[Team] 1982: The Year Team Mates Went To War

[Dayzer]

What we saw in Malaysia on Sunday was a tale of betrayal between team mates. A tale which has not reached its conclusion. Here, we take a look at the most infamous display of team mate betrayal. A tale which reached a very rapid and tragic conclusion.

1982 was a strange year for Formula One. Eventual World Champion Keke Rosberg only won one race on his way to the title, there were nine consecutive races which saw nine different race winners, there was the FISA-FOCA battle, turbo charged engines taking on normally aspirated, two driver fatalities, a threatened drivers boycott before the first round, and team mates who refused to get along with each other. Most of these are a story for another day, but let's cast our minds back to the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.

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So what happened on Sunday was nothing new. Do you agree?

[Purist]

Yes, it's nothing new.

Apart from Pironi and Villeneuve at Ferrari, there was quite a spat in the Renault team between Prost and Arnoux, which resulted in Rene leaving for Ferrari at season's end.

Also, Rosberg's only win came at the Swis Grand Prix, held at Dijon, in France.

You'd think Ferrari would have learned their lessons though. I mean, even before 1982, there was a serious feud between Jacky Ickx and Arturo Merzario on the factory sportscar team back in the early/mid '70s.

[Mekola]

Well, in 1982 a teammate battle was sorted out. Reutemann vs Rosberg could have been a good one but Lole lasted only the first two races; both drivers conquered in that time the second place of the podium (Reutemann in South Africa, Rosberg in Brazil), but the Finn was disqualified in his stint.

[ottostreet]

I was initially going to include the Reno team mate feud in the article, but I felt it unnecessary to include compared to the Villeneuve/Pironi fight. I can save the Prost/Arnoux story for another day.

For some reason, I had it in my head that Rosbergs win came at the Osterreichring, so thanks for clearing that one up for me!

[formerf1champ]

I've read that Villeneuve was criticised at the time for making a big fuss about it. Had he not died, the comment about not speaking Pironi would've been a throw away line.

[Sodemo]

I think the difference with Pironi and Villeneuve was that they had an agreement before the race, which they broke. I don't know of any such agreement between Vettel and Webber. Slightly different circumstances, but a similar outcome.

[one five five]

Originally Posted by formerf1champ

I've read that Villeneuve was criticised at the time for making a big fuss about it. Had he not died, the comment about not speaking Pironi would've been a throw away line.

I don't recall it that way at all

All the sympathy was with Villeneuve, particularly in the press

[formerf1champ]

Originally Posted by one five five

I don't recall it that way at all

All the sympathy was with Villeneuve, particularly in the press

It was just something that I read. Thinking about it now, it could've been Enzo Ferrari or the team telling Villeneuve to not continue to make a fuss about it. Maybe, I was led up the garden path by the article I read.

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by one five five

I don't recall it that way at all

All the sympathy was with Villeneuve, particularly in the press

Exactly.

[Peter Mallett]

Hmm,

Lest we forget, the internet hadn't been invented in 1982. Read the reports that came a week later and the view was that Villeneuve had been cheated.

I don't recall the exact scenario but I think there was an agreement that after so many laps, the engines would be turned down and the car that was leading would retain that position.

Once the world had been made aware of that, Pironi was viewed in a different light.

[Bononi]

Strange days I remember... then Belgium, then Canada...

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by formerf1champ

I've read that Villeneuve was criticised at the time for making a big fuss about it. Had he not died, the comment about not speaking Pironi would've been a throw away line.

Read anything from Nigel Roebuck alone on the subject and you will realise this is far from the case.

I cannot recall even an ounce of criticism for Villeneuve over Imola. Either before his death or after. I may have to go and have a look in some of my 1982 issues of Autosport.

[chunder]

Also be very aware that in 79 Gilles could have easily passed Jody at Monza to keep his own chances of winning the title alove rather than letting Jody win it there.

but he obeyed the team order, this is what infuriated him so much after Imola, he slowed the pace when he was in front, was obeying the order and Pironi kept passing him again.

[Knowlesy]

Villeneuve wasn't a real racer by forum logic.

[Razzzor]

I never saw this race in 1982. But after your team mate passes you several times in the dying stages of the race and you're having to use all your effort to pass him back, since Pironi wouldn't have been just giving Gilles the lead back because he was serious about winning, not putting on a show... how could he not have had the sneaking suspicion that perhaps Pironi was battling for real, not for show?

I wonder if Gilles did know it was real, but he just couldn't get back past? How much were they cruising on that last lap?

I guess the difference is here is that Seb and Mark and definitely not friends.

[Knowlesy]

Gilles trusted people too much, of that there is no doubt.

Pironi famously didn't invite Gilles to his wedding and yet he was merely puzzled by this fairly obvious snub.

