page_title: 1982 Formula One World Championship
section_title: Opening rounds
hierarchical_section_title: 1982 Formula One World Championship / Season report / Championship / Opening rounds
caption_attribution_description: English: Formula One drivers Andrea de Cesaris (left) and Bruno Giacomelli, with the 1982 Alfa Romeo 182
context_page_description: The 1982 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 36th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1982 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1982 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a sixteen-race series that began on 23 January and ended on 25 September. The Drivers' Championship was won by Keke Rosberg and the Constructors' Championship by Scuderia Ferrari.
  Motorsport journalist Nigel Roebuck later wrote that the 1982 season was "an ugly year, pock-marked by tragedy, by dissension, by greed, and yet, paradoxically, it produced some of the most memorable racing ever seen". It started with a drivers' strike at the season opener in South Africa and saw a partial race boycott as part of the ongoing FISA–FOCA war at the San Marino Grand Prix. Two drivers lost their lives during the season: Gilles Villeneuve during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix and Riccardo Paletti at the start of the Canadian Grand Prix. Later, championship favourite Didier Pironi suffered a career-ending accident while qualifying for the German Grand Prix.
context_section_description: Before the start of the season, all drivers had received a letter from FISA, containing an application form for a new Super Licence. This new document stated that drivers would not be allowed to switch teams freely during the course of the season, with their licence being withdrawn should they do so. Additionally, the document forbade drivers from actions "which might harm the moral or material interests" of Formula One. The returning Lauda was displeased by this and communicated with Pironi, head of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA). They contacted other drivers and ultimately, six drivers refused to sign the document, those being Lauda, Pironi, Villeneuve, Arnoux, Bruno Giacomelli and Andrea de Cesaris.
  On the Wednesday between testing and the first practice session, during a meeting of the Formula One Commission, Pironi, on behalf of the drivers, objected to the licence application. Balestre reacted strongly, excluding all drivers who had not signed from the following day's practice session. The drivers in turn reacted by going on strike the next day, boarding a bus to a nearby hotel. The conflict continued until the next day, the Friday before the race was set to take place. It was partially resolved shortly before noon that day, with the drivers receiving half-hearted assurances towards their demands. They would ultimately be fined $5,000 each for the strike, with the new Super Licence being scrapped. Following the events in South Africa, the GPDA disbanded at a driver meeting in Paris, being replaced by the Professional Racing Drivers' Association (PRDA).
  When qualifying finally commenced, Arnoux took pole position from Piquet, with Villeneuve and Patrese on the second row of the grid. At the start, Arnoux led while Piquet did not get away well and was overtaken by several cars, including Prost, who jumped from fifth to second. Piquet and Villeneuve retired early, while Prost took the lead from his teammate Arnoux on lap 14. He would lead until lap 41, when he punctured his left rear tyre, forcing him to come into the pitlane for new tyres. He emerged in eighth place, but with this fresh set, Prost was the quickest driver on the course, allowing him to overtake relatively easily. On lap 68, he once again took the leading position from Arnoux and went on to win the race. Reutemann also overtook Arnoux late in the race and finished second, with Lauda in fourth place on his return to Formula One racing.
  The teams then moved to Brazil for the second round. Brabham abandoned their turbo-charged BT50 for now, reverting to an updated BT49D for this race, powered by the Cosworth DFV engine. The cars once again proved just how quick they had become, when Prost qualified on pole position 6.27 seconds faster than Piquet had done the year before. Villeneuve was second on the grid and went into the lead at the start, followed by Rosberg, with the two Renault drivers behind. However, Rosberg fell back behind the Renaults on the first lap and was overtaken by Patrese on lap three and by Piquet two laps later. Villeneuve led until lap 30, when he spun out. This allowed Piquet into the lead, closely followed by Rosberg, with the two having battled for position during the preceding laps. The order remained to the finish, with Piquet winning from Rosberg, Prost, Watson and Mansell.
  The heavy strain posed onto the drivers by the bumpy circuit and hot, humid weather was showcased not only by Patrese retiring on lap 34 due to exhaustion, but also when Piquet fainted on the winners' rostrum. Following the race, both Ferrari and Renault protested the first- and second-place finishes of Piquet and Rosberg, citing the water tanks used by Brabham and Williams to be illegal. The case was taken to the FISA in Paris, with no outcome until after the next race.
  The third race of the season took place at the street circuit in Long Beach. During Saturday's qualifying, Lauda did just one run of a few laps, setting a fast time that put him on top of the leaderboard. However, in the closing seconds of the session, de Cesaris bettered Lauda's 
caption: Andrea de Cesaris (left) took a surprise pole position at Long Beach in his Alfa Romeo 182 (pictured).
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