Of Nigel Mansell (merged).

There's currently an interesting piece on Mansell at http://www.autosport...px?id=45809&s=5

As one who is engaged with both the Ancient and Modern forms of our sport I should like to say that I find it difficult to disagree with a word he says in this article. But perhaps that's a debate for Another Place.

I should like to talk about the man (or driver!) himself.

It seems to me that it is terribly fashionable to bag/criticise/diss/rubbish just about every statement he utters. (Note the cool use of 'with it' modern vernacular, proof positive that I still have young 'uns at home!)

I've always wondered why Mansell is so universally lambasted.

I come (originally) from the south of England and the Brummie accent, to me, sounds perfectly horrid. Is that the reason? (BTW, I feel a tad ashamed to admit as much; judging people by their accent is not uncommon, but it's certainly unfair!). The man clearly had an enormous persecution complex ... gauche is a word that comes to mind, combined with an equally enormous self-belief as a driver. I'm not a psychologist ... is this a factor? (in the commonly held views of him.)

Without being immodest, I've always found it perfectly easy to see through 'Noige's' presentation of himself and observe the racer and in that respect I've always found him to be of the very top drawer. If we have an interest in the history of motor racing, then do we not have some sort of responsibility to focus on the driver above the personality?

When people were saying he was a chump, I've seen him as a thinker. Rarely impetuous, frequently a planner. It's so easy to cite his banging into the Armco at Monaco in the Lotus in 1983, losing the Canadian Grand Prix in 1991 in the controversial ignition switch incident ... and so on. I recall his use of the wet line at Silverstone in 1988, his patience and thoughtfulness in practice in Hungary 1989 and his opportunism in zapping Senna during the race. His refusal to be psyched by Senna's bovver boy tactics at many races. And his admirable infrequency of off-days.

I was at Silverstone in 1987 and his performance that day was as prodigious as any I've seen on a race track. He epitomised 'Tiger', as described by D.S.J in The Racing Driver, by the bucket load.

I've never met Mansell. Others here, no doubt, have. I should be most interested to hear their opinions of Mansell the driver. How good was he? Until disabused by those with greater knowledge, I'm of the view that his iffy persona has acted to mask what was really a huge talent.

Any takers?

Mansell the driver I felt was one of the most physically courageous - and strongest, which mattered a lot in the days of manual shifts, no PAS, etc, and proper high-speed corners with massive G-loadings - out there, a truly instinctive driver (rather than a Prost/Lauda/Schumacher-style technician) with a real feel for what the car was doing and could do. His performances only started to flag in CART in '94 when he'd clearly lost interest and in F1 in '95 when it was obvious that he shouldn't've been there. He was willing to take risks that few other drivers would've chanced, and for most of his career simply wouldn't give up. Watch the classic Mansell races and he's always the guy trying different lines, looking for new overtaking points, and above all trying to put fair but firm pressure on anyone in front of him. At his best, he was definitely a True Great - although I think we were robbed of seeing him at arguably his peak in '88 by Williams' lack of a competitive engine.

But I didn't like the amateur dramatics and the ego. Similarly though I didn't like the "he's a Brummie so he's thick/common" attitude that pervaded parts of the specialist press.

Similarly, I've never met Mansell, but I never got the impression that he was a "nice bloke" (at least when he was in racing) like Brundle or Warwick - two drivers who I think are very much in the same class as far as talent's concerned but perhaps weren't willing to take as many personal and professional risks as Nigel; then again how many GP wins do they have?;)

So put me down as a fan of Mansell the driver - he was very much in the tradition of Ronnie and Keke, for me - but less so of Mansell the "people's champion".

If often wondered if the British driver who said to Nigel Roebuck, about Carlos Reutemann at Las Vegas 1981, 'If I'd been Carlos, I'd haved put him (Piquet) in the wall...' was Mansell? If that was the case, could it perhaps begin to explain the journalist's attitude towards his first-namesake?

Originally posted by FLB
If often wondered if the British driver who said to Nigel Roebuck, about Carlos Reutemann at Las Vegas 1981, 'If I'd been Carlos, I'd haved put him (Piquet) in the wall...' was Mansell? If that was the case, could it perhaps begin to explain the journalist's attitude towards his first-namesake?

