Nigel Mansell

Nigel Ernest James Mansell (born August 8, 1953 in Baughton, Upton-on-Severn, Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom) is a former Formula One racing driver from the United Kingdom.

Mansell is the only person ever to have held a F1 and CART title simultaneously, as well as the only driver have driven solely for Team Lotus, Williams, Ferrari and McLaren, the four most successful teams in Formula One.

Racing careerEdit

F1 CareerEdit

After a successful period in kart racing and a brief career as an aerospace engineer, Nigel won the British Formula Ford Championship in 1977. In 1979, Nigel and his wife, Rosanna sold their house to finance his move into Formula 3.

Lotus: 1980–1984Edit

Colin Chapman, his F3 manager, gave Nigel a path into F1 via his successful Lotus racing time, and in 1980 Nigel made his F1 debut in the Austrian GP driving for Lotus. It was a debut Nigel would not forget as his backside was badly burnt as a result of a fuel leak. However the pain soon disappeared as Colin Chapman gave him a contract to drive for the 1981 season at Lotus. Following Chapman's death in 1982, Peter Warr took over at Lotus but he and Nigel never got on well. In 1984 he finished in the top 10 in the Drivers' Championship for the first time in his career.

Williams: 1985–1988Edit

In 1985, Frank Williams signed Mansell and throughout his Williams career Nigel proudly drove the famous "Red 5" Car. On 6th of October 1985, Nigel won his first F1 Grand Prix, the European GP at Brands Hatch. His maiden win came after 72 attempts in the cockpit of an F1 car. Nigel then won a second successive F1 GP at the South African GP in Kyalami. In the 1986 season he won five GPs and lost the World Championship when his tyre burst with only 19 laps left on the last GP of the season. Mansell finished runner up in the Championship to Alain Prost in his McLaren-TAG. Six more wins followed in 1987 including an emotional victory in the British GP at Silverstone and then in 1988 he only managed to finish two of the 14 GPs he appeared in.

Ferrari: 1989–1990Edit

In preparation for the 1989 season, Mansell became the last Ferrari driver to be personally selected by Enzo Ferrari before his death in August 1988, an honour Mansell described as "one of the greatest in my entire career". Enzo Ferrari presented a 1989 Ferrari F40 as a gift to Mansell. In Italy he became known as "il leone" ("the lion") by the tifosi (Ferrari fans) due to his fearless driving style. The season was one of change in the sport, with the banning of turbo engines by the FIA and the introduction of the electronic gearbox by Ferrari.

Williams: 1991–1992Edit

After two unsuccessful years at Ferrari Mansell rejoined Williams in 1991 and finished runner up to Ayrton Senna in the Drivers Championship. The 1992 following year Mansell won the opening five races and went on to clinch the world championship with a record number of wins in one season (9) and the highest number of pole positions (14). Mansell then fell out with Williams in 1993 and moved to the USA to drive for the Newman/Hass CART Team, whereupon he won the CART Championship.

Return to Formula One: Williams: 1994Edit

In 1994 Mansell made a comeback into F1. After the untimely death of Ayrton Senna at Imola he returned to Williams, replacing rookie David Coulthard. Mansell was paid approximately £900,000 per race, while Williams' lead driver Damon Hill was being paid £300,000 for the entire season. Mansell wasn't as quick as Damon Hill in race trim but signs that his speed were coming back were evident in Japan during a fantastic battle with the Ferrari of Jean Alesi. Mansell took his final Grand Prix victory, the Australian Grand Prix, which was the final race of the season having out-qualified the two contenders for the title, Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher, in the process. The plan was initially for Mansell to protect Hill from Schumacher, but both drivers passed him at the start and eventually collided, handing Schumacher his 1st World Title.

Williams had an option on Mansell's services for 1995 which Mansell was sure they would take. However, Williams opted for youth over experience and hired Coulthard.

McLaren: 1995Edit

Nigel made yet another return to the sport, still hot property in F1. Since he'd lost the Williams seat to the young Scot David Coulthard, he joined the McLaren team, although Ron Dennis and Mansell never looked eye to eye. Dennis only had two options, first was Michael Schumacher, and second was Mansell. Since Schumacher was already taken, this left Mansell. His season did not start well, unable to fit in the car he did not start racing until Imola, where he was well off the pace of his team mate Mika Häkkinen. Mansell was frustrated by his cars' un-competitive handling characteristics and retired after two races.

Personal lifeEdit

His career in Formula One spanned 15 seasons, with his final two full seasons of top-level racing being spent in the CART series. Mansell remains the second most successful British Formula One driver of all time in terms of race wins with 31 victories, and is seventh overall on the Formula One race winners list behind Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, Alain Prost, Sebastian Vettel, Ayrton Senna and Fernando Alonso. He was rated in the top 10 Formula One drivers of all time by longtime Formula One commentator Murray Walker. In 2008, American sports television network ESPN ranked him 24th on their top drivers of all-time. He was also ranked #9 of the 50 greatest F1 drivers of all time by the Times Online on a list that also included such drivers as Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Jackie Stewart and Jim Clark.

