Here is a new guest article by Alex Goldschmidt. An avid F1 fan for many years, he recently interviewed me for his blog which he started quite recently. I have also guest blogged for him and in return, here is his guest article on Nigel Mansell, an in depth look at Nigel Mansell's career and how he became on of Motorsports true legends, take it away Alex.Here is Alex's blog, take a look: http://alexgoldie.wordpress.com/
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Legendary Formula One Drivers: Nigel Mansell
Having been a Formula One fan for as long as I remember, there have been several drivers that I have followed, including Ayrton Senna, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, but the one driver in my younger days that I enjoyed supporting was "Il Leone" - Nigel Mansell. We all know that it took the man from Upton-upon-Severn a long time to obtain the ultimate accolade that is the FIA Formula One Driver's Championship, but it didn't mean that the moustached maestro have his fair share of up and downs during his career.
Nigel was a slow starter in the world of single-seater racing, using his own money to help him work his way up, even at the obvious disapproval of his father. But in 1977, he won 33 out of 42 races in that year's British Formula Ford championship, winning the title. This was even though a broken back was suffered by Nigel at a Brands Hatch qualifying session. Even though he was told by doctors that he was close to losing the loss of all four limbs, and would never drive again, Mansell discharged himself and went back to what he loved doing. He had also resigned as an aerospace engineer nearly a month before the accident occurred, as well as selling most of his personal belongings to support his entry into Formula Ford. Later that year, he raced a Formula 3000 Lola T570 at Silverstone, finishing fourth in the process, and decided that he was up for the challenge.
He raced in Formula 3000 for the next two years, and even though he was in an uncompetitive car, he started off with a Pole Position and second place, but due to the Triumph engines used because of a sponsorship deal, he was not able to challenge the top drivers of the category. He then ended up with the Dave Price Racing team for the next season, finishing 8th overall. He was consistent in his racing, but suffered another back injury, this time after a crash with Andrea de Cesaris, which resulted in Mansell's car cartwheeling, and he suffered broken vertebrae, which hospitalised him again. Even with this career-threatening injury, and with the use of painkillers, he did enough to impress Colin Chapman, the man behind Lotus, with Mansell securing a test driver role with the Lotus team.
Nigel then received three drives at race meetings during the 1980 F1 season, as well as driving a development version of the Lotus 81, the 81B. But it didn't seem to bode well initially, as he suffered painful first and second burns to his posterior (posh term for backside) as a result of a fuel leak in the cockpit shortly before the race. He retired from the first two races as a result of engine failure, and also had to give up his vehicle to experienced F1 and Indycar driver, Mario Andretti, who had written off his car before the final race of the 1980 season. Andretti announced his move to Alfa Romeo, and then Mansell was promoted to the race seat, even though one of the team's shareholders, David Thieme, wanted a French driver to fill the position.
Over the four years he spent at Lotus, Nigel was struggling with the cars, which proved to be unreliable. Out of 59 starts with the team, he finished less than half of them. His best finish with the team was third place, which he achieved five times throughout his time with Lotus. This included the fifth race of the 1981 season, which was only his seventh start in F1. But his more experienced team mate, Andrea de Cesaris took a surprising win at Austria in 1982, and was faster on numerous occasions. But in 1982, Mansell wanted to race at Le Mans that season, but was offered the same money by Colin Chapman to not take part. At some point during his tenure at Lotus, he was offered a multi-million pound contract until the end of the 1984 season.
Due to Chapman's good gestures, "Il Leone" became close to the Lotus founder, and was devastated by Chapman's sudden death in 1982. Following Lotus' loss, the relationship between the team and Mansell became increasingly strained, as Peter Warr, the replacement team principal, did hold the Brit in not a very good view as a racing driver. He also wasn't keen on honouring the last year of the contract offered by Chapman to Mansell, but the title sponsor, John Player Special, stepped in, and announced that Mansell would be staying.
In 1984, Nigel finished in the Driver's table in the top ten for the very first time, and surprised many by his overtake over Alain Prost during the wet 1984 Monaco Grand Prix, before crashing out. Half way through the season, a young Ayrton Senna was announced as the Brit's replacement for the 1985 season, leaving Nigel without a drive for the following season. He received offers from both Arrows and Williams, but eventually signed for the latter, after firstly having rejected their offer. Nigel was mainly remembered that year by pushing his broken down Lotus over the finish line at the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix, after its transmission had failed, and on a race that was one of the hottest on record, collapsing to help secure himself 6th place and 1 championship point. This as even though the race temperature was around 40 degrees centigrade.
