Nigel Mansell

Early life and career

Nigel Ernest James Mansell was born on 8 August 1953 in Upton-upon-Severn, Worcestershire, where his parents, Eric and Joyce Mansell, ran a tea shop. He grew up in Hall Green, Birmingham. He attended Hall Green Secondary school.

Mansell had a fairly slow start to his racing career, using his own money to help work his way up the ranks. After considerable success in kart racing, he moved to the Formula Ford series to the disapproval of his father. In 1976, Mansell won six of the nine races he took part in, including his debut event at Mallory Park. He entered 42 races the following year and won 33 of them to become the 1977 British Formula Ford 1600 champion, despite suffering a broken neck in a qualifying session at Brands Hatch. Doctors told him he had been perilously close to quadriplegia, that he would be confined for six months and would never drive again. Mansell discharged himself from the hospital and returned to racing. Three weeks before the accident he had resigned from his job as an aerospace engineer, having previously sold most of his personal belongings to finance his foray into Formula Ford. Later that year he was given the chance to race a Lola T570 Formula 3 car at Silverstone. He finished fourth and decided that he was ready to move into the higher formula.

Mansell raced in Formula Three in 1978–1980. Mansell's first season in Formula Three started with a pole position and a second-place finish. However, the car was not competitive, as a commercial deal with Unipart required his team to use Triumph Dolomite engines that were vastly inferior to the Toyota engines used by the leading teams. After three seventh-place finishes and a fourth in his last race, he parted from the team. The next season saw him drive for David Price Racing. Following a first win in the series at Silverstone in March, he went on to finish eighth in the championship. His racing was consistent, but a collision with Andrea de Cesaris resulted in a huge cartwheeling crash which he was lucky to survive. Again he was hospitalised, this time with broken vertebrae.

Mansell's driving was noticed by Colin Chapman, owner of Lotus, and shortly after his accident, hiding the extent of his injury with painkillers, Mansell performed well enough during a tryout at the Paul Ricard circuit with Lotus, where he was pitted against a number of other drivers to determine who was going to take the second seat for the 1980 season alongside Mario Andretti, as Argentine Carlos Reutemann was leaving to go to Williams. Driving a 79, the seat eventually went to Italian driver Elio de Angelis, but Mansell was selected to become a test driver for the Norfolk-based Formula One team.

Formula One

1980–1984: Lotus

1980 and 1981

Mansell's skill as a test driver, including setting the fastest lap around Silverstone in a Lotus car at the time, impressed Chapman enough to give him a trio of starts in F1 in 1980, driving a development version of the Lotus 81 used by the team, the Lotus 81B. In his Formula One debut at the 1980 Austrian Grand Prix, a fuel leak in the cockpit that developed shortly before the start of the race left him with painful first and second degree burns on his buttocks. An engine failure forced him to retire from that race and his second, however an accident at his third event at Imola meant he failed to qualify. Team leader Mario Andretti wrote his car off in a start-line accident during the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal, so Mansell had to give up his car for Andretti to compete in for his home race, the final race of the season at Watkins Glen in the United States. Andretti announced he was leaving to move to Alfa Romeo at the end of the season leaving Lotus with a vacant race seat.

Despite Mansell being unpopular with sponsor David Thieme of Essex Petroleum, and much speculation in the press that Jean-Pierre Jarier would fill the vacancy, Chapman announced at the start of the season that the seat would be filled by Mansell.

Mansell's four years as a full-time Lotus driver were a struggle, as the cars were unreliable and he was continually out-performed by teammate Elio de Angelis. Out of 59 race starts with the team, he finished just 24 of them. He managed a best finish of third place, which he achieved five times during the four years, including Lotus's fifth race of the 1981 season, and only the seventh of Mansell's Formula One career. Teammate Elio de Angelis took a surprise win at the 1982 Austrian Grand Prix, and was frequently faster than his less-experienced colleague Mansell.

1982

During the 1982 season, Mansell planned to race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans sportscar event in order to earn extra money. At the time Mansell was paid £50,000 a year and was offered £10,000 to take part in Le Mans. Chapman believed that by entering the Le Mans race, Mansell was exposing himself to unnecessary risk and paid him £10,000 not to take part in the race. Chapman extended Mansell's contract to the end of the 1984 season in a deal that made him a millionaire.

