Nigel Mansell

Personally, I'd be very keen to know what people here think of Nigel Mansell - who had a very similar record in some ways to Button.... Autosport ran a very interesting article a few weeks about some of Nige's stats - did you know that Mansell only outqualified his team-mate 87-83 over his entire career? Yes Mansell did win 3 times as many races as Button has during his career, but you have to just compare their careers - Mansell won in his 6th season of F1, Button his 7th, but whilst Mansell then had the best car on the grid the following year, Button had just about the worst!

Mind (And I know this is off topic) - Mansell regularly gets tarnished for his time at Ferrari as team-mate to Prost - but did you know that the qualifying record was 8-8 between the two of them - and that was even given the fact that Mansell was never the greatest qualifier out there!

 

[Fenderman]

Unfortunately for bigger blokes the weight limit isn't being raised for them. It's being raised to enable the teams to accommodate the new power units which will be heavier because of the ancillaries. There are murmurings from the teams that even that increase isn't enough.

Edit: The point about Gurney et. al. is precisely Mansell's point. Half his competition would be too big for today's F1 as well.

 

[Lewywo4]

Fenderman,

There has always been size disparity. Compare Dan Gurney vs Jimmy Clark or Jackie Stewart. Did Dan whine about it?

Gurney didn't whine, because his height and weight wasn't an impediment for him to be able to get a ride, even though he was 6' 4" tall.

The sport loses when a talent like Hulkenberg may not be considered by a team like Mclaren, because of concerns that they may have, regarding his height and weight.

 

[teabagyokel]

Dan Gurney, despite evident and outrageous talent, never won the WDC, did he? Could his height and weight have seen him as someone who didn't fit Colin Chapman's philosophy, for example?

 

[siffert_fan]

TBY,
What prevented Gurney from winning at least one WDC IMHO was Porsche withdrawing from Formula One to concentrate on sports car racing (after Gurney had won their maiden victory) and then, Dan leaving the Brabham team after the 1965 season to start his own team.

Brabham went on to dominate in 1966 and 1967 with Brabham and Hulme claiming WDC honors (as I recall, Dan scored five consecutive podiums for Brabham in the 1965 season--changing was not a great idea but his intentions terrific-showing his national colors in F1).

 

[The Artist.....]

Given that today, it's been announced that Portugal is returning to the F1 calendar, I starting thinking back to Mansell's record at Estoril - this was one of those circuits that he was almost unbeatable at:

• 1986 - Won
• 1987 - Retired from lead
• 1988 - Wasn't driving a McLaren (although the March cars were doing well)
• 1989 - was dominating the race, till he messed up his pitstop, and was then disqualified
• 1990 - dominated the race
• 1991 - was dominating the race, till his team messed up his pitstop and was then disqualified
• 1992 - dominated the race

It always seemed that there were certain tracks where Mansell just gelled - Silverstone, for instance, where he set the fastest lap in 1987, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, despite not always driving the fastest car.

 

[F1Brits_90]

well we were discussing these types of circuits last week. that for some reason there are circuits that people love. Schumacher loved Magny Cours, Hamilton loves Hungary, Canada (which on F1 game im the same, love montreal) & britain, Senna Loved Monaco, Prost loved Jacarepaguá. even now Bottas Loves Sochi. im guessing its driving style the 1st few years & then the rest of the career is physiological. because confidence can be worth more than any update because thinking how much you love the circuiot will give you confidence to brake later, take more speed through a corner

 

[Il_leone]

Mansell use to say the crowd gave him
0.5seconds per lap .

Drivers do have tracks they like whether it's from racing through junior days all the way into F1

 

[Galahad]

I heard a story about Mika Hakkinen in his Lotus days once - I think it was in one of Martin Brundle's commentaries, but not sure.

Anyway Lotus was on the way down when Mika was there, and in this one particular race he was lapped by Ayrton Senna's McLaren. Suddenly, Mika put on a spurt and was keeping up with the Brazilian corner-for-corner, carving huge chunks off his lap times. Well, after the race the team manager (presumably Peter Collins) tore a strip off him, along the lines of "where the fuck was that pace the rest of the race?"

That's pretty much how I feel about Mansell at Silverstone - and other examples of home crowd boost. The laws of physics are the same everywhere, even if the weather isn't.

 

[cider_and_toast]

presumably Peter Collins

Most likely, Peter Collins was a massive supporter of Hakkinen's early career so I can well imagine he would have given him a bit of a kick up the arse if required.

As for Mansell, I know I've posted this on a number of occasions but the whole chapter of Peter Warr's biography dedicated to his loathing of Mansell is hilarious to read, even if his prediction of Mansell not winning a race while he (Warr) had a hole in his ass, turned out to be wrong on 31 occasions.

 

[Il_leone]

Yes Peter Warr couldn't stand Mansell 's whingeing and said Senna was class above him pretty much. That is the only thing Peter Warr is famous for. Where is he now?

 

[cider_and_toast]

Yes Peter Warr couldn't stand Mansell 's whingeing and said Senna was class above him pretty much. That is the only thing Peter Warr is famous for. Where is he now?

Passed away a few years ago.

If you are a Lotus fan, like I am, Peter Warr is a lot more famous than his dislike of Mansell.

 

[Il_leone]

Warr absolutely loved Senna and he did not rate Mansell as world class

 

[The Artist.....]

So, Mansell drove the FW14B again at Goodwood this weekend...

What's amazing is that he still fits his old overalls... He mustn't have gained a pound since he stopped racing!

 

[F1Brits_90]

just watched this cracking documentary which i recommend for those who have access to sky TV, a brilliant story of both mansell & williams.

 

[FB]

Want some Mansell memorabilia? Classic Car Auctions | RM Sotheby's

 

[cider_and_toast]

Not much in there I'd be willing to sell one of my children in exchange for. A Lotus race suit or the JPS Lotus team jackets perhaps.

All of it will go for silly money to people with far deeper pockets than I could ever hope to have.

Just shows that Sir Nige has entered the "Who? Oh, is he still alive?" phase of his motorsport career.