From 1985 to 1988, he drove for Williams, starting off as a team mate for Keke Rosberg, who Mansell said was "one of the best team mates I've had in my career". He was also given the now famous "Red 5" number that he raced with on further race cars with both Williams, and the Newman-Haas Indycar race team. This particular number was brought to the forefront by the legend that is Murray Walker, and his exciting and enthusiastic commentary for the BBC.
1985 was providing more of the same for Mansell, but his pace had been closer to the front than before, as the Honda engines Williams used were more competitive by the middle of the season. He was second in Spa-Francorchamps that year, and then secured his first ever win in 72 competitive starts at Brands Hatch, winning the European Grand Prix. He then followed it up with another win in South Africa, making him a true F1 star. But in 1986, he was then teamed with Nelson Piquet, who felt that Mansell was "an uneducated blockhead", and didn't have anything nice to say about Roseanne, Mansell's wife. The Williams Honda car had the capability of winning races regularly, and Nigel had established himself as contender for the title. Unfazed by Piquet's unforgiving mind games, he went on to win five races, and also was pipped to victory by Ayrton Senna at Jerez, with Senna winning by the narrowest margins in history, 0.014 seconds. The season went down to the wire, with Nigel unfortunately suffering a high-speed blow out on his left rear tyre with just 19 laps to go. He ended up runner up to Alain Prost that year, but ended up being voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
Six more victories came to the Brit in the 1987 season, especially with an emotional victory at Silverstone, where he beat team mate Piquet after being 28 seconds behind the Brazilian with just 30 laps to go. He suffered a spinal concussion at Suzuka during qualifying, after suffering a nasty accident, which put him out for the rest of the season, meaning that Piquet won the title by default, even though he hadn't scored any points in the last two races. But in 1988, Williams lost Honda power, which ended up at McLaren, which helped Senna power to his first of three titles. With normally aspirated Judd engines, the season was dismal for all at Williams, apart from some brilliance from Mansell in the two races he competed in, including second place at Silverstone. He developed chickenpox in the summer of 1998, meaning that he wasn't really able to compete in that many races.
But in 1989, he was given the great honour of being the last Ferrari driver to have been personally selected by Enzo Ferrari before his death in August 1988, an honour Nigel described as "one of the greatest in my entire career", and was given a Ferrari F40 as a gift. And he was nicknamed "Il Leone" by the tifosi for his fearless driving style. The season showed some major changes, such as the engines being only normally aspirated, with the turbos being banned, and Ferrari introducing an electronic gearbox. Nigel believed it was a development year, and that he would challenge for the title the following season. In his first race for the Prancing Horse, he claimed a very unlikely win at the Brazilian Grand Prix, and he later joked that he had booked and early flight for halfway through the race, as he'd thought that the revolutionary new gearbox would only last a few laps. He also achieved two major milestones in the race, by being the first driver to win with a semi-automatic gearbox, and would be the only man to win in his debut with Ferrari, a feat that was repeated by Kimi Raikkonen 17 years later in Australia. The rest of the season was dogged with gearbox and other problems, including a DQ at the Canadian GP for reversing in the pit lane, and he found himself banned for the next race in Spain. However, he drove majestically at Hungary, securing his second win of the season, even though he'd qualified a lowly twelfth, and overtook Senna in a late-race pass.
1990 was even tougher for the Briton at Ferrari, where his car suffered even worse reliability during the season, with him retiring from seven races, and even during one race, his team mate Alain Prost swapped cars without Nigel's knowledge, as the Brit had taken Pole Position, and then found out that by confronting the engineers after the race that Prost had been devious in his swapping of the cars, meaning Nigel had an inferior car at the race. Halfway through the season, he announced his retirement from GP racing, having won once and finished fifth in the title race that year. The plans to leave the sport were halted when Frank Williams again stepped in. When he signed for Williams that year in October, he ensured that the team would make him the main focus, and became the highest paid sportsman at that time.
