Nelson Piquet

I think I did a fantastic race in the Brazilian Grand Prix of '82 at Rio. I was fighting all the way through with Keke (Rosberg) in the Williams, right up to the last 10 laps.

After that I was dead. I was destroyed. I couldn't even stand up on the podium, but it was really fantastic.

That was when Formula 1 had the ground-effect, the steering was very heavy and there were a lot of g-forces. We used to be bashed against the sides of the monocoque all the time. It was really exhausting, because you were so bruised and battered.

And, of course, Rio was one of the hardest races on the calendar, because the circuit was flat and fast. On race day, I remember, it was hot, very, very hot and very humid. The drivers were going to suffer. My team mate at the time, Riccardo Patrese, blacked out in the race and spun off in the middle of it. For me, it was like a battle with Keke and a battle with myself to keep ongoing.

I don't remember where I qualified, but it was a little way back. I was the World Champion in front of my home crowd and I had never won the Brazilian GP!

In the warm-up I was quickest, and in the race I made a good start, passing a lot of people in front of me, I don't remember who they were, but, anyway, I found that I was right with Keke and we were both going quicker than the others. The two of us catching up with the cars in front, and fighting all the time between ourselves. Some races I will never forget. This was a real psychological race and with Keke it was very interesting. I remember every detail of it, of the battle we had.

Rio is a circuit where it is possible to overtake okay, and my car was a little bit quicker than his in a straight line but his was a little bit quicker than mine in the corners, because he was running with a little more downforce on his car than I was on mine. We were just hanging in there, fighting it out, right from the beginning...

I don't remember exactly who we got past, but there was (Alain) Prost in a Renault, and then, I think, Patrese was with us for a time and the three of us were fighting together. Then we came up to (Rene) Arnoux in the Renault and he was in our way. It was difficult for us to pass because he had a turbo, and all the time (Gilles) Villeneuve was in the lead, and starting to pull away from us, building up a lead.

It was so much work right through the whole race. We were both getting tired and all that, but each time when Keke passed me, I saw that his car was sliding a little bit more than mine, and I knew that at the end of the race my tyres would be better than his - if I could hold on and try to drive as carefully as possible.

We eventually passed Arnoux and started chasing after the Ferrari. Keke had managed to get ahead, but I was right with him. We slowly caught up with Villeneuve, but every time we came onto the straight the Ferrari would pull away because of the turbo, but in the corners the two of us would be right up with him again. I think I overtook Keke and then I tried to go outside Gilles and he got a little bit offline, spun off, and there I was in the lead.

Keke couldn't keep up with me, he just didn't have any rear tyres left, but I did a couple of things and he was still with me. Then finally in the last 10 laps, I found I could get away from him because he was sliding all over the place. Prost was too far back to worry me, so I managed to get to the finish, but I was exhausted. Really unbelievably exhausted.

Keke and me, we had fought together for 50 of the 60 or so laps, a hundred minutes of really hard concentration. But now, it's a really nice memory. A really fantastic race, with all the suffering, because it was so hot. That was one of my best races.

Afterwards, they said that Keke and I were disqualified, because of water tanks, but it doesn't matter now. It is a nice memory, fighting with Keke like that.