1985–1988: Williams

1985

In 1985, Frank Williams hired Mansell to drive alongside Keke Rosberg as part of the Williams team, Mansell later saying "We have the greatest respect for each other." Mansell was given the number 5 on his car, which initially was white like the 6 on Rosberg's car, but was changed to red from the Canadian Grand Prix onwards, probably to help distinguish his car from Rosberg's due to their helmets being similar. That gave birth to the "Red 5", brought to the public's attention mainly through commentator Murray Walker for the BBC, which Mansell kept carrying on subsequent Williams and Newman/Haas cars; even on the 1994 Williams, in which he would race the number 2, it would be red coloured.

Rosberg, the 1982 World Champion who was heading into his fourth season with the team, was initially against Williams signing Mansell based on the clash the pair had at Dallas the previous year (Rosberg won that race and in an interview while on the podium publicly berated Mansell's blocking tactics while leading early in the race, which earned Rosberg a round of boos from the crowd who had appreciated Mansell's courage in trying to push his Lotus to the finish in the extreme heat). Other factors were what Rosberg later said in a 1986 interview was second-hand information about Mansell which ultimately proved to be false. The drivers found they got along well and from early in the pre-season formed a good working and personal relationship.

1985 initially appeared to provide more of the same for Mansell, although he was closer to the pace than before, especially as the Honda engines became more competitive by mid-season.

During practice for the 1985 French Grand Prix, Mansell unwillingly broke the record for the highest speed crash in Formula One history. At the end of the Paul Ricard Circuit's 1.8 km long Mistral Straight, he went off at the fast Courbe de Signes at over 322 km/h (200 mph) in his Williams FW10. Mansell suffered a concussion, which kept him out of the race. Teammate Rosberg claimed the pole for the race and finished second behind the Brabham-BMW of Nelson Piquet.

Mansell achieved second place at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, and followed this with his first victory in 72 starts at the European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch in England. He achieved a second straight victory at the South African Grand Prix in Kyalami. These triumphs helped turn Mansell into a Formula One star.

1989–1990: Ferrari

1989

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 because of 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 electronically controlled semi-automatic transmission by Ferrari.

Mansell believed that 1989 would be a development year and that he would be able to challenge for the championship the following season. In his first appearance with the team he scored a very unlikely win in the 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix at the Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet in Rio de Janeiro; his least favourite track, and the home race of his bitter rival Piquet. He later joked that he had booked an early flight home for halfway through the race as he predicted the car's new electronic gearbox would last only a few laps (as it had done throughout pre-season testing and in qualifying for the race). Mansell became the first driver to win a race in a car with a semi-automatic gearbox. The race saw him as the first driver to win in their debut race for the Scuderia since Mario Andretti had won the 1971 South African Grand Prix and he would remain the last man to win on his Ferrari debut until Kimi Räikkönen won the 2007 Australian Grand Prix.

The rest of 1989 was characterised by gearbox and various other problems, including a disqualification at the Canadian Grand Prix and a black-flagged incident at the Portuguese Grand Prix for reversing in the pit lane, which resulted in a ban for the next race in Spain. However, Mansell finished fourth in the Championship with the help of a second win for Ferrari at the tight and twisty Hungaroring for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Early in practice Mansell had seen that trying to qualify the car high on the grid was a pointless exercise and he decided instead to concentrate on a good race set-up. After qualifying 12th (0.681s behind teammate Gerhard Berger in sixth and 2.225s behind pole man Riccardo Patrese in his Williams-Renault) and not even being considered a chance for the race, he charged his way through the field until he pulled off a sensational passing manoeuvre on the McLaren-Honda of World Champion Ayrton Senna on lap 58 to take a lead he would not lose.

1991–1992: Return to Williams

1991

Mansell's retirement plans were halted when Frank Williams stepped in. Mansell's return to Williams was not straightforward. He would agree to return only if a list of demands were met, including undisputed number one status over Riccardo Patrese (who had remained with the team through 1989 and 1990), guarantees of support in a wide variety of areas with each guarantee in writing, and assurances from suppliers such as Renault and Elf that they would do everything necessary to help him win. Frank Williams said the demands were 'impossible'; Mansell concluded that if that were the case he would be happy to retire. Three weeks later the impossible had happened and Mansell was a Williams driver. Williams signed Mansell on 1 October 1990 after Mansell was assured the contract stated that he would be the focus of the team, having experienced being the 'Number Two' driver at Ferrari. Mansell would be paid £4.6 million a season, a deal which made him the highest paid British sportsman at the time.

Mansell's second stint with Williams was even better than the first. Back in the familiar 'Red 5', he won five races in 1991, including the Spanish Grand Prix. In this race he went wheel-to-wheel with Ayrton Senna, with only centimetres to spare, at over 320 km/h (199 mph) on the main straight. Quite a different spectacle was offered following Mansell's victory in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Senna's car had stopped on the final lap, but, rather than leave his rival stranded out on the circuit (the two had come to blows in the pits following their first lap tangle during the 1987 Belgian Grand Prix and were hardly close friends), Mansell pulled over on his victory lap and allowed Senna to ride on the Williams sidepod back to the pits.

