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Formula 1 History: 1982 South African Grand Prix drivers strike

The 1982 South African Grand Prix was a Formula 1 race held at Kyalami on January 23rd, 1982. It was the first race of the 1982 season. Strike action was taken by the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, led by Niki Lauda and Didier Pironi, to protest the new super license conditions imposed by FISA, which tied drivers to a single team for up to three years. A late compromise was reached and the race went ahead. All drivers who participated were fined between $5,000-$10,000 dollars and handed suspended race bans. The FIA Court of Appeal later reduced the penalties and criticised FISA’s handling of the dispute. Alain Prost went on to win the race and Niki Lauda participated in his first race after two years out of F1 and finished fourth.

When the season started, only five drivers of twenty-five had signed their contracts (which included the super-liscence clause). Pironi and Lauda stated the case that “there should only be contracts that were mutually binding … if I [Lauda] am not allowed to leave McLaren, then McLaren is not allowed to fire me.” At a meeting of the drivers before the race, in was established that, with the exception of Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass, they were all in favor of holding out. It was decided that the drivers would call a strike and boycott practice on Thursday. In the words of Lauda, “Driver solidarity had never been all that impressive in Formula 1, not even in the days of Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart … In this instance … driver solidarity was extremely important because we couldn’t afford to let the united front crumble. 

Niki then thought of the plan TO RENT A BUS. YEAH. At seven in the morning on Thursday, a bus drew up to the track and parked at the entrance of the paddock. Inside it was a chafferer, Pironi and the undersigned. As each other drivers arrived, they were asked to park their cars and “get into the bus. They were going for a ride.” Ickx and Mass wouldn’t go along but all the others took their places on the bus instead of the grid. Everyone “seemed happy and there was a sense of strength through unity.” They took the bus the long way to a beautiful hotel in Johannesburg. Pironi then found out that there was news that all the drivers would be banned for life if they participated in this. All the drivers, of course, ignored this and instead chilled out at the pool and had a “really splendid day.” Bernie Ecclestone gave an ultimatum to Piquet and Patrese and both of them had effectively been “sacked.”

The younger drivers gave issue because they were more afraid of getting banned or fined for broken contracts. The good mood persisted through dinner and there was a lot of laughter when they had to ask the hotel manager for a room. ONE ROOM. ONE ROOM FOR ALL THE DRIVERS. They were given a “small banquet suite” and there was a piano but the bathroom was down the hall. They called up some sheets and spread them on the floor along with some mattresses. Roberto Guerrero manager came to the room with his girlfriend and tried to coax him out of it. Guerrero and his girlfriend broke down into tears but then they kicked the manager out and allowed the girlfriend to some inside instead. Gilles Villeneuve and Elio de Angelis began playing the piano and the atmosphere “picked up again.” Arrows team chief Jacky Oliver came and tried to force himself into the room and even brought the POLICE along. They managed to get the door halfway open before all the diets pushed it shut and used the piano to block the door. The younger drivers began to panic and most of them went to Lauda for reassurance. Throughout it all, Pironi and Nelson Piquet were lightening the mood through strength and jokes.

Eventually, they had to get some sleep. Since the bathroom was down the hall, there was one room key they all had to use. They put it on a plate in the middle of the room and crossed their hearts (Niki’s words) that they would use the bathroom and come straight back with the key. However, Teo Fabi chickened out and left with the key and never returned. Then proceeds to take a vote to see if they could continue and the vote was unanimous. In the end, Pironi came to terms with Balestre and they ended up wining the battle. 

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Dead and Rad

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R.I.P. Peter Mayhew (19 May 1944 – 30 April 2019)

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You go Mads ! (x)

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Marie Antoinette (2006) dir. Sofia Coppola

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Letting everyone down would be my greatest unhappiness.

Marie Antoinette (2006) dir. Sofia Coppola

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Alicia Vikander for VOGUE Spain

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Mexico City, Mexico | Joseph Owen

Marigolds for Día de los Muertos at El Mercado de Jamaica in Mexico City.

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Keira Knightley, photographed by Jackie Nickerson for The Sunday Times Style, Dec 23, 2018.

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Keira Knightley in Colette (2018)

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“One day, we shot a scene with two of the boys,” Brown continues. “One was inside the house. The other boy was on the porch on the other side of a glass door. These are non-professional kids, and they were hanging out, just like real brothers would. I don’t think they were aware the camera was rolling, and Terry saw it as a magic moment. The boys were oblivious to the crew, and things like that happened because of the atmosphere that Terry and Chivo created.”  - (x)

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Edward Hopper    Loneliness

New York Office, 1962

Eleven A.M., 1926

Automat, 1927

Summertime Interior, 1909

Compartment C, Car 193, 1938

Lady Reading Book Hotel Room, 1931

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Ben Mendelsohn and Lola Kirke in Untogether

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