The way in which Mansell joined Williams was truly not straightforward, with numerous demands met, and Elf and Renault trying to do everything necessary to help him, he signed as their no. 1 driver. The second stint for Nigel at Williams was even better than before, with him winning 5 races that season, with his most memorable highlights as going wheel to wheel with Senna at nearly 200mph in Spain, as well as chauffeuring Senna back to the pits after his McLaren ran out of fuel after the race was over. But he was at a disadvantage with the new gearbox Williams were developing, putting him over 30 points behind Senna, after picking ups his first points of the season at Monaco. He finished second behind Senna that year, before the swansong that was 1992.
He started the year with five straight wins, which has since been bettered by Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel. At Monaco, he was leading the race and had secured Pole Position, before suffering from a loose wheel nut with just 7 laps left. He dashed into the pits, and with a fresh set of tyres, launched a blistering attack on Senna, closing the gap to his Brazilian rival from 5.2 to 1.9 seconds in just two laps, setting a lap record two seconds quicker than Senna. The pair battled over the last four laps, with Senna blocking every attempt of Mansell's, who was trying in vain to get past. But Senna won the race by just 0.2 seconds. Nigel also became the most successful British GP driver, winning the British Grand Prix, which beat Jackie Stewart's record of 27 wins. He claimed the title at Hungary that year, finishing second, and now holds the record for the least races required whilst wining the Formula One Drivers' World Championship. He still also holds records for the highest number of pole positions in one season (14), highest percentage of pole positions in a season (88%), most wins from pole position in a season (9), most races before becoming World Champion (180) and most runner-up championship finishes before becoming World Champion (6). He also won Sports Personality of the Year for the second time, being only one of three people to have done so.
After his two seasons in Indycar, where he won the Drivers' title and Rookie of the Year title in his debut season with Newman-Hass Racing in 1993, coming third at the Indianapolis 500, making him at that time, due to the 1993 F1 title yet to be won, the only person in history to hold both Indycar and F1 titles at the same time. He remained in Indycar for one more season, with 1994 being a worse year, with bad behaviour being displayed by the usually jovial and polite Mansell, as well as the car being more unreliable.
He returned back to F1 in 1994, with Williams still suffering after the loss of Ayrton Senna in May at San Marino, replacing then rookie David Coulthard for the French GP, and the last three GPs of the season. The return of "Il Leone" to F1 was helped by Bernie Ecclestone, who helped unravel Mansell's contracts in the US. It was necessary for Mansell to come back to F1, as viewing figures had dropped significantly, and for F1 to have a world champion driving, as Senna had passed away and Prost had retired. at the age of 40, he wasn't as quick as Damon Hill in race trim, but flashes of brilliance were coming back after the fantastic battle with Jean Alesi in Japan. He even won at Adelaide, the season finale, as Schumacher and Hill had collided, with both of them retiring, whilst fighting for the title, which was won by Schumacher. Williams had an option on Nigel for the following season, but decided to hire Coulthard instead for 1995.
Nigel then ended up being hired by McLaren instead, as he showed that in his early 40's, he was still blisteringly quick, making him still hot property. Even though Ron Dennis and Nigel never saw eye to eye, McLaren's sponsors clearly dictated that a world champion had to be signed, Dennis could only have Mansell as Schumi was already taken by Benetton. The season got off to a bad start, at Mansell couldn't fit in the car, and was unable to race until Imola, where he was being outperformed by team mate Mika Hakkinen, and decide to retire after racing in Spain. He said the main reason for retiring was the fact that he didn't want to make up the numbers on the grid, and didn't want to be in an uncompetitive vehicle like the McLaren MP4/10. There were a few testing sessions that Nigel took part in, which included Jordan, but no real comeback materialised.
Over the last fifteen years, Nigel has been involved in racing events and categories, such as the Race of Legends, TOCA Shootout, where his collision with Fifth Gear presenter Tiff Needell, resulted in an accident that renderred Mansell unconscious, as well the BTCC, GP Masters, FIA GT Championship, and even last year's Le Mans, driving a Gynetta-Zytek Z09R, with sons Leo and Greg, but crashed out after just five laps, having suffered a puncture. He has also been the FIA steward, having been a former driver, for both the 2010 and 2011 British Grand Prix.