The Williams team's decision to develop their new semi-automatic gearbox by racing with it at the start of the season was at the cost of points in the opening rounds of the championship. Senna was on 40 points with four straight wins to open the season by the time Mansell gained his first finish with a second in Monaco. Mansell then had the next race in Canada practically won when his Williams FW14 stopped half a lap from the finish with what was reported to be transmission failure, though it was claimed by designer Adrian Newey that Mansell had let his engine revs drop too low while he was waving to the crowd in celebration and stalled his engine. This handed Nelson Piquet his 23rd and last F1 race win. Despite a good mid-season, which included a hat-trick of victories, Senna's consistency and Mansell's retirements at key races meant that he finished second in the Championship for the third time in his career, this time behind Senna.

CART IndyCar World Series

Mansell then signed with Newman/Haas Racing to pair with Mario Andretti in the CART series, replacing Mario's son Michael who moved to F1 and McLaren. At the season opener in Surfers Paradise, Australia, he became the first "rookie" to take pole position and win his first race. A few weeks later, he suffered a substantial crash at the Phoenix International Raceway, severely injuring his back. At the 1993 Indianapolis 500, Mansell would lead the race only to finish third after losing the lead to Emerson Fittipaldi and Arie Luyendyk after a poor restart. On his 40th birthday, Mansell would avenge his loss at Indianapolis to score a 200-mile race victory at New Hampshire International Speedway, perhaps his most exciting CART victory. He would go on to score five wins in the 1993 CART season, which, with more high-placed finishes, was good enough to earn him the championship. This enabled Mansell to become the only driver in history to hold both the Formula One and CART championships at the same time; when he won the 1993 CART championship he was still the reigning F1 world champion, the 1993 F1 championship not yet having been decided.

Following this successful season in CART, Mansell received several awards, including a Gold Medal from the Royal Automobile Club and the 1994 ESPY Award for Best Driver.

Mansell's Newman/Haas car was much less reliable the following year, 1994, and results suffered. Mansell was also the catalyst for the breakdown in the relationship between himself and Mario Andretti. Andretti has since remarked "I guess if Ronnie Peterson was the best team-mate I ever had, Nigel Mansell was the worst" and "I had a lot of respect for him as a driver, but not as a man".

Brief return to Formula One

1994: Williams

In 1994, after the CART season ended, Mansell returned to F1 and re-joined the Williams team. Since he had left it in 1992, the team had undergone some significant changes. Damon Hill had been promoted from test driver and was running full-time in one car. Prost, Mansell's replacement, won the 1993 Drivers' Championship and then retired after the season. This allowed Williams and Ayrton Senna to finally work out an agreement, and the team received a new sponsor in Rothmans International for a season in which they were expected to remain as champions. However, the car proved unreliable and tricky to handle early in the season, leading Senna to retire from the opening rounds despite claiming pole. In the third race at Imola, Senna was killed in a crash at the Tamburello curve.

Williams test driver David Coulthard took over Senna's seat for the majority of 1994 and Williams got permission from Newman/Haas Racing to bring back Mansell at the French Grand Prix and the final three races of 1994 in Europe, Japan and Australia. Mansell was paid approximately £900,000 per race, compared to teammate Damon Hill being paid £300,000 for the entire season. Mansell's return was helped by Bernie Ecclestone helping unravel his contracts in the United States. It was important for F1 to have a world champion driving that season and with worldwide TV viewing figures starting to decline, they needed Mansell. The 41-year-old was not as quick as Hill in race trim but signs that his speeds were coming back were evident in Japan during a battle with the Ferrari of Jean Alesi. Mansell took his final Grand Prix victory in Adelaide, the last race of the season, having out-qualified the two title contenders at the time, Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher, in the process (helped out by the second qualifying session being held on a wet track, with the times from the first session making up the grid). The plan initially was for Mansell to protect Hill from Schumacher, but both drivers passed him at the start and eventually collided (causing the retirement of both), handing Schumacher his first world title.

Mansell purportedly agreed a new contract to drive for Williams again in 1995, but later claimed this was rescinded. Williams ultimately opted for youth over experience and hired Coulthard for the 1995 season.

1995: McLaren

After losing the Williams seat to David Coulthard, Mansell signed to drive for McLaren in 1995.

