Keke's diary

Qualified: 11th Result: 5th

“Along with Hocken helm, this was always going to be one of the hardest circuits for us. That Mistral Straight was so long in those days. So we had virtually no rear wing, which made the car almost undriveable in the corners.

“Getting to the pits and finding out I was, what, 3.5sec off pole? Sure, that was hard to take. And it proved turbo engines were the way to go. Even a FOCA man could understand.”

For once, both Renaults and both Ferraris stayed reliable, and Keke just did the best he could.

“To be honest, there are only two things I remember of that Sunday: one is that, as usual, our problem was blistered rear tyres. And secondly, I had a fantastic battle with Michele Alboreto for almost the whole race to be best of the Cosworths. In the end, I beat him by about a second.”

Championship positions:

1 Pironi 39;

2 Watson 30;

3 Prost; 25

4 Lauda; 24

5 Rosberg; 23

6 Patrese; 19