But it probably just makes Pironi look even worse that he took advantage of this trust. Just downright nasty.

[cds_uk]

Originally Posted by Razzzor

I never saw this race in 1982. But after your team mate passes you several times in the dying stages of the race and you're having to use all your effort to pass him back, since Pironi wouldn't have been just giving Gilles the lead back because he was serious about winning, not putting on a show... how could he not have had the sneaking suspicion that perhaps Pironi was battling for real, not for show?

I wonder if Gilles did know it was real, but he just couldn't get back past? How much were they cruising on that last lap?

I guess the difference is here is that Seb and Mark and definitely not friends.

What you have to remember is that most of the field hadn't turned up because of the Fisa/Foca situation, as I recall there was only about half a dozen cars circulating at the end of the race so it's not out of the question that Villeneuve thought that he and Pironi were putting on a show so to speak.

[Peter Cammish]

Gilles and Didier raced but it was agreed that the race would stop at a certain point and who had the lead at that point would win. Didier broke the agreement and Gilles went to his grave a few weeks later with resentment in his heart. This situation is very similar to the current controversy. Gilles was the fastest racing driver who has ever competed In F1 because of this he had no need for underhand tactics.. in many ways Sebastian made a mistake but to me the real sadness is that he is a faster driver than Mark and will win many more Gp . In this instance it worked for Mark and he will not get many more chances and Seb should have shown humility and given him a day in the sun. In my eyes it diminishes Sebastian.

[ottostreet]

So, was Pironi a 'bad guy' then? Or an innocent racing driver?

[Peter Cammish]

No I dont think so, the 70,s and 80,s were a bit different and Pironi who came from a very wealthy family was seen as arrogant and aloof by the media and he did not cultivate friends, he was also fearless and perhaps a little crazy, he was also very fast but just not Villeneuve fast but nobody was. of course nowadays Pironi would in terms of his background (but not his manner) would be seen as the norm in Single Seater motor sport and indeed those less priveleged now feel more the outsider. Also there was a lot of background to the incident, Pironi had suffered a huge crash in pre-season testing at Paul Ricard were I understand he ended up over the catch fence and in a car park, Villeneuve described it as the biggest accident he had ever seen, quite a quote from him I suspect! Any way Pironi had slight injuries I think maybe a shoulder problem but the violence of the shunt took its toll in the early season, Villeneuve had made it his business to tell journalists to go easy on Pironi as he recovered, also Pironi had an allegedly exicting private life at the time so perhaps he was not in the best place to make rational decisions, As I said I dont think Villeneuve was good / Pironi bad or Vettel bad/ Webber good but on the occassions in question they both went backwards in terms of there standing in the sport which I think when the lights go out on an evening matters to you when you are a professional in anything. Sadly for Didier he never got chance to reverse the perception as his career ended the same season in Germany in an accident similiar to the one that took the life of Gilles which is still for me the saddest day I have known in motorsport, Vettel will I am sure build up and become one of the great champions he looks like he has maybe just lost his way a little like the rest of us from time to time.

[mountainstar]

The personalities that make it in F1 and are successful in winning grand prix are those with intense, self centered personalities. Everyone makes mistakes in life and those guys are no different.

Had Pironi and Villeneuve survived to this day(which many at the time thought unlikely due to their daredevil ways and so it ended up so) I'm sure time would have blunted that drama back in April 1982 and it might even have been resolved. What is important to you when you are 25-30 years old probably isn't when you are 60. In fact I think Imola 1982 would have even ended up a small footnote in F1 history, that Villeneuve died the next week and it was forever unresolved made it a bigger deal than it was.

[chunder]

Interesting that obviously lot of people are relying on heresay to comment on this.

being a huge Villanova fan I have all the books etc, and the main deal was the lack of trust.

Enzo adored Gilles, not because he won, but because he drove hard, he adored Scheckter coz he won! And sold cars in South Africa! And he was real gent! Albeit a huge kid too!

Pironi was a charger, perfect for Enzo. The deal was done, Forghieri held out the board himself but Pironi chose to ignore it.

The laptimes were such that no one was close, Alboreto was almost a lap down and Gilles slowed the pace every time he got in front, he thought it was just a game, but on that last lap into Tosa, Pirono stuck him in the back.

As I said before Gilles was a sensitive soul, in his Ferrari debut in 77 he was involved in a huge crash that took out Ronnie Peterson, he was devastated. And in the later years he was always very close and pally with his teammates, even Reutemann who was notoriously hard to get on with.

Scheckter adored him, because they knew that a deal was deal 79 was Jody's year then he was off! Gilles could have won it in Monza and kept his hopes alive but he abided by the order

Pironi mugged himself off and paid the price, he knew he was going to be champ in 82 but crashed and half killed himself trying too hard in weather that wasn't worth going out in.