I doubt it. Mansell was tough, but he was fair.

The other British drivers present were:
Henton
Warwick
Watson

I can't imagine Warwick or Watson saying something like that - again they were very clean drivers. Only leaves one, doesn't it.....

I was standing on the inside of the 'old' Stowe when he put the Ferrari on pole in 1989 (?), and he was noticeably far quicker than anyone else. His chase of Piquet at the same event in 1987 was also incredible. Maybe he went on for a year or two too long, but at his peak, strange character or not, he was magic.

Originally posted by FLB
If often wondered if the British driver who said to Nigel Roebuck, about Carlos Reutemann at Las Vegas 1981, 'If I'd been Carlos, I'd haved put him (Piquet) in the wall...' was Mansell? If that was the case, could it perhaps begin to explain the journalist's attitude towards his first-namesake?

Roebuck did not say, IIRC, that the driver was British. He did however say that the driver DNQ'd that weekend, which reflected his ability.

From that I doubt it would have been Henton who was I think the only British NQer.

Wondered whether it was Jacques Villeneuve "the First". And also wondered whether driver was being 100% serious. Then again reflects well on Lole that his reaction to such a scenario when put to him was one of horror.

As for Mansell, I don't doubt he had a persecution complex, but then again a number of underdogs do. After all, Mansell was the man who had scored 90% of Lotus' points in 1983 and its only podium, yet had a team manager who was telling the media that he would not have a drive next year. And a guy who watched Marlboro put the chap who broke his back into one decent drive after another whilst he was scratching his way up.

Let's face it - Mansell was never going to succeed, was he? He only ever won the Fusegear 1600cc FFord title. He came from an unfashionable part of the country, had an unfashionable accent*, had a less-than-stellar run in F2 and F3...no wonder when he hit it big he wanted everyone to know that he deserved it, that he was in pain &c &c.

But I think another factor is the total lack of other British drivers. Compare Jenson Button at present, as soon as he got into F1 he ditched his long-standing gf for some pop bimbette. Honourable behaviour? I dunno. But JB had an easy ride in comparison because there was also Coulthard to take some of the coverage away. When Mansell was successful, there was no-one else to divert the media. So every time F1 was covered it was via Mansell. Every quote was from him. Every media clip was from him. Derek who? Earl of where?

Look how dull Alan Shearer comes across, and he has 10 other team-mates, let alone the other 19 Premiership clubs and 72 League clubs. And imagine if he was on telly EVERY TIME football came on...unsurprising that Mansell had a reputation as being dull, even stand-up comics have difficulty in coming up with new material ad hoc every time.



*practically every derogatory remark about Mansell's verbiage refers to his monotonous whine...dammit, if he had a "black" accent it would be considered highly racist.

Wasn't it Mexico where Mansell went round the outside of Senna, on the marbles at 160mph? How about overtaking Senna in Hungary. Never saw anyone else do that, either.

Mansell... Lion in a racing car, maybe pain... you know where, out of it. I always truly appreciated his big heart and even bigger balls in racing car but, not being British, only recently found how much he is joked about in these circles as drama queen, whinger or whatever else. Considering Noige trully brave and stubborn driver I could easily imagine him in most of previous eras of racing. Which is a great praise, isn't it?

It's easy to have split opinions on Mansell, as seems to be the case from what I have read here so far. I'm as split as anyone else on this.

As a driver, superb. Almost everything a racing driver should be - right foot hard down all the time, never say die attitude, spectacular style, skilfull with it. A spectator's dream.

As a person, it's easy to knock him, and I've been guilty in the past. So he needs a certain amount of self-flagellation to motivate himself? Big deal. It may be a pain to the observer, and those who have to work with thim, but it's not so bad: we all have our own way of kicking ourselves into action. Image as a thick Brummie? Hardly his fault if he has a tedious voice, and if you disregard this he can - very occasionally - be erudite and faintly witty, if nothing remarkable in this respect. Mansellmania? Not guilty - I don't suppose he was a prime mover in attracting support from the group of people we now call chavs. Outsize ego? Yes, but not an uncommon trait amongst top level sportsmen.

