Nigel Ernest James Mansell was born in August 8, 1953, in Upton-upon-Severn, Worcesershire, in England. He was a British racing driver who won championships in both formula one and CART.He is the only one to hold both titles simultaneously and he is the only one to win the CART championship (in 1993), in his debut season. He is the most successful British driver in terms of race wins with 31 victories and he is fourth in the formula one winners list behind Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.
Nigel Mansell studied engineering in Mathew Bolton College. He worked as an aeroplane engineer before giving it up to become a racing driver. In his career start Mansell was using his own money to work his way up the ranks. In 1976 he raced in formula Ford and won 6 of the 9 races he took part in including his debut race at Mallory Park. Next year he entered 42 races, won 33 of them and became the 1977 formula Ford champion, despite suffering a broken neck in the qualifying session in Brands Hatch. The doctors told he would never drive again. But Mansell discharged himself from the hospital and return to racing. Three weeks after he won the formula Ford championship, Mansell gave up his job as an aeroplane engineer, having previously sold most of his personal belongings to finance his way into Formula Ford.
Later that year he was given the chance to compete in formula three with a Lola T570 car, at Silverstone. He finished fourth and decided it was time for him to race in the higher formula. His first season in formula three started with a pole position and a 2nd place. But the car was not competitive and he parted from the team. Next season he got to drive for the Dave Price Racing. His first win came in Silverstone and he finished 8th in the championship. But he had a terrible crash which he was lucky to survive. He got to the hospital again, this time with a broken vertebrae. He was noticed by Colin Chapman owner, of the Lotus, and shortly after his accident he became a test driver for the formula one team.
Mansell's skills as a test driver impressed Chapman who gave Mansell the opportunity to race in formula one. He made his debut at the 1980 Austrian Grand Prix. A fuel leak in the cockpit gave him first and second degree burns in his buttocks. He retired from that race and the next one due to car failures. A crash in his third race at Imola prevented him from qualifying. The team leader Mario Andretti wrote his car off before the final race of the season and Mansell had to give up his car in order for Andretti to race. Andretti announced his leaving Lotus for Alfa-Romeo at the end of the season, leaving an seat in the team, and Mansell would fill this seat.
Mansell's four years in he team as a full-time driver were a struggle, as the cars were unreliable. Out of 59 races he managed to finish in only 24 of them. During 1982 Mansell planned to race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in order to get more money. He was being paid 50,000 pounds a year in the team, and he was offered 10,000 pounds more to take part in Le Mans. Chapman believed that by entering the Le Mans, Mansell was exposing himself to unnecessary risk, and paid him 10,000 pounds not to race in Le Mans. After that Chapman extended Mansell's contract till the end of 1984 , in a deal that would make him millionaire.
Mansell and Chapman got very close, and Mansell was devastated by Chapman's sudden death in 1982. In his autobiography he says that he lost a member of his family. After Chapman's death the relationships between Mansell and Lotus became strained. In 1984 Mansell finished in the championship top 10 and took his first career pole. Mansell was remembered this year for pushing his car to the finish after the transmission failed, at the 1984 United States Grand Prix. He managed to finish in sixth place, in a race he had started from the pole and led for half of it. Lotus signed Ayrton Senna for the next season, leaving Mansell with no seat in the team, and after receiving offers from Arrows and Williams he signed with Williams, alongside teammate Keke Rosberg. Mansell later stated that Keke Rosberg may be the teammate he had ever had.
Mansell achieved his first victory, in 72 starts in formula one, in the European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch in England, followed by a victory in the South African Grand Prix at Kyalami. After these triumphs Mansell began to turn into a formula one star.
In 1986 Williams had a very competitive car, and Nigel Mansell had a new team-mate, Nelson Piquet. Mansell won five Grand Prix that season and took part in the closest finish in the history of the sport, as he finished second just 0.014 seconds behind Ayrton Senna, in the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez. Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet and Alain Prost took the championship to Adelaide in the 1986 Australian Grand Prix, were Mansell was aiming at the third place to secure the world championship title. Mansell got very close on winning the race but unfortunately his left-rare tyre exploded only 19 laps before the end of the race. Alain Prost won the championship that season.
In 1987 Mansell won six more Grand Prix, including a popular victory in Silverstone were he came back from 30 seconds in 30 laps and beat his teammate Piquet. A heavy accident in the qualifying in Suzuka, severely injured Mansell's back again (this time he had a spinal concussion), and he missed the two final races. As a result Nelson Piquet won the title although he didn't score any points at these final two races.
In 1988 Mansell's Willams was very unreliable, as he finished in 2 races from the 14 that he took part in. Both these races ended in podium finishes for Mansell. Mansell got chickenpox in the summer of 1988 and after a good performance in Hungarian Grand Prix the condition got worst and as a result he missed the next two Grand Prix.
In 1989 Mansell joined Ferrari and he was the last driver to be selected by Enzo Ferrari, just before his death in 1988 August. Nigel described that honour as one of the greatest in his career. In his debut race with the team he won, in the 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix, and he remained the last man to win a race in his debut season for Ferrari, until Kimi Raikkonen won in hi debu for the team in the 2007 Australian Grand Prix. Mansell finished fourth in the championship that year.
In 1990 Mansell faced more reliability problems with the car. In this season he had Alain Prost a a teammate. There was an incident in the 1990 British Grand Prix were Mansell said that he could not handle his car as good as in the last race were he took the pole position. Something was different. As it turned out Prost thought Mansell had a superior car and as a result the cars were switched without telling Mansell. After Mansell retired from the race he announced his retirement from the sport also. Mansell won only one race in that season and finished 5th in the championship. Mansell's retirement was cancelled as Frank Williams stepped in again and offer him a contract. Mansell accepted, He was being paid 4,6 million pounds a season and that deal made him the highest paid British sportsman at the time.
In 1991 Mansell won five races with the Williams team, and finished the championship in second place, behind Ayrton Senna. 1992 was Mansell's best season. He started the year by winning in the first five races and finally won the drivers championship, by setting the record of the most wins in a season (9), and the most pole positions (14). These records were broken later. He won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award twice, in 1986 and 1992, one of the only three people to do so.
In 1993 Alain Prost signed with Williams and Mansell left Williams to join Newman/Haas CART team, in th place of Michael Andretti, who left the CART team to join McLaren formula one team.At the opening race he became the first rookie to take the pole position and win his first race. A few weeks later he suffered a crash at Phoenix International Raceway, severely injuring his back again. Mansell scored five more wins that season and won the title being the only rookie to win the title. He also competed in the Indianapolis 500 that year but finished third behind Emerson Fittipaldi and Arie Luyendyk.
In 1994 Mansell returned in formula one and the Williams team replacing rookie David Coulthard in the last three races of the season. He was paid 900,000 pounds per race. Mansell won his last Grand Prix in Australia which was the last race of the season. In 1995 Mansell joined McLaren but he chose to retire after only two races with the team. He missed the start of the season as the cockpit of the car was not big enough for him to sit comfortably.
Mansell returned to racing in 1998, in the British Touring Car Championship driving a Ford Mondeo, but the car was not competitive and Mansell did not have any success there. In 2005 Mansell took part in Race of Legends he competed against Jody Scheckter, Alain Prost, Emerson Fittipaldi and Johnny Cercotto. Prost was announced as the winner b 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. 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 2006 from pole position.
Nigel Mansell competed in 191 Grand Prix in his formula one career and won 31 of them. He won one drivers championship in 1992. He had 59 podium finishes, 32 pole positions and 30 fastest laps and collected 480 championship points. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest drivers in the history of formula one.