It just goes to show that even in this day and age, even though he is considered an elder statesman in motor sport, he still has the determination to compete , no matter what event or racing series he takes part in, and has always been a joy to watch. Thank you Nigel for all the years you brought us so much joy and pain, and I think in some way, we experienced your high and low points during your career. Thanks for the memories, and we hope you keep hitting the race track, no matter what you're racing!
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Legendary Formula One Drivers: Nigel Mansell
Having been a Formula One fan for as long as I remember, there have been several drivers that I have followed, including Ayrton Senna, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, but the one driver in my younger days that I enjoyed supporting was "Il Leone" - Nigel Mansell. We all know that it took the man from Upton-upon-Severn a long time to obtain the ultimate accolade that is the FIA Formula One Driver's Championship, but it didn't mean that the moustached maestro have his fair share of up and downs during his career.
Nigel was a slow starter in the world of single-seater racing, using his own money to help him work his way up, even at the obvious disapproval of his father. But in 1977, he won 33 out of 42 races in that year's British Formula Ford championship, winning the title. This was even though a broken back was suffered by Nigel at a Brands Hatch qualifying session. Even though he was told by doctors that he was close to losing the loss of all four limbs, and would never drive again, Mansell discharged himself and went back to what he loved doing. He had also resigned as an aerospace engineer nearly a month before the accident occurred, as well as selling most of his personal belongings to support his entry into Formula Ford. Later that year, he raced a Formula 3000 Lola T570 at Silverstone, finishing fourth in the process, and decided that he was up for the challenge.
He raced in Formula 3000 for the next two years, and even though he was in an uncompetitive car, he started off with a Pole Position and second place, but due to the Triumph engines used because of a sponsorship deal, he was not able to challenge the top drivers of the category. He then ended up with the Dave Price Racing team for the next season, finishing 8th overall. He was consistent in his racing, but suffered another back injury, this time after a crash with Andrea de Cesaris, which resulted in Mansell's car cartwheeling, and he suffered broken vertebrae, which hospitalised him again. Even with this career-threatening injury, and with the use of painkillers, he did enough to impress Colin Chapman, the man behind Lotus, with Mansell securing a test driver role with the Lotus team.
Nigel then received three drives at race meetings during the 1980 F1 season, as well as driving a development version of the Lotus 81, the 81B. But it didn't seem to bode well initially, as he suffered painful first and second burns to his posterior (posh term for backside) as a result of a fuel leak in the cockpit shortly before the race. He retired from the first two races as a result of engine failure, and also had to give up his vehicle to experienced F1 and Indycar driver, Mario Andretti, who had written off his car before the final race of the 1980 season. Andretti announced his move to Alfa Romeo, and then Mansell was promoted to the race seat, even though one of the team's shareholders, David Thieme, wanted a French driver to fill the position.
Over the four years he spent at Lotus, Nigel was struggling with the cars, which proved to be unreliable. Out of 59 starts with the team, he finished less than half of them. His best finish with the team was third place, which he achieved five times throughout his time with Lotus. This included the fifth race of the 1981 season, which was only his seventh start in F1. But his more experienced team mate, Andrea de Cesaris took a surprising win at Austria in 1982, and was faster on numerous occasions. But in 1982, Mansell wanted to race at Le Mans that season, but was offered the same money by Colin Chapman to not take part. At some point during his tenure at Lotus, he was offered a multi-million pound contract until the end of the 1984 season.
Due to Chapman's good gestures, "Il Leone" became close to the Lotus founder, and was devastated by Chapman's sudden death in 1982. Following Lotus' loss, the relationship between the team and Mansell became increasingly strained, as Peter Warr, the replacement team principal, did hold the Brit in not a very good view as a racing driver. He also wasn't keen on honouring the last year of the contract offered by Chapman to Mansell, but the title sponsor, John Player Special, stepped in, and announced that Mansell would be staying.
In 1984, Nigel finished in the Driver's table in the top ten for the very first time, and surprised many by his overtake over Alain Prost during the wet 1984 Monaco Grand Prix, before crashing out. Half way through the season, a young Ayrton Senna was announced as the Brit's replacement for the 1985 season, leaving Nigel without a drive for the following season. He received offers from both Arrows and Williams, but eventually signed for the latter, after firstly having rejected their offer. Nigel was mainly remembered that year by pushing his broken down Lotus over the finish line at the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix, after its transmission had failed, and on a race that was one of the hottest on record, collapsing to help secure himself 6th place and 1 championship point. This as even though the race temperature was around 40 degrees centigrade.