Having defended him, I still don't regard him as someone I would actually want to spend some time with outside the racing environment. I suspect conversation would be a series of monologues about himself, golf and money. Big yawns all round. I'd probably just shake his hand and thank him for some great racing, and then head back to the bar....

Always been a big fan, I'm happy to admit. Right from his FF days in old Hawke, thru' F3 in dodgy Javelin, Lola, then iffy works March. I reckon he got shafted in his F2 debut (aswell as by works March), looked good in F2 Ralt, then F1, well we all know how good he became. Never forget you knockers, his 1st year in Indycar, that was superb, possibly his career high-point ??

Forget the accent, and off-track interviews etc, the man was a true racer, and winner right at trhe top level. How many of those are there ?

Mansell was screwed by individuals within the sport on the way up and never forgot it. A few more who didnt turn into establishment apologists/automatons as soon as the money started flowing would have made the sport a better place by now.

Originally posted by ian senior

Having defended him, I still don't regard him as someone I would actually want to spend some time with outside the racing environment.

An interesting point. I can't think of many people racing in F1 since Panis retired who actually seemed like someone worth spending time with - although that in part is down to age; he was the last F1 driver older than me and most of the current lot come across as brats - mid-20somethings with the maturity of teenagers. MS is a few months younger than me, but seems to have no existence outside racing.

Actually, I'll revise that to say that post-McLaren, Coulthard seems to be rather a Top Bloke, and Webber demonstrates some personality.

Originally posted by RS2000
Mansell was screwed by individuals within the sport on the way up and never forgot it.

It may be argued that Peter Warr was one such individual but that doesn't really count as "on the way up", so who are the rest?

Was Mansell any different to many other aspiring drivers of the time in terms of the difficulties encountered, or was the 'against all odds' Mansell an carefully constructed image that was sold to the media who were hungry for a British F1 hero?

Interesting question and some very good responses. It made me think about my own, very negative, attitude towards Mansell.

I know it has nothing to do with his accent; his social or geographic origins; or his facial hair ('cos none of them matter a hoot to me) and I have no choice but to acknowledge his later success and later racing approach. I didn't really notice him during his early days so there is no basis there. So I guess it comes down to his Lotus days.

And even then , if I'm honest I get confused.

Because I want to say he under-achieved and I want so much to say that he was part of the problems for Team in '82 and '83 and '84. And want to say that de Angelis was so much the better and Ayrton showed what could be done. But I'm not sure how much the evidence supports me in these contentions.

I want to say that he was a prima donna (so do gas soaked prima donnas continue to race?), I want to say that by the end of '84 he was headed to journeyman-land (or would have been had Sir Frank not had a vacancy) I want to say.....................

But I end up concluding that I probably have no rational basis for disliking him so much, but still do. So please someone step up and answer the question so I can point to some logical basis for what may end up being an inexplicable, unjustifiable distaste.

Originally posted by petefenelon
Mansell the driver I felt was one of the most physically courageous - and strongest, which mattered a lot in the days of manual shifts, no PAS, etc, and proper high-speed corners with massive G-loadings - out there, a truly instinctive driver (rather than a Prost/Lauda/Schumacher-style technician) with a real feel for what the car was doing and could do. His performances only started to flag in CART in '94 when he'd clearly lost interest and in F1 in '95 when it was obvious that he shouldn't've been there. He was willing to take risks that few other drivers would've chanced, and for most of his career simply wouldn't give up. Watch the classic Mansell races and he's always the guy trying different lines, looking for new overtaking points, and above all trying to put fair but firm pressure on anyone in front of him. At his best, he was definitely a True Great - although I think we were robbed of seeing him at arguably his peak in '88 by Williams' lack of a competitive engine.

But I didn't like the amateur dramatics and the ego. Similarly though I didn't like the "he's a Brummie so he's thick/common" attitude that pervaded parts of the specialist press.

