WHEN FORMULA 1’S STRIKE FORCE WON THE DAY
The start of a new Formula 1 season always generates huge excitement and 1982’s opening event was no exception. On Thursday, January 21, fans awaited the 1000hrs start time to the first practice session. A total of 31 cars were in the pitlane. The anticipation was matched only by…silence. There wasn’t a driver in sight.
The 1982 F1 season would go down in history as one of the strangest. It had a World champion who won only one race and each race brimmed with controversy, acrimony and tragedy. Amid the other drama, the drivers’ strike is sometimes forgotten. It didn’t last long, but for a brief while camaraderie and a little mischief held sway in F1.
The cause of the strike was clauses in the new superlicence form (the permit required by all grand prix drivers), which related to a driver’s contract with their team. The catalyst for that was Alain Prost’s move from McLaren to Renault which so angered McLaren that teams started to want to protect their investment in a driver.
John Watson, himself a McLaren driver, remembers: “At the end of 1981 we were notified by the GPDA [Grand Prix Drivers’Association] of a new
