At the end of the 1981 F1 season, it was not expected that 1982 would be a quiet season. Bernie Ecclestone, Brabham team boss and FOCA chairman and Jean-Marie Balestre, FISA chairman had the F1 teams in control. And there was a Concorde Agreement where all F1 Racing items were described. Hydropneumatic suspension was still allowed, which effectively meant the on-going existence of ground effects. And Turbo-engines were getting more powerful. That showed during the season as manufacturers and independent constructors still had to find a way to race each other fairly. The drivers, however, had gradually lost their power, as the GPDA was torn apart by the different loyalties of its members. And it was through the drivers that Balestre tried to regain more power by forcing upon them rules about briefings and a super licence.
Niki Lauda had left the F1 world during the Canadian GP in 1979 to concentrate on his business Lauda Air. In the summer of 1981 he accepted an invitation to join Heinz Prüller as back-up commentator for the Austrian TV at Zeltweg. He got the bug again, got back to his fitness guru Willy Dungl and visited the GP at Monza. Ron Dennis, meanwhile, had been calling him every month. When the two met in Monza, a test at Donington in September was set up. He was not up to driving a ‘wing’ car, but eventually was able to match the times of John Watson.
A deal was done. Niki Lauda would drive again in 1982 for Team McLaren. Technically, he didn’t qualify for the newly introduced F1 Super license, but an exception was made. At Christmas 1981 he got his new FISA contract on the doormat with the request to sign and return the application form for the super license. He did not sign the paper!
And he was not alone. Only 24 out of the 31 drivers had signed. The problem was that Lauda read two paragraphs:
- A super license will only be issued when a driver has entered into a commitment to drive for a particular team and signed the super license form issued by FISA. The license issued to the driver will name the team with which he has a commitment to drive: I am committed to the above team to drive exclusively for them in the FIA Formula One World Championship(s) until the ( end date of contract).
- I will do nothing which might harm the moral or material interests of image of International Motorsport or the FIA.This could be penalised by losing the Super Licence.
This meant that Lauda wouldn’t be able to swap teams in mid-season or risk the penalty of his super license becoming invalid. It would be the end of the driver as a free agent. (now very common, but then not). The second paragraph would be a restriction of the individual and collective freedom of the drivers. Lauda felt handcuffed.
Lauda rang GPDA president Didier Pironi, who explained that it was all discussed and agreed on in the early-December meeting of the Formula 1 Commission. Lauda being Lauda, he didn’t take no for an answer and ended up convincing Didier. The Frenchman went on to phone the rest of the drivers but most of them had already signed.
This meant that the issue could only be dealt with in South Africa in the run-up to the first Grand Prix of the season. The testing days on the Monday and Tuesday preceding the race would be the first time the drivers would all be gathered together. With the race due to run on Saturday, with practice on the two days before, Wednesday January 20 was used for a meeting of the F1 Commission, in which Pironi calmly explained why the drivers objected to the team-driver combi and moral-harm clauses. He was threated with juridical actions from the organisation and team principles, but the drivers persisted and informed the press.
On the early morning of Thursday, a Nissan bus appeared at the circuit gates. Arranged by GPDA secretary Trevor Rowe, it was meant to transport all the drivers to the Sunnyside Park Hotel in Johannesburg, 20 miles from the circuit, for a crisis meeting. Pironi and Lauda invited all drivers to join them in the bus. Some joined voluntarily, others needed some persuasion to agree on the arguments put forward by the GPDA.
In total 29 of the best racing drivers in the world (except Jochen Mass, who stayed at friends of his South African wife) cramped into one large meeting room, having been followed by hordes of journalists and camera crew. Pironi stayed behind to negotiate with Balestre and Kyalami track owner Bobby Hartslief was the hotline with the hotel room, where Lauda kept his colleagues posted. The solidarity between drivers grew and journalists provided food.
Pironi quit his talks with Balestre and Hartslief and joined the others at the Sunnyside. He had a very bleak message for them: they would be facing life bans if they did not give in. The drivers did not understand why Ecclestone and Balestre would risk a race rather than agree on the changing of two paragraphs.Later in the afternoon, the organisers wanted to postpone the race so that owners could enter with new drivers.
