyday thing.

Lauda's best lap on Friday was his last. It was also, he felt, the quickest of which he was capable. And that being the case he declined the opportunity to go out in the final hour. No point in unnecessary wear and tear. Patrese's last minute banzai dropped Lauda from third to fourth, but he was unconcerned. There was a lot of money riding with him after practice.

Watson, a close second at Dijon last year, was not thrilled with his car on the first day, complaining of too much understeer. "It was much better today," he commented on Saturday. "And I was hoping to make some progress up the grid. But my last set of qualifiers - which were the good set - blistered after only one lap, and it was the rear that blistered. Unheard of for me.

"It's an odd thing," he went on. "But the car had more grip here last year than at any other circuit. Yet this time I've got less grip that I've had at other places. It's a bit frustrating, actually. Last year the car was particularly good in the long corner onto the straight, and I could really make up time there. But this year it's just flat for everyone - and you can't improve on that..."

The Alfa Romeos looked perhaps more stable than anything else on the circuit. And because they were so undramatic, we were surprised to find de Cesaris right up there, fifth fastest and only a mite slower than Lauda.

"The balance of the car here," said de Cesaris, "is just about perfect. All I need is better straightline speed against the turbos." Bruno Giacomelli, looking at least five years younger after a drastic haircut, was also quite content, not able to match de Cesaris but still a respectable ninth.

Mansell, here speaking to journalists, clashed with Brian Henton during qualifying © LAT

Seventh and eighth were the Williams FW08s, with Derek Daly outqualifying Rosberg for the first time. Neither was especially happy during practice. "Understeer, dreadful understeer," reported Rosberg, and Daly's problem was exactly the same. During the last session both cars ran with nose wings, which improved capabilities - at the expense of a little straightline speed. The FW08s were nevertheless among the quickest non-turbo cars past the pits, but none could look at the McLaren in this respect, Lauda's car in particular being impressive here, going through the speed trap at an honest 190mph.

Wisely, however, Frank's boys devoted most of their time to the search for a good race set-up. Who cared if they were 23rd and 24th in the first untimed session? They had run on full tanks, experimented, learned a lot for Sunday afternoon.

Tenth on the grid should have been Tambay's Ferrari 126C2, a lowly place for the car, but one that reflected enormous courage by the driver. "On the Wednesday after the Austrian Grand Prix, I woke up and felt a lot of pain in my neck, right shoulder and arm. That was the beginning..." The problem was a pinched nerve, brought about by constant battering to Tambay's back in these idiotic, suspensionless days. "I have little feeling in the arm and to close my hand, for changing gear and gripping the wheel is... well, very painful. My neck hurts a lot also, so we have to find a way to keep my head as still as possible." On Friday Tambay practiced with straps on both sides of his helmet, which were clamped to the cockpit sides. "Not very good if I have to get out quickly, huh? For tomorrow they are making me a brace of the back of the cockpit."

As Tambay sat in the car, his eyes revealed the extent of his pain. And as you watched him reach across, push the lever into first with his left hand, you wondered at his courage, yet doubted he could run 80 laps on Sunday. "My big problem is getting the car into the corners, because I simply don't have enough strength. And if I should get into a slide or something, I think it would be more difficult to catch. I am 50 per cent, no more, which is a shame as the car feels lovely here..."

After a lap in 1m03.896s on Friday afternoon, Tambay decided to give the final qualifying session a miss, the better to rest for Sunday. Through Saturday afternoon and evening, though, his pain increased, and on race morning Marco Piccinini sadly announced that the Ferrari would not be starting. Tambay can now only be fit in time for Monza.

Michele Alboreto had a new Tyrrell 011 for the Swiss GP, and was just a little disappointed to qualify it down in 12th place. "The car feels nice to drive," he remarked. "And I hoped to be with the Williams and McLarens, but somewhere we are losing out. For the race I think we will be alright."

His team-mate Brian Henton was 18th, and admitted to feeling a little short of confidence. "I've got no complaints about the car - unfortunately! I hardly know this track, and the long right-hander before the pit straight is a problem to me. I'm flat through the second half of it, but I just haven't got enough confidence through the first part, that's costing me time all down the straight, of course."

Henton's last qualifying session ended in controversial circumstances, with he and Mansell squaring up to take a punch at each other; this after an incident at the downhill left-hander at Bretelle, which left Mansell's Lotus 91 in the catch fencing, although only lightly damaged. More of that in the fifth column next week. Suffice to say that two drivers' versions of the occurrence differ somewhat!

