Keke's diary

Qualified: 8th Result: 1st

“A fantastic track for the FW08 because of the character of the corners. But on the other hand, a long uphill straight.”

Having suffered strong understeer in practice, nose wings were added to the FW08, and a forceful opening lap saw Keke gain two places. Five laps later he was fourth, and when Piquet pitted, only the Renaults were ahead.

“I was running a combination of three different tyre compounds that day, with the left-front the hardest. They’d lasted pretty well and I was gaining on them. Then I came up to lap de Cesaris. I don’t know how many laps I was stuck behind him, but it felt like I was alongside him 100 times on the straight. I didn’t have enough power to pass. There were no blue flags, nothing. It was difficult to control myself. I lost 10sec.”

He got through, eventually, when de Cesaris spun, but the gap to the Renaults was now 17sec. Keke charged and was rewarded when he passed the sickly Renault of Amoux with eight laps to go. Still Prost was ahead, but there was no stopping Keke now. And with two laps to go, Prost cracked and ran wide…

“I wasn’t thinking of the nine points when I crossed the line. I was thinking in terms of winning at last. I had come close in Belgium, closer in Austria, and now, finally, I had it. I never saw my trophy [a giant cowbell] again, though!”

Championship positions:

1 Rosberg 42;

2 Pironi 39;

3 Prost 31;

4 Lauda, Watson 30;

6 de Angelis 23;