McLaren's title sponsors Marlboro wanted a world champion, whereas McLaren and their engine suppliers Mercedes wanted a lower-profile driver for what was Mercedes' second year back in Formula One since abandoning it in 1955.

Before the season started, Mansell could not fit into the narrow car and was deputised by Mark Blundell for the opening two rounds in Brazil and Argentina. Mansell's car was completed in 33 days and in time for Imola, where despite being in the top-six late in the race, a clash with Eddie Irvine saw him finish tenth and out of the points. The Spanish Grand Prix saw Mansell become frustrated over his car's handling characteristics. He chose to retire after just two races with the team. Mansell cited the decision to retire as his not wanting to make up the numbers and with no hope of the McLaren MP4/10 being competitive. In 2015, Mansell stated that he was wrong to leave McLaren so soon and that in hindsight he should have continued with the team for the season and help improve the car.

1997: Jordan potential comeback

A few testing sessions with F1 teams including Jordan suggested another comeback could be on the cards, but it never happened. Reports at the time suggested that the Mansell–Jordan partnership for 1997 was a real possibility with Eddie Jordan's title sponsor willing to pay for the deal. The Jordan team said after the tests in Barcelona in December 1996 that Mansell decided against it.

British Touring Car Championship

Mansell took part in the 1993 TOCA Shootout, held at Donington Park. Mansell drove a Ford Mondeo with his usual red number 5. The race ended in disaster for Mansell; he was knocked unconscious following a crash with six laps remaining. He lost control of his car through the exit of the Old Hairpin, over-corrected the slide and collided with Tiff Needell's Vauxhall Cavalier, resulting in a spin and a bad crash into the concrete wall under the bridge.Mansell made a return to racing in 1998 in the British Touring Car Championship, driving in a Ford Mondeo for three rounds. With the number 5 already taken by James Thompson, Mansell raced with the red number 55.

At his first event at Donington Park, Mansell retired three laps into the sprint race, meaning he would start the feature race in 19th position on the grid. As the conditions changed and the track became wetter, Mansell found himself leading the race for several laps, and he finished in fifth position. The race was regarded by many fans as one of the greatest in touring car history.

It was to be his best finish in the series, as Mansell failed to finish either race at the next round he participated in at Brands Hatch, and at his final race at Silverstone he finished in 14th and 11th place. Having competed in three of the 13 rounds, he finished 18th out of 21 in the Drivers' Championship.

Subsequent appearances

On 16 July 2005, Mansell took part in a Race of Legends exhibition event at the Norisring round of the DTM. He competed against other Formula One World Champions Jody Scheckter, Alain Prost and Emerson Fittipaldi, as well as Motorcycle Grand Prix World Champions Mick Doohan and Johnny Cecotto (himself a former F1 driver), each driver having an opportunity to drive Audi, Mercedes and Opel cars. Prost was announced as the winner by the DTM organisers.

Mansell became a financial stakeholder and a driver in the new Grand Prix Masters series. Following a period of testing and developing the car, Mansell made a successful race comeback by winning the inaugural race of the series in Kyalami in November 2005 (Mansell had won at the old Kyalami circuit in 1985 and had also won at the new circuit in 1992). After the success of the race at Kyalami, four dates were scheduled for the GP Masters Series in 2006, including one at Silverstone. Mansell won the season opener at Qatar in April from pole position. The Monza round of the series was cancelled due to noise limitations at the venue, whilst technical issues quickly ruled him out of the Silverstone race.

Also in 2006, Mansell appeared at Brands Hatch, scene of his first Grand Prix win, in October 1985, driving some demonstration laps in the BMW M3 GTR that Andy Priaulx drove to victory in the 2005 24 Hours Nürburgring, as part of the World Touring Car Championship event.

On the weekend of 6 May 2007, Mansell made an appearance in the second round of the FIA GT Championship at Silverstone driving a Ferrari 430 GT2 for the Scuderia Ecosse team. He was paired with Chris Niarchos, finishing seventh in class and 21st overall.

Mansell, with his son Leo, tested a Chamberlain-Synergy team Le Mans prototype Lola-AER B06/10 during the week commencing 14 July 2008, at the Estoril circuit. The pair were said to be considering a drive in the American Le Mans series, possibly commencing as soon as October 2008 in the Petit Le Mans event, although neither driver was in the final field.

On 3 July 2009, Mansell tested his other son Greg's World Series by Renault car at the Silverstone Circuit, setting a best time six seconds off the pace of the fastest driver in the session.