Mansell raced in the GP Masters series and signed a one-off race deal for the Scuderia Ecosse GT race team to drive their number 63 Ferrari F430 GT2 car at Silverstone on 6 May 2007.

As of 2008, he is the most recent inductee to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame from a country other than the US, having been inducted in 2005.

He is the current President of one of the UK's largest Youth Work Charities, UK Youth.

Formula One Statistical OverviewEdit

F1 Career RecordEdit

StatisticsEdit

WinsEdit

Career ResultsEdit

Complete Formula One results
Year	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Pts	Pos
1980																		0	NC
										Ret	Ret	DNQ
1981																		8	14th
	Ret	11th	Ret	WD	Ret	3rd	6th	7th	DNQ	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	4th
1982																		7	14th
	Ret	3rd	7th		Ret	4th	Ret	Ret	INJ	Ret	INJ	9th	Ret	8th	7th	Ret
1983																		10	12th
	12th	12th	Ret	12th	Ret	Ret	6th	Ret	4th	Ret	5th	Ret	8th	3rd	NC
1984																		13	9th
	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	3rd	Ret [1]	6th	Ret	6th	Ret	4th	Ret	3rd	Ret	Ret	Ret
1985																		31	6th
	Ret	5th	5th	7th	6th	Ret	DNS	Ret	6th	Ret	6th	11th	2nd	1st	1st	Ret
1986																		70 (72)	2nd
	Ret	2nd	Ret	4th	1st	1st	5th	1st	1st	3rd	3rd	Ret	2nd	1st	5th	Ret
1987																		61	2nd
	6th	1st	Ret	Ret	5th	1st	1st	Ret	14th	1st	3rd	Ret	1st	1st	DNS	INJ
1988																		12	9th
	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	2nd	Ret	Ret	ILL	ILL	Ret	2nd	Ret	Ret
1989																		38	4th
	1st	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	DSQ	2nd	2nd	3rd	1st	3rd	Ret	DSQ	BAN	Ret	Ret
1990																		37	5th
	Ret	4th	Ret	Ret	3rd	2nd	18th	Ret	Ret	17th	Ret	4th	1st	2nd	Ret	2nd
1991																		72	2nd
	Ret	Ret	Ret	2nd	6th	2nd	1st	1st	1st	2nd	Ret	1st	DSQ	1st	Ret	2nd [2]
1992																		108	1st
	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	2nd	Ret	1st	1st	1st	2nd	2nd	Ret	1st	Ret	Ret
1993	Did not compete
1994																		13	9th
							Ret							Ret	4th	1st
1995																		0	NC
			10th	Ret

NotesEdit

1. ↑ Race stopped after 31/76 Laps. Half points awarded
2. ↑ Race stopped after 14/81 Laps. Half points awarded

External linksEdit

• Wikipedia article

V T E	Nigel Mansell
Seasons 1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995
Season Reports 1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995
Teams Lotus (1980-1984) • Williams (1985–1988, 1991-1992, 1994) • Ferrari (1989–1990) • McLaren (1995)
Teammates Mario Andretti (1980) • Elio de Angelis (1980-1984) • Keke Rosberg (1985) • Nelson Piquet (1986-1987) • Riccardo Patrese (1988, 1991-1992) • Gerhard Berger (1989) • Alain Prost (1990) • Damon Hill (1994) • Mika Häkkinen (1995)
Rivalries Alain Prost • Ayrton Senna
Other pages Statistics • Teammate comparison • Category

V T E	Williams F1
Drivers 6. Nicholas Latifi · 63. George Russell
Personnel Frank Williams · Patrick Head · Pat Symonds · Mike Coughlan
World Champions Alan Jones (1980) · Keke Rosberg (1982) · Nelson Piquet (1987) · Nigel Mansell (1992) · Alain Prost (1993) · Damon Hill (1996) · Jacques Villeneuve (1997)
Cars March 761 · FW06 · FW07 · FW07B · FW07C · FW07D · FW08 · FW08C · FW09 · FW09B · FW10 · FW10B · FW11 · FW11B · FW12 · FW12C · FW13 · FW13B · FW14 · FW14B · FW15C · FW16 · FW16B · FW17 · FW17B · FW18 · FW19 · FW20 · FW21 · FW22 · FW23 · FW24 · FW25 · FW26 · FW27 · FW28 · FW29 · FW30 · FW31 · FW32 · FW33 · FW34 · FW35 · FW36 · FW37 · FW38 · FW40 · FW41