Andrea de Cesaris

Monte Carlo in 1982 was a memorable race for me. The Alfa was a very nice car, it had a good balance. I was always in the first three or four cars that year. I think qualifying in Monte Carlo was very unlucky, because I was in the first or second row on the first day, and on the second day I blew up the engine just before the official practice.

I lost a lot of positions because I had to use the spare car; it was set up with a different underbody. At that stage we had the wing cars, and the spare was a test car, and it was not as quick as mine. So I was very disappointed because I lost many positions - I think I was seventh after the second day.

I really was very uncomfortable for the race, because I had had the chance to be on the first row at Monte Carlo, and to start from the fourth row I was very disappointed.

So we started, and after a few laps I overtook two or three cars, and then I was in the first four or five. I kept going, and soon there were three cars together, Patrese, Pironi and me, and we did most of the race together. Prost was first, second was Patrese, third Pironi, fourth was myself.

I was quicker than Pironi, but I couldn't overtake him because he had the turbo car, so he had more accelera-tion. But my car was really good, so I decided to wait until the end.

But I remember that during the race I had a problem with a fuel injector that broke; I lost power then, and Rosberg caught me.

So it was very tough, because Rosberg was a very aggressive driver, and I could feel that he was really pushing. And Monte Carlo is very demanding on driving, so I was getting tired and more tired. I did something like 30 laps with him behind my neck.

Luckily, after 30 laps of trying to overtake me in every place on the circuit, he crashed. I wasn't really making anything not so right - I was just taking my line. In Monte Carlo if you take your line and you're in a good car, even if the engine is not as quick, I think you can keep a good position. I think that in the end Rosberg was so mad he just went off. It was in the chicane after the tunnel - at that stage it was still a fast chicane.

At the same time I lost contact with Pironi and Patrese. I already had the injector broken, so I was going slower. And then at the end of the race I recognised that there was a little bit of rain coming down; I didn't see Prost crash, but I saw the flags. When I arrived I didn't see him, just his car stopped at the side of the track.

Then I saw Patrese spun on the exit of the Loews, so I thought maybe I'm second now. Then in another lap - this was just towards the end of the race, maybe two laps, three laps from the end - another car was going slower, and it was Pironi!

I didn't know my position; I was in the last lap confident maybe not to be first, but to be in the first two or three cars. And then I stopped up the hill on the last lap. I couldn't believe it, because I knew I had a lot of fuel. I think we lost this fuel because there was a problem with the pipe on the tank. I mean, you had no limitation at that stage with the fuel, so it was just a mistake.

I didn't see Patrese re-pass me, I was so down that I didn't check what was going on. I went back to the pits, and when they put me on the podium; they said maybe you are second or third, we don't know. Nobody knew at that stage. Even the Olivetti information was not on the screen because they didn't know what was going on!

So then we finished up on the podium. It was Patrese and Pironi, and me. We didn't know who was really the winner. There was also de Angelis on the podium; he was fourth, but he didn't know - he thought he had won so we were four together on the podium! And we didn't know what to do.

Until they played the Italian anthem for Patrese, we didn't know who was the winner. I think when they told him, he couldn't believe it, because he knew he had spun. It was just really something very crazy.

I was third, but I was happy, because after you think you have no points, nothing, and then you are third, then you are quite happy anyway. And I know I drove a good race, because it was very difficult.

I have to say that it was also my first podium. Even for Alfa Romeo that was the first podium after many, many years. So everybody was really going crazy for that, we were really 100% up. We had a big party!

For me it was also very good, because after I left McLaren that was the fifth or sixth race, and everybody was really bad with me, and I just proved to myself that I could be up on the podium.

But I think in that race in Monte Carlo I started something in my life; I started my unlucky thing with the fuel, because then I had another four or five times I stopped on the last lap with no fuel!