Biographies

Mansell has written several autobiographies and books on racing in general:

In the Driving Seat (1989) (with Derick Allsop)

Driven to Win (1990)

Mansell and Williams: Challenge for the Championship (1991)

Indycar Racing (1993) (with Jeremy Shaw)

My Story (1995) (with James Allen)

Staying on Track (2015)

Television and video games

Mansell participated in Prince Edward's charity television special The Grand Knockout Tournament (1987).

There were three video games endorsed by Mansell: Nigel Mansell's Grand Prix (1988, Martech), Nigel Mansell's World Championship Racing (1993, Gremlin Graphics), and Newman/Haas IndyCar (1994). Mansell also appeared as a playable driver for Williams in Codemasters' F1 2013.

Mansell makes a guest appearance in Series 7, Episode 5 of Top Gear, a motoring show presented by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May.

In "Eurocrash", Series 5, Episode 2 of The Grand Tour, another motoring show presented by Clarkson, Hammond, and May, Mansell's wax figure is "stolen" from the Polonia Wax Museum in Kraków, Poland and taken with them on their road trip across Central Europe. Despite only appearing as a wax figure, Mansell is also credited as a presenter.

Personal life

Mansell married his wife, Roseanne, on 19 April 1975, after having met as college students.

Mansell lived in Port Erin on the Isle of Man during most of his F1 career until 1995. Mansell currently lives in Jersey, Channel Islands. He spent 11 years of his life as a Special Constable on the Isle of Man during his driving career, and in Devon after he retired from racing. During this period, he also developed a golf course in Devon.

A keen golfer, Mansell revealed a desire to compete in The Open Championship and briefly participated in the 1988 Australian Open. In the late 1980s he bought a sports car dealership in Pimperne in Dorset, naming it Nigel Mansell Sports Cars Ltd.

Mansell was the owner of the Team UK Youth cycling team.

Mansell's sons Leo and Greg are also former racing drivers.

In addition to the aforementioned Ferrari F40, Mansell has also owned a bronze left-hand drive 1988 Mercedes-Benz (C126) 560SEC that he used to travel to races in Europe and later sold to art critic Brian Sewell, and a red 1984 Audi Quattro.

"Red 5"

Although teams in motor racing series are generally allocated numbers, Mansell has been associated with the number 5 for many years. This began when he joined Williams in 1985 and was allocated car number 5, as at the time Formula One racing numbers were allocated by constructor and Williams received numbers 5 and 6. For the first four races of the 1985 season, both Williams cars had white numbers, but from a distance the numerals "5" and "6" resembled each other. As a consequence, it was decided to give Mansell's car a red number to make it more distinctive. While this was initially just for recognition, BBC F1 commentator Murray Walker began describing Mansell's car as "Red Five", leading to Mansell retaining the red coloured number throughout his first spell at Williams. On his return to the team in 1991, Williams had retained the number 5 car, allowing Mansell to race as "Red Five" once again. After his departure to CART in 1993 to drive for Newman/Haas, he again ran the red number 5 after Newman/Haas made a deal to acquire it from Penske (it had been Emerson Fittipaldi's race number since 1991). In addition, "Red Five" fitted well into the livery of his Indy car, as Newman/Haas' main sponsors Texaco and Kmart both shared corporate colors of black, white and red. When he returned to Williams for four races in 1994 the team's numbers were 0 and 2 as they had won the Drivers' and Constructors' titles in 1993 but could not run #1 as Alain Prost had retired. Damon Hill drove car #0 while Mansell raced the #2 with the number on the nose of the car painted red (the #2 was white when the car was driven by Ayrton Senna and David Coulthard). So associated with the red 5 is Mansell that, in 2004, he purchased a yacht from Sunseeker, one of his longtime sponsors, which he named Red 5.

Honours and awards

Mansell was awarded the title of BBC Sports Personality of the Year in both 1986 and 1992. Only four other people have won the award more than once, including fellow racing drivers and former F1 World Champions Damon Hill and Lewis Hamilton. Mansell was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2005. Mansell won the Hawthorn Memorial Trophy, an award for the leading British or Commonwealth driver in F1 each year seven times.

Already an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), Mansell was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to children and young people (as president of UK Youth). He has also received the Special Constabulary Long Service Medal.

In 2015, turn 17 of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez was renamed in honour of Mansell, twice winner of the Mexican Grand Prix (1987 and 1992). He received The London Classic Car Show Icon Award in 2018.

Mansell was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2006.

Racing record

Complete European Formula Two Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

† Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.

American open-wheel racing

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

(key; Races in bold indicate pole position – 1-point awarded all races; Races in italics indicate fastest lap; * signifies that driver led feature race for at least one lap – 1-point awarded)

Complete Grand Prix Masters results

(key) Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap.