Questions for Keke Rosberg

In 1985, in qualifying for the British Grand Prix, Keke Rosberg electrified a dull Silverstone day by taking the pole with the first Formula 1 lap to exceed an average speed of 259 km/h. It was quintessential Rosberg, aggresion, astonishing car control and sheer showmanship. World Champion in 1982, Keke retired after the 1986 Australian Grand Prix, which he had led for McLaren.

Looking back for a moment. You enjoyed five Grand Prix victories. Which was the most satisfying from where he sat?
Definitely Monaco 1983. Because when I entered Formula 1 I had three goals. To win my first Grand Prix, win Monte Carlo and be World Champion. Monaco was on that list because it is so special. Just to win a Grand Prix, unfortunately, doesn't give you the satisfaction. Formula 1 doesn't give you much satisfaction, it gives you misery, because 95% of the time it's disappointment. It's easy to calculate. 114 Grands Prix I drove, five wins, 95% is not far off. It's a game for masochists, really, and you can only be a masochist for so long.

With inside knowledge, and now looking at Formula 1 as a relative outsider, is Keke surprised by the decline in the relationship between Grand Prix people?
No, it's always been there. There isn't the same depth of pride, education, maturity about being a Formula 1 driver as there was in the 70s when I entered it. When I came in the drivers of today were called Andretti, Reutemann, Lauda and so on. Now we think back to them as being the big old names and in ten years time we'll be doing the same to these guys, absolutely. But their fundamental thinking about Formula 1 was completely different. It wasn't a gentlemen's game, it was already a cut-throat business then, but it was a gentlemen's game in certain ways.
Tennis has some rules. You can make a volley from the net, but you don't necessarily hit into the other guy's eye. Smash it close by, okay, tell him you could have done it, but you don't actually do it. In those days there was a certain set of rules, which has now gone out of the window completely. There are no rules, it's a jungle fight now, which is okay. It's happened in all sports, because sports have become professional. Because they're professionals, they have more ambitions, more time to devote, it's become harder. Today's sports, everywhere, is business, it's professional entertainment. We can't turn back. We've created this for ourselves by injecting more and more money to get better and better performance in all sports. You ain't gonna win in pole vault today if you don't have the pole. Whatever sport you take today, it's an equipment sport. Take athletics. If you don't have the right training facilities, physical testing possibilities, you ain't gonna be a world class athlete.
And all this nonsense saying, well, is the driver still important? Take a Formula 1 grid. The drivers aren't to do going the same job. Of course the driver is still important, otherwise he wouldn't be paid what he's paid. The teams would love to have a sort of robot in there that they could control from the pits, push a button, say turn right, turn left, but that isn't the way it works. Of course he is important, as important as he always was. You're not going to develop anything unless you have the best driver in the world.
Then, when the driver puts the car in the wall, it's 100% down to the driver on that day. Look at somebody like Alain Prost. why he was one of the better-paid drivers? He did not make any mistakes. The other make a million mistakes.