Toolbox

Nelson Piquet, the reigning F1 World Champion, qualifies on the front row of the 1982 South African Grand Prix and relaxes, leaning on his Brabham team’s tool box in the Kyalami pits (picture-above). René Arnoux (Renault) is on pole.

The prelude to the race was notable for a strike action by the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, led by Niki Lauda and Didier Pironi, in protest at the new superlicence conditions imposed by FISA, which would have tied the drivers to a single team for up to three years. A late compromise was reached and the race went ahead.

Turbocharged cars, who had a substantial power advantage in altitude here at Kyalami, took the first six positions on the grid. In the race, despite Alain Prost suffering a puncture while leading, he was able to recover to win the race. Lauda, in his first race after two years out of F1, finished a good fourth in his McLaren and Nelson Piquet spun off the track on lap 3 and retired his car.