Didier Pironi Gilles Villeneuve & Nigel Mansell
As all drivers tried to keep busy during the evening; team bosses were trying different ways to lure their drivers out of the stronghold, which at one time even needed barricading of the doors. Mo Nunn, Jean Sage and Jackie Oliver were unsuccessful in their attempts, but Toleman’s Alex Hawkridge struck a coup by getting Teo Fabi to break the ranks. Fabi remained the only one, however, as the rest settled for the night. They moved to a nearby dormitory, again all staying in the same room using an honour system for the use of the toilet in the hallway.
On Friday morning the deadline for first practice approached. The next day at 9.00 am a tired Lauda informed the journalist that nothing had happened. Even their demand of two drivers votes in the FISA meetings was not heard. Practice was planned and nothing was going on. The organisers threatened to impound the cars for non-performance. On behalf of the team owners Ecclestone was having none of that and in turn threatened the drivers to sue them for the costs incurred if the cars were to be impounded. Indeed, he made it known that drivers were a replaceable commodity. He announced that his current drivers Piquet and Patrese were fired.
Teo Fabi duly appeared at 9.30 am on track and while practice was due to start at 10 am, negotiations were still going on. Hartslief had told the drivers earlier that practice would be on at 11 am if they signed the forms before 10.30 am but then the call came, sometime after 10 pm. Pironi told Lauda they had won the day, and the Austrian agreed on the guarantees that Balestre had apparently given. The team bosses explained the truce as a ‘freeze’ of negotiations and that the matter would be settled after the race. One way or the other, the drivers returned to the track just before 11 am and Friday’s first practice would be getting underway after all, with a one-hour qualifying session following in the afternoon.
But Roberto Guerrero was stood down by Nunn while Piquet was forced to undergo a medical as Ecclestone did not think he was fit enough. Tambay told Oliver he was retiring from F1. Brian Henton, who had been on hand all weekend if anyone would lose his drive, was quickly drafted in. After the practice sessions, the race was run as usual.
Photo left: Elio de Angelis Photo right: Carlos Reutemann
On the Kyalami circuit situated at higher altidude it was immediately obvious that a Turbo car would perform at his best. Rene Arnoux in his Renault RE30 got pole-position in front of Nelson Piquet (Brabham). At the start, both he and Alain Prost got in the lead. They stayed close and in Lap 14, it was Prost who came through as leader. In lap 41, a rear tyre failure did sent the #15 into the pits. From eight position, he battled his way up to front again. And with 13 laps to go, he got in the lead again in front of Arnoux and won the first race of the season.
And Niki Lauda ? With a new designed helmet in the colours of Austria, he started the race for fourteenth on the grid. By lap 25, he was sixth behind team mate Watson. At the finish, he was fourth. In the third race of the season at Long Beach. In lap 15 he passed the leading Alfa Romeo of Andrea de Cesaris, controlled the race and won with 14 seconds in front of Rosberg.
As soon as the race was over the suspicions were swiftly reinstated. Eventually the South African motorsport body, who represented the FISA, announced that the race was run under a compromise and that all 29 drivers present at the Sunnyside (except Mass, Fabi and Henton) would receive a fine of 10,000 dollar and a suspended two-race ban. Balestre liked to add the 1981 Zolder driver briefing boycott to the crimes of some of the drivers, which meant they would be facing five-race bans. Of course, the drivers refused to pay and by means of retaliation formed the Professional Racing Drivers Association, still headed by Pironi but open to all professional drivers. It said to the FISA that racing drivers couldn’t be simply hassled around with.
Remarkably, FIA’s own Court of Appeal agreed. It criticised the FISA for its conduct for not allowing the drivers to have a say in matters that were affecting them directly and as a token of that point of view lowered the fines to 5,000 dollar and turned to the two-race ban into a suspended one-race ban. With the cancellation of the Argentine GP, this matter was settled. The court’s verdict led to the superlicense returning to its harmless form. But…there would be more court battles during the season!
Publication: 16/03/2024Back to overview
