Keke Rosberg, the original chain-smoking, swashbuckling Flying Finn. With his trademark blonde mustache, aviator glasses and eloquent-yet-pointed manner of speaking, Rosberg Sr. exuded the bravado expected of Formula One drivers in the seventies and eighties. Rosberg was no charlatan either – his swagger clearly comes through in his driving.

The Finnish swashbuckling superstar, Keke Rosberg.

Keke stands out in most fans’ memories as the archetypal hard-charger: great on cold tires, amazing on uneven surfaces, outstanding in the wet and as comfortable going sideways as he was going forward. This clip demonstrates all of those qualities in abundance; he manages to tame the challenging, off-camber and dynamic Brands Hatch course in his fire-breathing Williams Honda. In 1985, the Williams Honda was reported to produce somewhere around 850 horsepower, most of which came in one huge bang. Note the hundred feet of wheelspin at 00:57.

He reportedly enjoyed a car which would turn into the corner easily, even at the expense of rear-end stability. Also, Brands Hatch was then a track with an uneven surface and regular elevation changes, making it difficult to get a consistent purchase on the asphalt. Throw all of these elements together and you’ll receive a demonstration of consummate car control.

Ultimately, what glues everything together is his bravery. Fueled by nicotine, Rosberg gallantly throws his car into some incredibly quick sections of the track, at time riding well onto the rumble strips and controlling the car’s unruly rear end. Without the billiard-smooth surfaces of today’s Formula One tracks, the car squirms and shimmies through every corner, somehow kept in-check through Keke’s superlative ability.