"The car is a lot better, there is no doubt," beamed Jacques Laffite. "Still not really good, you understand, but better." The Ligier JS19s had completely new sidepods for Dijon, and their behaviour through the fast turns was impressively smooth. "The big problem, like always now," added Laffite, "is speed down the straight. We don't 'ave any! I have told Ligier that I will not stay another season with the V12. No way."

Laffite took 13th place on the grid, three ahead of Eddie Cheever, who was 1s slower, commenting that traffic was more of a problem at Dijon than at most other circuits - particularly when you were short of horsepower.

Marc Surer was delighted with the new Arrows A5, which he was able to test only briefly at Donington a few days before the race. "It feels much better than the old car," he said. "There is much more grip, but at the moment it is still a bit 'nervous' to drive. It needs sorting, but already it turns in much better than the A4, and it rides bumps well." Surer set the fourth-fastest time on Saturday morning, but for the final timed session had to revert to the older car, the engine in the A5 having lost 600rpm. Surer's Friday time was still good for 14th on the grid, but this weekend Mauro Baldi - an impressive sixth in Austria - was unable to qualify.

Victorious at Austria, de Angelis qualified just 15th for Lotus © LAT

And speaking of Austria... De Angelis, the unexpected victor, was brought back to earth in Dijon, qualifying his Lotus 91 only 15th. And team-mate Mansell started right at the back, 26th, only a couple of tenths away from spectating. Lotus was in a mess. "Well," said Mansell, "let's see. On the first day my engine was so pathetic that I was slower than Elio by 15mph through the speed trap. And we simply do not have any grip here. It's ridiculous. You turn into a corner and the front end washes out before it sticks. Lines don't mean anything! I think we will be in better shape for the race, simply because I think we have to be in better shape than in practice..."

Jean-Pierre Jarier's Osella was higher up than usual, 17th, which provoked several cynical comments about it being 'contract time' again! Roberto Guerrero did his customary excellent job with the Ensign, qualifying 19th with an engine which could be called 'tired,' having already run some distance in Austria. "It's 600 revs down on yesterday," commented Guerrero on Saturday. That being the case, he did very well to improve in the final session, when the track was generally regarded as a little slower than the day before.

Both ATS D5s made the race this time, with Manfred Winkelhock 20th and Eliseo Salazar 25th, and so too did both Marches (Rupert Keegan quicker than Raul Boesel) and both Tolemans, which were much slower than expected, with Derek Warwick 21st and Teo Fabi 23rd.

It was not an ideal weekend for Warwick. Apart from being on the shortlists of Williams and Renault, which inevitably adds pressure, he had also picked up a bug. "I've got this sort of buzzing in my ears, and I don't really feel with it," he said. As well as that, he had spent three days at Monza, testing the new Toleman TG183. "That's half the problem, really. It's the only other Formula 1 car I've ever driven - and now I know how bad the Belgrano is! She doesn't feel too awful on race tyres - but terrible on qualifiers, bouncing all over the place. It's hard to understand, because the Pirelli qualifier is worth two seconds on Surer's Arrows, and nothing at all to us..."

As well as Baldi, the non-qualifiers were Chico Serra, who had an eventful weekend with his Fittipaldis, damaging the older F8D on Friday and the latest F9 the following morning, and Tommy Bryne with the Theodore.

1982 Dijon starting grid on FORIX

The race

Another hot and sunny morning. With the race scheduled to start at 1pm, the warm-up was correspondingly early. At 10, after a motley collection of 934s, 320s and Camaros had mercifully parted, out came the F1 cars, with Prost confidently leading the way once more, fastest of all with a time of 1m05.854s. The Renault driver followed by Piquet, Arnoux, Rosberg, Alboreto, Lauda and Watson. For others there were problems. Guerrero felt his newly-changed engine begin to tighten up, which meant that the Ensign mechanics had to set about the task of reinstalling the tired practice unit. Cheever stopped out on the circuit with a broken metering unit, and Henton did likewise with no fuel pressure. Rosberg also pulled up, but his problem was nothing more serious than a broken throttle cable. The Williams cars and the Brabhams, it was noted, were running with front wings.

The track surface at Dijon is quite abrasive, and clearly tyre choice was going to be of paramount importance for the race. Among the Goodyear runners, both Williams machines went to the grid with Cs on the left and Ds and the right. At the last moment, however, Frank chose to hedge his bets a little, ordering that the B compound of tyre go on the left rear of Rosberg's car. This was to be a crucial decision.

