1982 F1 World Champion Keke Rosberg opened up on his recent health struggles and disappearance from the Formula 1 paddock.

As well as declining eyesight, Rosberg admitted that he has “hardly energy left” due to the impacts of long Covid, having left the F1 world behind and become “a hermit”.

Keke Rosberg: Long Covid impacts worsened by ‘isolation’

Rosberg reached the Formula 1 summit in 1982, winning his sole World Championship with Williams in a season which produced only one of Rosberg’s five grands prix wins.

Bowing out of Formula 1 after the 1986 campaign, Rosberg continued his racing career on the sportscar scene, and ended it driving for his own squad, ‘Team Rosberg’, for which Keke continues to serve as a team principal alongside his 2016 World Champion son Nico Rosberg and Arno Zensen.

Keke remained a regular face within the Formula 1 paddock, but in recent years has stepped away, and in an interview with Apu, he opened up on the unfortunate reasons for that.

“I couldn’t continue. I categorically ended everything and became a hermit,” he revealed.

Keke spoke of how his battle with long Covid – a group of debilitating symptoms which can develop after a person has suffered with an initial Covid-19 infection – has further damaged his health.

“The understanding of long Covid is still largely unknown,” he acknowledged. “There are a great many people who are suffering severely from it.

“For me, too, it’s a secondary condition – one that has been exacerbated by the isolation. I have hardly any energy left. I used to have a list of things that still needed to be done. I still have a list – but with things I won’t be able to do anymore.”

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Keke also reflected on his son Nico’s 2016 World Championship as the “biggest” achievement for the family compared to his 1982 title, though what happened next he was not prepared for.

Nico’s sole World Championship triumph came at the end of a gruelling, toxic title fight with Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton, as he rebounded following back-to-back Hamilton title wins.

And soon after securing the crown, Nico announced his retirement from Formula 1.

Only, he did not tell Keke that he was going to do that.

“He didn’t say anything,” Keke revealed.

“Nico sent a text to his mother and said to tell his father later. It felt like a big fist to the diaphragm.

“Nico knew that if he started discussing it with me, then of course his father’s opinion might be quite weighty, which he didn’t want to listen to. That decision was difficult enough anyway.”

From there, Nico transitioned into the world of F1 punditry, while Hamilton won a further four World titles in consecutive years, taking his overall tally to a record-equalling seven.

Hamilton’s pursuit of that elusive eighth has taken him to Ferrari on a multi-year deal from F1 2025.

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