Nigel Mansell: Formula One's raring Lion
Few drivers battled so resolutely to make their way onto the Formula One circuit and even fewer struggled so dedicatedly once they had made it to the destination. Remarkably ambitious, intensely combative and astonishingly courageous, Mansell can deservingly claim to be one of the most entertaining racers the sport has ever seen.
The Englishman’s bursting drive saw him net 31 victories, which earned him the honour of becoming the most accomplished British racer ever. Supporting an insignia of the U.K. flag on his helmet, the fast-paced Mansell, was never far from controversy. The Englishman’s sometimes stumbling media performances gathered him some detractors and his dauntless racing exploits won him scores of admirers. That Nigel Mansell was an extraordinarily motivated racer was a truth no one dared to deny.
Born in the outskirts of Birmingham on August 8th, 1953, Nigel Ernest Mansell had his first taste of car-driving when he was seven. It was around the same time in 1962, when young Mansell got to witness Scotsman Jim Clark’s Lotus tear through the defences in Aintree to triumph at the years British Grand Prix. Mansell determined on the spot to follow in the footsteps of the inspiring Scot, a passion he undoubtedly shared with numerous others who had been swept of their feet by Clark’s epic exploits. Yet not many could have found it in themselves to see it through Mansell’s manifold tribulations.
After swiftly sweeping through several kart racing successes, Mansell took the British Formula Ford championship title in 1977, while he was still nursing an injured neck from a test-drive mishap. Despite retaining a serious injury, the Englishman had escaped from the hospital to compete on. Having called time on his aerospace engineering vocation and departed with many of his valued possessions to fund his Formula Ford racing dreams, the Englishman would next sacrifice his house to sponsor a move to Formula Three.
Mansell once again embroiled himself in a near-fatal accident in 1979, when his car bumped into another fast-going vehicle on the race track. Yet the success-thirsty Englishman once again threw doctors’ caution to the winds to proceed with a test drive outing for the Lotus Formula One squad. Although still seriously injured, Mansell pushed his battered body hard enough to land a test driving contract with the team.
Marking his first competitive outing for Lotus in 1980 at the year’s Austrian Grand Prix, Mansell went on to develop close ties with the team principal Colin Chapman. Subsequently, Chapman’s unforeseen death in 1982, dealt a serious blow to the bereaved Englishman who, in 1985, left the team for Williams. It was a fortunate move for Mansell, who would go on to record his most memorable victories with British-based squad. The Englishman sealed a tearfully emotional win at the 1986 European Grand Prix and only narrowly missed out on the 1986 and 1987 World championship titles, which he had seemed all set to grab until bad luck struck down his chances at the most inopportune moments.
Where both the media and Mansell’s colleagues at Williams despaired of the Englishman’s incessant whining, fans adored the Englishman for his intensely passionate racing. With his title hopes frustrated by the shortcomings of the Williams machine throughout the 1988 season, Mansell leapt to fill the void at Ferrari when the opening emerged in 1989.
The Englishman’s campaign with the Italian giants commenced cheerfully with a victory in Brazil, and for the rest of the season, Mansell steered his Ferrari as fast as it could possibly go. Mansell’s unwavering dedication quickly won him the admiration of F1’s obsessive Italian followers, who affectionately named their English idol as “The Lion”.
In 1991, Alain Prost’s arrival at Ferrari carved out the path for Mansell’s move back to Williams, where he would win the World Championship title in 1992. Soon after the triumph, Mansell bid farewell to the Formula One grid and proceeded to test his fortunes at IndyCar racing in the U.S. where he immediately thrived. Recalled by Williams to help conclude their 1994 campaign, Mansell won in great style at the season’s final event in Australia.
The Englishman finally hung his racing gloves for good in 1995 at the age of 41 and now presides over one of Britain’s most consequential charities, the UK Youth.
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