As race time approached. The word spread that Brabham's pitstop strategy was to be a repeat of Hockenheim, with Piquet running light on fuel and stopping, and Patrese going into the race on full tanks. Interestingly, both cars were similarly-tyred, with Bs on the left, Cs on the right, the same permutation chosen - rather conservatively, one thought - for de Angelis's Lotus. Both 91s, incidentally, were fitted with nose fins on the grid, although neither driver had tried them during practice!

Although Arnoux was far less happy with the spare Renault, he was clearly in a determined frame of mind before the start, it must have broken his heart to see the two #27 red cars being packed away into their transporter! Three races left before his association with Renault ends - and nothing whatever to be gained by helping Prost. He won controversially at Paul Ricard, and now he wanted Dijon also.

At the green light Arnoux made a perfect getaway, overtaking Prost on the run down to the first corner, through which he led. After the Renaults came Patrese, Lauda, Rosberg, Piquet, de Cesaris and Daly. Guerrero, his engine change completed at the last minute, started from the pitlane when the rest had gone.

Lauda maintained fourth away from the line © LAT

Through the long and fast Courbe de Pouas Prost was making ground on Arnoux, his car better set up and running softer Michelins. As the yellow cars swooped up the hill and onto the finishing straight they were nose to gearbox, and at the approach to the first corner of lap two Prost calmly pulled alongside and went by, quickly building a small but distinct advantage.

"Maybe," he ruminated later, "that was my big mistake. I was on fairly soft tyres, and I could easily have pulled out another second a lap, but I was worried about destroying the tyres. Perhaps I should have gone harder, but at that stage I was happy to be ahead of Nelson, knowing that he was going to stop..."

Prost's second lap required just 1m07.477s for completion, and that was to stand as the fastest of the race. Behind him ran Arnoux and the Brabham-BMWs, with Patrese leading Piquet. The Brazilian, with his pitstop to come, was obviously keen to try and get ahead of the Renaults, but his team-mate's behaviour was hardly cooperative. Several times Piquet attempted to go by into a corner, and several times Patrese rudely slammed the door. Not until lap four did the world champion find a way through, by which time Piquet and Arnoux were getting away.

On lap six the oil flags were out. Guerrero's weary DFV had blown up, making him the first retiree of the race and making the track extremely slippery. Piquet found some of it at the left-hander after the loop, slid wide and nearly spun. He held his car, but lost more time on the Renaults, having been right on Arnoux's tail the previous lap.

Even at this stage of the race, Rosberg's mood was apparent. He had made a superb start, passed Lauda and now, after half a dozen laps was menacing Patrese for fourth place. On the oil slick track the Italian was a little more hesitant than Rosberg, who passed the Brabham before the end of lap six.

Ten laps: Prost, 7s, Arnoux, Piquet, Rosberg, 5s, Patrese, Lauda, Watson, Daly, de Cesaris. In the first few laps Rosberg's Williams and Lauda's McLaren had been very evenly matched, swapping places a couple of times, but now the Austrian was trapped behind Piquet's Brabham, while Rosberg was clear and away. The #2 Brabham was to be the thorn in many sides through the afternoon, clumsy and unwieldy whenever the road turned but blindingly quick in a straight line, which made overtaking it a difficult proposition. On lap 11 Lauda managed it, however, having now dropped 7s to Rosberg. Looking his most relentless, Lauda began to chip away.

So for a time did Piquet, who passed Arnoux on lap 11, and began stealing a tenth here and there from Prost. But it was obvious by now that Piquet, still with a pitstop ahead of him, would be no challenge to Renault. Soon Prost began to stretch it out a little again, and Piquet was unable to shake Arnoux from his tail, far less get in front and build up a lead.

A highlight of the early laps was Watson's showing, the McLaren driver coming up to seventh with little difficulty, then taking Patrese for sixth. But this was to be another day of disappointment. On lap 20 he came in for a long pitstop, having lost a skirt. That dropped him right to the tail of the field, whereupon he began to charge all over again. Sadly there was no longer any question of world championship points. In fact, Watson has not scored since the Canadian Grand Prix in early June.

