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| Nigel Ernest James Mansell | |
| Born: | August 8, 1954 |
| Birthplace: | Upton-on-Severn, England |
| Wife: | Rosanne |
| Children: | Chloe, August 16, 1982 Leo, January 4, 1985 Greg, November 8, 1987 |
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Three times Mansell overcame life threatening injuries to continue his F1 career, illustrating the determination that on the track earned him the name "Il Leone" (the lion) from the Tifosi and the enduring allegiance of British Formula One fans. Nigel Mansell was originally brought into Formula One by the legendary Colin Chapman of Team Lotus and had a career marked by close misses, tragic accidents and equipment failure, and to date the most dominant single season ever by an F1 World Champion. Mansell's early years with Lotus and Williams were a learning period in which this hot-tempered Brit mastered the craft of F1 racing the traditional way -- with mistakes -- as in his slide into the Armco at a rain-filled 1984 Monaco while leading in the JPS Lotus. Mansell's aggressive overtaking moves earned him the affectionate titles "Il Leone" from the Ferrari Tifosi, who embraced him as one of their own, and "Red 5," for the number worn on his Canon-Williams-Renault during the 1992 championship season. Mansell's single season record of nine wins in 16 races, has been matched only by Michael Schumacher in the 17-race 1995 season. His 1991 chase of eventual World Champion Ayrton Senna, ended by a spin into the gravel at Suzuka, was marred by the loss of a wheel during an ill-fated pit stop at Estoril and the extraordinary electrical failure of his Renault "black box" (once again while leading) in the final corner of the Canadian GP. Earlier in his career, Mansell missed two other "sure" championships in 1986 when he had a tire explode at 250kph on the main straight in Adelaide, Australia while leading, and the next year when he crashed during practice at the penultimate race of the year, in Suzuka, Japan, breaking his back. Mansell's mercurial relationship with the F1 establishment -- epitomized by his subsequent departure announcement from Team Williams midway through the 1992 campaign after Frank Williams faileed to commit to a contract for 1993 and his final 1995 "comeback" in the so-called "fat" McLaren, especially redesigned to fit his so-called "extra-wide rump" -- are the stuff of Grand Prix legend. But onw of his crowning achievements was Mansell's back-to-back championships in F1 and IndyCar, a feat never to before accomplished. But for a brush of the wall in the closing laps of the 1993 Indianapolis 500, Mansell came within a hair's breadth of becoming just the 4th Formula One World Champion in history to drink the fabled milk of Indy. |
| Summary of Nigel's Grand Prix Career | |
| Number of Grand Prix | 187 |
| Wins | 31 |
| Pole Positions | 32 |
| Fastest Laps | 30 |
| Points Total | 482 |
| GP Laps Led | 2099 (5992 miles) |
| Records Held by Nigel |
| Most Grand Prix wins in a single season (9 in 1992) |
| Most Grand Prix wins by a British Driver (31as of 1994) |
| Most Grand Prix poles in a single season (14 in 1992) |
| Most World Championship points in a season (108 in 1992) |
| Most IndyCar poles in a rookie season (7 in 1993) |
| Only person to win consecutive Formula I and lndy Car titles |
| Only person to hold Formula I and lndy Car titles at same time. |
| First person to win IndyCar title in first season |
| Fastest lap of a racing circuit (235.5 mph at Michigan in 1994) |
| Closest finish in Grand Prix history (93 centimeters, with Ayrton Senna, Spain 1986) |
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Over a period of time I have accumulated more than 275 images of Nigel from various sources. For ease of presentation, I have divided the images based on a timeline of
his career. The images on each page are thumbnails, clicking on the image will take you to the full size image. |
| If any image on this page is your property, please contact me via e-mail at [email protected] and we can discuss its removal from this site, or giving you appropriate credit for your work. |
| For a detailed account of Nigel's life check out his autobiography. |
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