Similarly, I've never met Mansell, but I never got the impression that he was a "nice bloke" (at least when he was in racing) like Brundle or Warwick - two drivers who I think are very much in the same class as far as talent's concerned but perhaps weren't willing to take as many personal and professional risks as Nigel; then again how many GP wins do they have?;)

So put me down as a fan of Mansell the driver - he was very much in the tradition of Ronnie and Keke, for me - but less so of Mansell the "people's champion".

I'd go along with Pete's opinion as far as Mansell's career is concerned, but would add that I thought he was lacking in mechanical sympathy - he'd win or he'd break the car.

I've met him a couple of times at Woodbury Park when the local Porsche Club held meetings there, and once at a presentation evening at Exeter University. One to one he is very pleasant and chatty, he certainly doesn't come over as thick- I think that is just prejudice about his Midlands accent. He is certainly thin skinned and perhaps a little insecure (un-necessarily, I think) about his career and record as a racing driver. It's almost as if he needed the public adulation "Our Nige"
and all that stuff in the papers.

Paul

Ruairidh,

Sometimes, there are apparently simply what might be termed "irrational" reasons for either liking or disliking or being a super-rabid fan or not much caring about a driver -- or a person for that matter.

Such is Life.

Not everything can be reduced to a rational or logical basis. Nor should it be. Don't worry about. There are times when intuition is the basis for an opinion. If you trust your intuition, don't blink or second guess yourself, unless there exists sufficent cause to change or modify that opinion.

Sometimes, not every penguin falls into line.

Nigel Mansell never did strike a positive chord with me and his time with Newman-Haas simply reinforced that low opinion of him. Why? Simply my intuition.

However, I will venture no further since I seem to be something of a lightning rod of sorts around here.

Originally posted by FLB
If often wondered if the British driver who said to Nigel Roebuck, about Carlos Reutemann at Las Vegas 1981, 'If I'd been Carlos, I'd haved put him (Piquet) in the wall...' was Mansell? If that was the case, could it perhaps begin to explain the journalist's attitude towards his first-namesake?

I thought you were correct about Roebuck referring to the driver as British, but when I dug out the book to check I realised I had actually been thinking of a completely different occasion - that of the unnamed British driver that irked him just before Zandvoort 1978 by saying that Peterson should ignore team orders for the rest of the year. Maybe we both made the same mistake in our recollection? :

What price to get Mr Roebuck on these forums?

I LOVED Nigel Mansell in a racing car, brilliant stuff. Couldn't give a monkey's what he was like outside of it.

Regardless of your opinions of him as a bloke, Mansell was a real charger in his prime.

Two of the best performances I've ever witnessed first-hand were his drives in the 1986 and 1987 British GPs. Man, he simply monstered his team mate on both occasions...

But, it's fair to say that he was never popular within the industry. And he certainly didn't do himself any favours when he totally omitted to mention Victor Gauntlett [of Pace Petroleum] in his biography. After all, it was Victor who gave him enough wad during his F3 days to keep up with his mortgage payments...

Unforgivable, that.

Originally posted by Twin Window
.....But, it's fair to say that he was never popular within the industry.....

That's it... the opinion makers had him by those huge gonads and never let go!

Nigel got some lessons from Keke, I think it's fair to say... Charge for the whole race! became his way of doing things and he did it well.

I also think his first year in America was a great season, unfortunately lacking in an Indianapolis win, but he came very close and a lot seemed to excuse the mistake he made that cost him the victory.

There's been sufficient ennumeration of individual instances of his great moments here, though I'd like to see more added... for me he enlivened GP racing at a time when it needed that enlivenment. Post Keke, you might say.

And if nothing else speaks highly of his ability and determination, consider this: He did a lot of winning when Prost and Senna were at their peak. And if Senna hadn't nailed him at Adelaide, he would have held the record number of wins in a season all by himself.

Outside a racing car, none of that matters... here we're discussing inside the racing car.

Always been a fan of Mansell. They say your teenage interests are the ones you always remember most fondley, and he was the guy I rooted for when I first started watching F1 aged 10. If nothing else, it's left me rooting for the racer in the field above all else.