From 1985 to 1988, he drove for Williams, starting off as a team mate for Keke Rosberg, who Mansell said was "one of the best team mates I've had in my career". He was also given the now famous "Red 5" number that he raced with on further race cars with both Williams, and the Newman-Haas Indycar race team. This particular number was brought to the forefront by the legend that is Murray Walker, and his exciting and enthusiastic commentary for the BBC.
1985 was providing more of the same for Mansell, but his pace had been closer to the front than before, as the Honda engines Williams used were more competitive by the middle of the season. He was second in Spa-Francorchamps that year, and then secured his first ever win in 72 competitive starts at Brands Hatch, winning the European Grand Prix. He then followed it up with another win in South Africa, making him a true F1 star. But in 1986, he was then teamed with Nelson Piquet, who felt that Mansell was "an uneducated blockhead", and didn't have anything nice to say about Roseanne, Mansell's wife. The Williams Honda car had the capability of winning races regularly, and Nigel had established himself as contender for the title. Unfazed by Piquet's unforgiving mind games, he went on to win five races, and also was pipped to victory by Ayrton Senna at Jerez, with Senna winning by the narrowest margins in history, 0.014 seconds. The season went down to the wire, with Nigel unfortunately suffering a high-speed blow out on his left rear tyre with just 19 laps to go. He ended up runner up to Alain Prost that year, but ended up being voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
Six more victories came to the Brit in the 1987 season, especially with an emotional victory at Silverstone, where he beat team mate Piquet after being 28 seconds behind the Brazilian with just 30 laps to go. He suffered a spinal concussion at Suzuka during qualifying, after suffering a nasty accident, which put him out for the rest of the season, meaning that Piquet won the title by default, even though he hadn't scored any points in the last two races. But in 1988, Williams lost Honda power, which ended up at McLaren, which helped Senna power to his first of three titles. With normally aspirated Judd engines, the season was dismal for all at Williams, apart from some brilliance from Mansell in the two races he competed in, including second place at Silverstone. He developed chickenpox in the summer of 1998, meaning that he wasn't really able to compete in that many races.
But in 1989, he was given the great honour of being the last Ferrari driver to have been personally selected by Enzo Ferrari before his death in August 1988, an honour Nigel described as "one of the greatest in my entire career", and was given a Ferrari F40 as a gift. And he was nicknamed "Il Leone" by the tifosi for his fearless driving style. The season showed some major changes, such as the engines being only normally aspirated, with the turbos being banned, and Ferrari introducing an electronic gearbox. Nigel believed it was a development year, and that he would challenge for the title the following season. In his first race for the Prancing Horse, he claimed a very unlikely win at the Brazilian Grand Prix, and he later joked that he had booked and early flight for halfway through the race, as he'd thought that the revolutionary new gearbox would only last a few laps. He also achieved two major milestones in the race, by being the first driver to win with a semi-automatic gearbox, and would be the only man to win in his debut with Ferrari, a feat that was repeated by Kimi Raikkonen 17 years later in Australia. The rest of the season was dogged with gearbox and other problems, including a DQ at the Canadian GP for reversing in the pit lane, and he found himself banned for the next race in Spain. However, he drove majestically at Hungary, securing his second win of the season, even though he'd qualified a lowly twelfth, and overtook Senna in a late-race pass.
1990 was even tougher for the Briton at Ferrari, where his car suffered even worse reliability during the season, with him retiring from seven races, and even during one race, his team mate Alain Prost swapped cars without Nigel's knowledge, as the Brit had taken Pole Position, and then found out that by confronting the engineers after the race that Prost had been devious in his swapping of the cars, meaning Nigel had an inferior car at the race. Halfway through the season, he announced his retirement from GP racing, having won once and finished fifth in the title race that year. The plans to leave the sport were halted when Frank Williams again stepped in. When he signed for Williams that year in October, he ensured that the team would make him the main focus, and became the highest paid sportsman at that time.
