Nigel Mansell

Nigel Mansell
Driver data
Born	8 August 1953 (1953-08-08) Upton-on-Severn, England, UK
Nationality	GBR
Formula One World Championship career
Status	Retired
Years active	1980–1992, 1994–1995
Teams	Lotus, Williams, Ferrari, McLaren
Championship titles	1
Races	193 (187 starts)
Pole positions	32
Wins	31
Podiums	59
Fastest laps	30
Career points	482
First race	1980 Austrian Grand Prix
Last race	1995 Spanish Grand Prix
First win	1985 European Grand Prix
Last win	1994 Australian Grand Prix

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 career

F1 Career

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: 1980–1984

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: 1985–1988

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: 1989–1990

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: 1991–1992

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: 1994

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: 1995

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 life

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 Overview

F1 Career Record

Year	Entrant	Team	Pts	WDC Pos.	Report
1980	Team Essex Lotus	Lotus-Ford Cosworth	0	NC	Report
1981	Team Essex Lotus John Player Team Lotus	Lotus-Ford Cosworth	8	14th	Report
1982	John Player Team Lotus	Lotus-Ford Cosworth	7	14th	Report
1983	John Player Team Lotus	Lotus-Ford Cosworth	10	13th	Report
		Lotus-Renault
1984	John Player Special Team Lotus	Lotus-Renault	13	10th	Report
1985	Canon Williams Honda	Williams-Honda	31	6th	Report
1986	Canon Williams Honda	Williams-Honda	70 (72)	2nd	Report
1987	Canon Williams Honda	Williams-Honda	61	2nd	Report
1988	Canon Williams	Williams-Judd	12	9th	Report
1989	Scuderia Ferrari Malboro	Ferrari	38	4th	Report
1990	Scuderia Ferrari Malboro	Ferrari	37	5th	Report
1991	Canon Williams Renault	Williams-Renault	72	2nd	Report
1992	Canon Williams Renault	Williams-Renault	108	1st	Report
1993	Retired
1994	Rothmans Williams Renault	Williams-Renault	13	9th	Report
1995	Marlboro McLaren Mercedes	McLaren-Mercedes	0	29th	Report
1996	Benson Hedges Total Jordan Peugeot	Jordan-Peugeot	Test Driver

Statistics

Entries	193
Starts	187
Pole positions	32
Front row starts	56
Victories	31
Podia	59
Fastest laps	30
Points	480 (482)
Laps raced	8749
kms raced	39932.493
Races led	56
Laps led	2066
kms led	9561.731
Doubles	17
Hat-tricks	5
Grand Chelems	4

Wins

No.	Race
1	1985 European Grand Prix
2	1985 South African Grand Prix
3	1986 Belgian Grand Prix
4	1986 Canadian Grand Prix
5	1986 French Grand Prix
6	1986 British Grand Prix
7	1986 Portuguese Grand Prix
8	1987 San Marino Grand Prix
9	1987 French Grand Prix
10	1987 British Grand Prix
11	1987 Austrian Grand Prix
12	1987 Spanish Grand Prix
13	1987 Mexican Grand Prix
14	1989 Brazilian Grand Prix
15	1989 Hungarian Grand Prix
16	1990 Portuguese Grand Prix
17	1991 French Grand Prix
18	1991 British Grand Prix
19	1991 German Grand Prix
20	1991 Italian Grand Prix
21	1991 Spanish Grand Prix
22	1992 South African Grand Prix
23	1992 Mexican Grand Prix
24	1992 Brazilian Grand Prix
25	1992 Spanish Grand Prix
26	1992 San Marino Grand Prix
27	1992 French Grand Prix
28	1992 British Grand Prix
29	1992 German Grand Prix
30	1992 Portuguese Grand Prix
31	1994 Australian Grand Prix

Career Results

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	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
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

Key
Symbol	Meaning		Symbol	Meaning
1st	Winner		Ret	Retired
2nd	Podium finish		DSQ	Disqualified
3rd			DNQ	Did not qualify
5th	Points finish		DNPQ	Did not pre-qualify
14th	Non-points finish		TD	Test driver
NC	Non-classified finish (<90% race distance)		DNS	Did not start
Italics	Scored point(s) for Fastest Lap		[+] More Symbols

External links

• Wikipedia article

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