Sadly, '94 onwards he really did seem to lose the plot mentally. And the less said about his brief '98 BTCC career the better. Well bar that one wet race at Donington when he damn nearly won it. Plus he didn't seem to embarrass himself too badly last weekend in the DTM cars.

Hello all, long time reader first time poster, but had to join to defend our Noige..

Nigel was everything that was great about grand prix in the 80's/90's. Everytime you watched a race you knew Senna and Prost were the class of the field but Nigel was always able to give them a good run for their money, always the underdog. Both Senna and Prost had a degree of arrogance where they could mould their teams around them and seem aloof, they knew they were better than everyone else. When Keke retired all other drivers either lost their edge or conceeded defeat and didn't even attempt to rise to the task of challenging them (Piquet, Berger) and the rest of the field simply didn't have the skill (Patrese, Nannini, Boutsen).

However, there was always Nigel scrapping away nipping at their heels, always ready to pull out an amazing move or one of those charges through the field that just left you on the edge of your seat. Who can forget Jerez 86, Brands 86, Silverstone 87 & 88 (that drive in the rain was awe inspiring, pure commitment lap after lap) & as for his debut with Ferarri, a better script could not have been written.

I don't doubt that he could be an awkward bugger, I'm sure his ego got inflated & even as a lifelong fan I was disappointed with his atttitude in 94 when the Lola couldn't compete with the Penske's, but apart from Gilles, I can not recall a more committed and purer racer. Everytime he sat behind that wheel he gave it his all & especially infront of his home crowd who came to adore him (apart from the union jack short wearing pissheads ). The man loved his sport so much he even spent his grand prix weekend in the campsite if I recall! Albeit in motorhome luxury! Unlike other stars he actually realised what F1 meant to Joe Public.

Yes he may be a prima donna, but he realises he still has a big fanbase & regularly makes appearances to please his supporters. That touring car race in 98, three abreast with Warwick & Cleland, after an epic charge through the field for example & his drive around London & recent DTM outing. I only wish he would turn up to Goodwood, never know why he doesn't!

Contrast this to someone like Damon Hill who I always thought had a disdain for his fans & seemed more of a miserable git than mansell was. He seems to have made his money & only makes apperances to plug his sportscar business & moan about Schumacher.

I still think it unfair that Mansell fails to get the recognition for all the excitement and joy he gave to Grand Prix during the mid to late 80's, & is always perceived as some whingeing brummie who it is fashionable to knock.

Phew, end rant!

Slighty OT I think Damon was at Goodwood on Sunday this year driving Klaus Fiedler's GH2

And I think the correct line is "yellow matter custard… "

Also,

My daughter has a unique reason for disliking Mansell. I was pushing her in her buggy. I started messing around saying 'Nigel Mansell' and doing a series of tyre warmink swerves. Unfortunately I clipped a wall and tipped her out!

The significant thing is that at three she knew who he was - and not from my telling her.

I'm listening to the oasis version with said lyrical innacuracies by a drunken Gallagher the younger. It's his fault...

Koo koo ka chu

Yes, must admit that was quite emotional watching Damon driving the GH2, althought not as good as Jacques taking his old mans car for a spin the year before!!

Does anyone know why Nigel won't do Goodwood ? Has the Earl ever attempted to get him there ?

I also remember watching some drunken ******** plough his rover 200 into my neighbours front wall at 2am. The driver then emerged wearing a Red 5 tshirt. Unfortunatley characters like him seemed to fit the mansell fan stereotype..

In all seriousness, is there some degree of snobbery with Roebuck et all against Mansell because of his fanbase ? Is it the fact that the brummie boy done good doesn't fit in with their view of the gentlemans sport that is F1 ? It does only seem to be the old school media that always seem to put the boot in. Although these are pretty mild compared to Mr Bishops hate campaigns. A man destined for Sun editorship one day...

I happened to see Nigel at his best at two races. Canada 86 was his weekend from Friday to Sunday. Quite dominant and, if I remember correctly, it got him in a much better position to compete with Prost and Piquet that season.

I also saw his win at Loudon in 93. Brilliant dicing with Tracy and Fittipaldi almost all race long. Great stuff.