Andrea de Cesaris was part of a gaggle of cars which became detached from the lead quintet... © LAT

By quarter-distance it had become effectively a five-car race. Prost, Piquet, Arnoux, Rosberg and Lauda, had detached themselves from the rest, who were still led by Patrese. Behind the Italian was a gaggle comprising of Daly, de Cesaris, Laffite, Alboreto, Warwick, Fabi and de Angelis. Both the Tolemans were going better than qualifying had suggested, but Warwick was in for new Pirellis after 21 laps, and retired soon after when his engine cut out. Within a few minutes Fabi, too, had called it a day. For a while his engine has been misfiring, and now he noticed that the water temperature was soaring.

Out also by this time were the Marches, Boesel's car with a gearbox oil leak, Keegan's unable to restart after a spin. The Briton had been going well until then: "It was just one of those silly things I put my foot on the brake pedal, and the side of it caught the throttle pedal..."

As the leaders began to go through the traffic Piquet gained quite appreciably on Prost, cutting the gap back to 4s or so. But as soon as the Renault was in clear water again, Prost would move away. Behind these two Arnoux - hard tyres and all - maintained his vigil, still very well in touch. Rosberg was fourth, with Lauda now much closer, weaving the McLaren expertly through the backmarkers.

Tensions were building in the queue behind Patrese, with Daly and de Cesaris, Alboreto and Laffite making up a very busy group. The most frustrated man here was Daly: "I tell you, I could have cried. After eight or 10 laps my tyres had started going off. I couldn't race as such. It was just a matter of trying to keep up at the same time keeping my tyres together. As well as that, they'd given me a bit more rear wing on the grid, and I was losing out on the straight. Whenever someone passed me, it was at the end on the straight. It was the most frustrating race I've ever had."

At exactly half distance - 40 laps - Piquet came in for tyres and fuel. The stop went perfectly, but when he came out again he was back in fifth place, behind Rosberg and Lauda, and a couple of checks on the watch soon revealed that he was not making any ground on them. Today, remarkably, the strong suit of the Brabham-BMWs was reliability rather than speed.

The going became hectic soon after the halfway mark, when the leaders began to catch the Patrese-Alboreto-de Cesaris-Daly combo (which was being reeled in remarkably by the Lotuses of de Angelis and Mansell). For the Renault drivers, this was simply a matter of being patient, picking your moment, then blasting by on the straight. For Rosberg and Lauda it was a good deal more difficult, particularly when it came to getting past the Alfa.

By and large, de Cesaris has created a good impression this season. He has always been quick - we knew that - but this year he has also shown signs of common sense, blending a little more maturity in with his pace. On Sunday afternoon he behaved like an idiot, a man being lapped who refused to let it happen.

"He just blocked me everywhere," said Rosberg afterwards. "And he was quicker on the straight, of course, so it was very hard to get by him. I don't know how many laps he blocked me, but Frank told me I lost over 10 seconds to the Renaults during that time. I reached a point where I just didn't know what to do. I was having to drive like a lunatic, trying to get by him in the corners, and at the same time I was worried about destroying my tyres.

... while Patrese was also involved in a scrap with Watson and Daly © LAT

"When a guy is being lapped he should move over, not shut the door in my face as if he's racing with me. I had no trouble with anyone else all day, but him... he's crazy, a madman. And after I got by him finally, then he does the same thing to Niki! I'll tell you what: for sure I am going to write a report to FISA about him. We're paid too much money to behave like that! We're supposed to be professionals, after all. He was a lap down, and out of the game. If we'd been fighting for the lead, that's a different matter altogether. I wouldn't complain. But this... this is different."

Rosberg and Lauda were closing on the Renaults when they came upon de Cesaris. They were lapping consistently around 1m09s. Behind him they were held to 1m11s, and one memorable lap, number 50, required over 1m13s. Their anger at de Cesaris's stupidity may be readily understood.

During the last 30 laps the race really began to come alive, for Arnoux was discernibly closing on Prost - and Rosberg was catching both of them! At this stage there seemed no real chance that the Finn could win, but the exuberance of his driving was a joy to behold, and a surprisingly large scandinavian contingent in the crowd was lending loud and continuous encouragement for his efforts. Lauda seemed to have given up any thoughts of trying to keep the Williams in sight. "He was gone. There was no point. And during the last part of the race I had very bad vibration through the steering."

Prost, too, had his problems, losing half a skirt with 20 laps left. That inevitably took it's toll on the Renault's cornering speeds, and his tyres (softer than Arnoux's, of course) were also a little worse for wear. Was his team-mate going to do it again?

It seemed that he might. With 20 laps left the gap was a little over 5s, and Arnoux was driving as if he meant to catch Prost. And that he certainly needed to do, for Rosberg was growing in his mirrors. The last few laps were starting to simmer.