The way in which Mansell joined Williams was truly not straightforward, with numerous demands met, and Elf and Renault trying to do everything necessary to help him, he signed as their no. 1 driver. The second stint for Nigel at Williams was even better than before, with him winning 5 races that season, with his most memorable highlights as going wheel to wheel with Senna at nearly 200mph in Spain, as well as chauffeuring Senna back to the pits after his McLaren ran out of fuel after the race was over. But he was at a disadvantage with the new gearbox Williams were developing, putting him over 30 points behind Senna, after picking ups his first points of the season at Monaco. He finished second behind Senna that year, before the swansong that was 1992.
He started the year with five straight wins, which has since been bettered by Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel. At Monaco, he was leading the race and had secured Pole Position, before suffering from a loose wheel nut with just 7 laps left. He dashed into the pits, and with a fresh set of tyres, launched a blistering attack on Senna, closing the gap to his Brazilian rival from 5.2 to 1.9 seconds in just two laps, setting a lap record two seconds quicker than Senna. The pair battled over the last four laps, with Senna blocking every attempt of Mansell's, who was trying in vain to get past. But Senna won the race by just 0.2 seconds. Nigel also became the most successful British GP driver, winning the British Grand Prix, which beat Jackie Stewart's record of 27 wins. He claimed the title at Hungary that year, finishing second, and now holds the record for the least races required whilst wining the Formula One Drivers' World Championship. He still also holds records for the highest number of pole positions in one season (14), highest percentage of pole positions in a season (88%), most wins from pole position in a season (9), most races before becoming World Champion (180) and most runner-up championship finishes before becoming World Champion (6). He also won Sports Personality of the Year for the second time, being only one of three people to have done so.
After his two seasons in Indycar, where he won the Drivers' title and Rookie of the Year title in his debut season with Newman-Hass Racing in 1993, coming third at the Indianapolis 500, making him at that time, due to the 1993 F1 title yet to be won, the only person in history to hold both Indycar and F1 titles at the same time. He remained in Indycar for one more season, with 1994 being a worse year, with bad behaviour being displayed by the usually jovial and polite Mansell, as well as the car being more unreliable.
He returned back to F1 in 1994, with Williams still suffering after the loss of Ayrton Senna in May at San Marino, replacing then rookie David Coulthard for the French GP, and the last three GPs of the season. The return of "Il Leone" to F1 was helped by Bernie Ecclestone, who helped unravel Mansell's contracts in the US. It was necessary for Mansell to come back to F1, as viewing figures had dropped significantly, and for F1 to have a world champion driving, as Senna had passed away and Prost had retired. at the age of 40, he wasn't as quick as Damon Hill in race trim, but flashes of brilliance were coming back after the fantastic battle with Jean Alesi in Japan. He even won at Adelaide, the season finale, as Schumacher and Hill had collided, with both of them retiring, whilst fighting for the title, which was won by Schumacher. Williams had an option on Nigel for the following season, but decided to hire Coulthard instead for 1995.
Nigel then ended up being hired by McLaren instead, as he showed that in his early 40's, he was still blisteringly quick, making him still hot property. Even though Ron Dennis and Nigel never saw eye to eye, McLaren's sponsors clearly dictated that a world champion had to be signed, Dennis could only have Mansell as Schumi was already taken by Benetton. The season got off to a bad start, at Mansell couldn't fit in the car, and was unable to race until Imola, where he was being outperformed by team mate Mika Hakkinen, and decide to retire after racing in Spain. He said the main reason for retiring was the fact that he didn't want to make up the numbers on the grid, and didn't want to be in an uncompetitive vehicle like the McLaren MP4/10. There were a few testing sessions that Nigel took part in, which included Jordan, but no real comeback materialised.
Over the last fifteen years, Nigel has been involved in racing events and categories, such as the Race of Legends, TOCA Shootout, where his collision with Fifth Gear presenter Tiff Needell, resulted in an accident that renderred Mansell unconscious, as well the BTCC, GP Masters, FIA GT Championship, and even last year's Le Mans, driving a Gynetta-Zytek Z09R, with sons Leo and Greg, but crashed out after just five laps, having suffered a puncture. He has also been the FIA steward, having been a former driver, for both the 2010 and 2011 British Grand Prix.
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