I also saw the time he and Nannini were released before the grid was at Canada. I think it was a marshalling mess up which took two cars out which were potential race winners...

Hi Jon, I was of course aware of the Oasis cover, but I've never listened closely enough to it to notice the lyrical cockup.

Anyway, what's Alvin Stardust got to do with it?;)

Richard

I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, I am the walrus, goo goo g' joob.

Roebuck has a chapter on Mansell in his book "Chasing The Title" that has the heading "A Problem for Every Solution". It sums the man up well and goes someway to explaining Roebuck's attitude towards Mansell.

He has praise for Mansell's driving, like most here, but it was Mansell out of the car that irked his name-sake. Firstly, in 1990 I believe, Mansell in an interview with L'Equipe indicated the British Press were all corrupt and were unfair in not ranking him on the same level as Prost and Senna. Secondly, during one of his many "will he, won't he" retirement sagas (this one from 1990) he asked Roebuck to get together the press at Monza for a statement. Mansell then went on record, following press speculation he was to sign for Williams for 1991 and stated unequivically that he was retiring and would not be in F1 in 1991. Nigel's words duly turned up in the Sunday papers, and then a few days later
Roebuck got a call from his irate editor asking why all the tabloids were full of stories that Mansell would indeed by at Williams for 1991. Being called corrupt and then being lied to hardly endeared Mansell to Roebuck and his colleagues.

In addition, Roebuck also had trouble with Mansell's apparent inconsistencies. In the car he was as brave as anyone and would happily go wheel to wheel with Senna at 200mph. Yet outside the car he was always afflicted with some terrible injury - after a while Roebuck gave up querying why he was always hobbling about the paddock - it was usually because Mansell had "dropped the sock drawer on my foot...you wouldn't believe the pain."

I grew up watching Mansell race and the guy was a real charger - as a 7 year old I recall dragging myself out of bed at 4am to watch the Adelaide title decider in 1986. At the time I wasn't majorly disappointed, but then I didn't realise he wouldn't win the title for another 6 years at that point!

It was only as I grew older that I recognised Nigel's less than attractive traits out of the car. Personally I prefer to dwell on my first memories of him as a child, where all I knew was his abilities in a car.

Yes, I've read that chapter in chasing the title & in all fairness Nigel R does respect his talent. Don't disagree with any of your statements, but everyone also conviniently forgets that all drivers of that period were prima donnas.

For example Senna & his team mate selection & the I will drive for Williams for free debacle. Piquet and his ridiculous statements & Prost wasn't adverse to the odd bit of politics. All drivers seemed to use the media for their own personal game, being a bit dishonest with the truth.

In Mansell's case I obviously don't know all the facts, but to get the no1 status I feel he needed to use such tricks. Whipping fleet street up in a frenzy would ensure that Williams' sponsors were aware of Nigels fanbase & more importantly his value, hence justifying his intended salary. The media campaign to keeep Nigel at Williams was unbelievable. Now I'm not condoning such actions but was it really any different to the games other drivers were playing to negotiate a better contract ? How about Senna in 93 & nobody even being sure if he was going to do the full season, let alone turn up to the first race ?

I see a lot of similarites in the press' reaction to Irvine and Jacques, if you tend to not play their game then they'll make sure they slag them off at every given opportunity.

Speaking of great Mansell races, had the pleasure of being at Cleveland in 93. Himself, Fittipaldi and Tracy scrapping all the way through the race, magic!

Originally posted by jonb1
...Prost wasn't adverse to the odd bit of politics.

Now that's as fine a piece of understatement as I've seen for a while!

And Prost got an easy ride with most of the Press. Even to the extent that Roebuck wrote that Prost never did anything against the McLaren team ethos, yet Prost self-admittedly tried to run Senna out of fuel at Italy in 1988 when Prost knew his engine would fail; it ruined McLaren's perfect year.

Then again, there are some media favourites out there. Look at Tony Purnell. His job was to get sponsorship for Jaguar. Did he? The Red Bull car is remarkably clean of non-RB sponsorship. Did Red Bull buy all the sponsors out? Or were there simply no sponsors left? Yet Purnell was talked about in F1 Racing as a possible successor to Max Mosley.

