Keke Rosberg

Keijo Erik "Keke" Rosberg (Finnish pronunciation: [ˈkeke ˈruːsbæri] ^ⓘ; born 6 December 1948) is a Finnish former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from 1978 to 1986. Rosberg won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1982 with Williams, and won five Grands Prix across nine seasons.

Born in Sweden and raised in Finland, Rosberg started his racing career in karting before graduating to Formula Vee in 1972. Upon winning Finnish Championship the following year, Rosberg progressed to Formula Super Vee, where he won the German Championship in 1975. He then moved to European Formula Two, competing from 1976 to 1979. Aged 29, Rosberg made his Formula One debut for Theodore at the 1978 South African Grand Prix. He spent the remainder of the 1978 season with Theodore and ATS, winning the non-championship BRDC International Trophy with the former in his second Formula One appearance. Rosberg returned in 1979 with Wolf, replacing the retired James Hunt from the French Grand Prix onwards. After another non-classified championship finish, Rosberg signed for Fittipaldi in 1980 to partner Emerson Fittipaldi, scoring his maiden points and podium finish on debut.

After two years with Fittipaldi, Rosberg signed for Williams in 1982. He secured his maiden victory during his first season with the team—at the Swiss Grand Prix—and his five further podiums saw him clinch the title at the final race of the season, becoming the first World Drivers' Champion from Finland. Rosberg was unable to defend his title in 1983 as Williams struggled to adapt to the turbo era, despite winning the Monaco Grand Prix and the final non-championship Race of Champions. He took further wins for Williams at the Dallas Grand Prix in 1984, and the Detroit and Australian Grands Prix in 1985, finishing third in the latter championship. Moving to reigning champions McLaren in 1986 to partner Alain Prost, Rosberg was unable to win all year as his teammate took the title, retiring at the end of the season with five race wins, five pole positions, three fastest laps and 17 podiums. Outside of Formula One, Rosberg achieved multiple race wins in the World Sportscar Championship with Peugeot from 1990 to 1991, and was a race-winner in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, competing from 1992 to 1995.

Since retiring from motor racing, Rosberg has moved into driver management, formerly managing two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner JJ Lehto and two-time World Drivers' Champion Mika Häkkinen. He also coached and managed his son Nico from karting at an early age to winning the World Drivers' Championship in 2016. Since 1994, he has owned and managed Team Rosberg, leading them to championships in German Formula Three, Formula BMW, the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, and Extreme E.

Rosberg was born on 6 December 1948 in Solna, Sweden, where his father studied veterinary science. Rosberg's father Lars Rosberg and mother Lea Lautala were both natives of Hamina, Finland. The family moved back to Finland in the spring of 1950, originally settling in a Swedish-speaking village in Lapinjärvi, where young Rosberg had language problems with other children, because his family spoke Finnish. The family later moved to Hamina, Oulu and Iisalmi.

Rosberg had a relatively late start to his Formula One career, debuting at the age of 29 after stints in Formula Vee, Formula Super Vee, Can-Am, Formula Atlantic, Formula Pacific and Formula Two, then "feeder" series to Formula One. He raced for Fred Opert, his American patron. His first Formula One drive was with the Theodore team during the 1978 season. He immediately caught the attention of the Formula One paddock with a superb drive in the non-Championship BRDC International Trophy at Silverstone in just his second race with the team, emerging victorious after many of the big names had been caught out by a tremendous downpour. Rosberg was not able to qualify for a race afterwards, and was signed by another uncompetitive team, ATS, for three races after the Theodore team scrapped its unreliable car design. He returned to Theodore after they acquired chassis from the Wolf Formula One team, but these were also uncompetitive and Rosberg returned to ATS to end the season.

Rosberg next emerged with the Wolf team, midway through the 1979 season. However, the team was having difficulty staying solvent, and Rosberg had problems in finishing races. Rosberg soon had to change teams again when Wolf left Formula One, and signed with Fittipaldi Automotive which had bought the remains of Walter Wolf's squad. He secured his first two point-scoring results in the 1980 season, including a sensational podium at the season-opening race at Buenos Aires, but the uncompetitiveness of the Fittipaldi car meant that Rosberg often failed to finish or qualify. 1981 was worse as he failed to score at all.

Despite this, Williams was interested in Rosberg, with the retirement of 1980 World Champion Alan Jones leaving a seat open for the 1982 season. Given a competitive car, Rosberg had a highly successful year. He consistently scored points and earned his first victory in the Swiss Grand Prix at Dijon-Prenois late that year (despite being called the "Swiss Grand Prix", the race was held in France due to Switzerland's ban on motor racing in effect since the 1955 Le Mans disaster).