Nor was the other scrap resolved. Alboreto had passed Daly and de Cesaris, and was closing on Patrese. And the two Lotuses were also embroiled. On lap 66 de Cesaris dropped himself out of the proceedings when he spun at the first corner. He rejoined, and therefore caused no further trouble apart from baulking Arnoux a little towards the end!

During the last 10 laps, Prost's victory began to slip away. On lap 72 Arnoux was only a couple of seconds behind him, and the inspired Rosberg was closing in on both the yellow cars. "How many laps?" asked an excited Laffite. "Keke can do it, you know!" What had happened to him? "Bah, skirts... as usual! It was a pity. I was with Alboreto and those people, and the car felt good. Still, 33 laps longer than most of my races this year!"

Laffite was right. Yes indeed, Rosberg could do it. On lap 73 he came round in front of Arnoux. To loud whistles from the grandstand, Arnoux took the car into the pits, believing he was out of fuel. Quickly the mechanics sloshed in a few litres, and Arnoux rejoined, but the problem was more fundamental than that - a repetition, in fact, of Prost's debacle late in the Austrian GP. The electronic injection was playing games, and the unfortunate Arnoux pulled off a few yards after the first corner. Another good race, with nothing to show.

Rosberg was charging in the final stages, eventually passing Prost for the lead © LAT

On and on came Rosberg, the Williams really working now. "I had a blistered right front tyre," he related, "but nothing to worry about. The car felt fabulous during the last half of the race. I'd had a good feeling about this race, you know, without really knowing why. I was sure a non-turbo could win."

As they howled round on their 78th lap, Rosberg had Prost almost within overtaking range. In the Williams pits there was more than a little tension, for their man was in precisely this position a couple of weeks before. Could he do it this time?

Just then Peter Collins saw to his horror that the man with the chequered flag was ready to unfurl it! With two laps left! It was surely inconceivable that the organisers could have totally lost control of events that they had 'lost' two complete laps. Wasn't it? Collins sprinted over to the official, and drew the matter to his attention. Only then was the flag put away...

Seconds later Prost and Rosberg went over the line, and it seemed nothing would keep the Williams at bay. Down the long straight Prost pulled out a little, but Rosberg took yards out of him through the following swerves. Into the downhill left-hander at Bretelle the Renault got a couple of feet off line, and Prost lifted off slightly. There was a gap - and instantly Rosberg filled it, moving through into the lead. For the remainder of the lap he strove to open out enough of a gap to be safe from the Renault down the pit straight. The Courbe de Pouas made the difference, Rosberg hurling his car through there at the absolute limit. The Renaults were beaten, and the spectators could barely take it in.

From there on it was cosy. Prost made no attempt to fight back, disappointingly, and Rosberg was able to ease a little. After 80 laps of Dijon-Prenois he came into sight, approached the finish line - and there was no flag! This time the idiots had forgotten, so Rosberg just kept on going, did an extra lap and finally received confirmation of his first grand prix victory, the third man this month to record such a triumph.

Prost, outwardly cheerful in defeat, took the flag for second place, with Lauda third, nearly a minute behind. The Brabham-BMWs ran faultlessly, if less swiftly than expected, through the afternoon, and Piquet and Patrese took fourth and fifth places, ahead of de Angelis, who finished better than he had expected. Seventh, right on his tail, was Alboreto, who had spun his Tyrrell at Parabolique a few laps from the end while trying to get by Patrese. With so many finishers, there were several drivers - Mansell, Daly, Watson - who said that they had never driven so hard for so little reward. Surer felt a little like that too, having brought the Arrows A5 through to finish its first race, but disappointed that damaged skirts dropped him to the tail of the field. The unsung hero of the race was perhaps Mansell, who finished eighth, despite starting stone last and running some way with a misfire.

The day, though, was Rosberg's. Psychologically, the first victory is tremendously important, particularly when you have been so close so often before. Rosberg now starts to look like the 1982 world champion, and admitted he would not have felt comfortable with the title had he not won any of the races. "It's not over yet, no way," he said of his 11 point lead. "If I retire at Monza, and Alain wins, then we go to Vegas two points apart..." The Finnish fans didn't see it that way, however. Hours after the race they paraded noisily around Dijon, waving banners and chanting his name. For them the world championship is secure. Rosberg has 42 points, which is 42 more than he scored last season. Strange are the ways of Formula 1.

1982 Dijon results on FORIX