And the counter-argument to that is the journos of course have much better access to drivers et al. Perception is often different from reality. If driver X is a total arsehole he is not likely to demonstrate that to the public.

Then again, you have the problems that Roebuck mentioned that critical stories can lead to access being cut-off, especially with the FOCA boys circa 1981; Alan Henry went further and basically said Ferrari blackmailed F1 Racing because of its comments. Willi Weber is facing criminal prosecution in Deutschland but has there been any coverage in the mags?

An interesting little side excursion – in the small ads in this week’s Motorsport News, someone is selling an ex-Mansell car. Not a F1 car, but a 1990 FIAT Tipo apparently presented to him after the 1990 GP at Monza – presumably by Ferrari. If you have £10k, it will get you this mint Tipo 1.8 in brg ( ) with a commemorative plaque on the dash.

It sort of says something about Mansell, I think. A Ferrari racing driver might be expected to receive a bright red Ferrari as a gift. But for Mansell? Oh no, it is a green FIAT family saloon.

You can almost imagine him saying it, can’t you? “What use is that Ferrari 348? No room for my golf clubs, and where would the wife put the kids when she goes down to the supermarket? No, no, give me a Tipo instead ” Still it does have leather & alloys and it comes with a letter of authenticity (“This is an authentic 1990 FIAT Tipo ”)

Originally posted by ensign14
And Prost got an easy ride with most of the Press.

Didn't he just ! He always seemed to get the benefit of any doubts there may have been.
Always portrayed as the cowboy in the white hat...

Simon Lewis

I've always wished for an insider account of what really happened in '90 when Prost and Mansell were teammates. I recall Nigel outqualifying Alain a few times & other times Alain making Nigel look quite ordinary. Was there a conspiracy, was Alain nicking all the best equipment as claimed at the time ? Didn't Nigel do a test where he memorised the FIA certificate of his car & found Prost had swapped the cars round ?

The odd thing was since they ceased being team mates there doesn't seem to be any grudge held between Prost and Mansell, neither have resorted to trying to slag off each other in the press since, even agreeing to race each other in the DTM. Odd.

Off topic I know, but the F1 Racing school of journalism really does wind me up. The way Bishop & cohorts set their hero's and villains. Alex Wurz is the next Senna, Anthony Davison the next messiah & let's not forget Bishops amazing interviewing skills where he can read his subjects mind and tell us all what we should be thinking in brackets! Oh & Villeneuve and Ralf probably kick small animals to death for fun.

Several years ago I read, possibly in RACER, a comment by one of the Williams higher-ups (possibly Head or Newley) regarding Mansell. His opinion was that Mansell should be kept in a large eggshell type of device. Once the car was on the grid, a helicopter would lower the eggshell and Mansell would be deposited in the car. Once the car was done racing, the helicopter would immediately return Mansell to the eggshell, where he would stay until it was time to drive again.

I certainly took it as the speaker's way of expressing appreciation for Mansell's ability behind the wheel, and disappointment at Mansell's manner outside the cockpit.

Originally posted by jonb1
& let's not forget Bishops amazing interviewing skills where he can read his subjects mind and tell us all what we should be thinking in brackets!

This bit's never bothered me. Interviews with corporate mouthpieces are usually dull, you have to liven them up a bit somehow. At least he's using his imagination a bit!

Originally posted by Dave Ware

I certainly took it as the speaker's way of expressing appreciation for Mansell's ability behind the wheel, and disappointment at Mansell's manner outside the cockpit.

Frank Williams has described Mansell as a pain in the arse. For a man in as much constant, unrelenting pain as he is, to make a special exception for Mansell is going some......

I think Mansell used all of this angst to motivate himself. We have many American footballers in the NFL that show the same pattern of behavior. Face it, if nothing else he was a physically tough guy and a great competitor...just look at his golf game.

Dave

Originally posted by petefenelon


Frank Williams has described Mansell as a pain in the arse. For a man in as much constant, unrelenting pain as he is, to make a special exception for Mansell is going some......

On the other hand, I seem to remember DSJ reporting a Frank Williams' comment to the effect that what made Mansell special was a small area on the ball of his right foot.

So we see Frank Williams giving endorsement to the picture seen in this thread.

Originally posted by oldtimer


On the other hand, I seem to remember DSJ reporting a Frank Williams' comment to the effect that what made Mansell special was a small area on the ball of his right foot.

So we see Frank Williams giving endorsement to the picture seen in this thread.

Yep - great in the cockpit, grate out of it ;p

But does anyone know what it was he used to do that seemed to annoy everyone ? Admittedly he was a bit of a drama queen, but I get the feeling he wasn't an obnoxious character, like say Mr Piquet. From my recollection the only way he annoyed his team was when he used to say the race was harder than it actually was (well in 92 anyway!). Was it the 92 season that his ego got out of control ?

Originally posted by BRG
You can almost imagine him saying it, can’t you? “What use is that Ferrari 348? No room for my golf clubs, and where would the wife put the kids when she goes down to the supermarket? No, no, give me a Tipo instead ” Still it does have leather & alloys and it comes with a letter of authenticity (“This is an authentic 1990 FIAT Tipo ”)

Don't know 'bout 348 but he certainly had a F40. If I remember he had to bought it but paid either list price or less than that for it... only to sell it very soon afterwards, at the top of craziest market values, with a huge profit. IIRC it still had zero miles when he sold it so he even didn't bother to drive it. And someone nowadays (probably in Japan) is the proud owner of an "ex Mansell" F40 although he never actually turned the wheel...

It might even be that there were more than one F40 but I can't be sure...

Originally posted by ensign14
Alan Henry went further and basically said Ferrari blackmailed F1 Racing because of its comments.

Hadn't heard this. More details please!

John

Originally posted by jonb1
But does anyone know what it was he used to do that seemed to annoy everyone ? Admittedly he was a bit of a drama queen, but I get the feeling he wasn't an obnoxious character, like say Mr Piquet. From my recollection the only way he annoyed his team was when he used to say the race was harder than it actually was (well in 92 anyway!). Was it the 92 season that his ego got out of control ?

Mansell was essentially Eeyore from Winnie-the-Pooh up to the point that he started winning in F1. Everyone else's car was always better, the team always preferred the other guy, everyone was against him, everyone was out to shaft him.

The totally out-of-control ego seemed to start with the "chucking the gloves into the crowd" at Silverstone in 1990. I'd always found his mild air of paranoia moderately endearing up to that point, but from there on he was a sort of Dame Edna Everage in Nomex - probably near the peak of his game as a driver (I suspect that he might've been at his absolute peak in '88 when the Judd V8 and originally the 'active' car didn't let him express his talent), but increasingly insufferable in/to the media.

Originally posted by HDonaldCapps


Sometimes, there are apparently simply what might be termed "irrational" reasons for either liking or disliking or being a super-rabid fan or not much caring about a driver -- or a person for that matter.

Hi Don, yep, I agree with that.

Originally posted by JohnS


Hadn't heard this. More details please!

John

It was in an editorial in F1 Racing at the time of Tyregate. He did not go into more details as to what had offended them or what they had threatened...

Originally posted by Dave Ware
Several years ago I read, possibly in RACER, a comment by one of the Williams higher-ups (possibly Head or Newley) regarding Mansell.

IIRC the comment was made by Patrick Faure of Renault.

A perhaps slightly different side to NM I am sure not generally known was that when at Williams he discreetly got into conversations with his mechanics about the cost-of-living, mortgages etc etc and at the end of his Championship year, very very quietly paid of their mortgages . . .

Originally posted by monoposto
A perhaps slightly different side to NM I am sure not generally known was that when at Williams he discreetly got into conversations with his mechanics about the cost-of-living, mortgages etc etc and at the end of his Championship year, very very quietly paid of their mortgages . . .

In reading the above, my opinion about Nigel as a person was significantly increased.

On the whole, my feelings about Nigel are as many others. Wonderful to watch in the cockpit, and one to avoid out of it.