Grill the Grid Special: Mansell on Silverstone

Happy birthday Nigel Mansell!

No driver fought harder to get into Formula One racing and few fought harder when they got there. Hugely determined, immensely aggressive and spectacularly daring, he was one of the most exciting drivers ever. With his win or bust approach - 31 wins and 32 crashes - he became the most successful British driver and ranks third in the world in fastest laps, fourth in wins and fifth in poles. With the Union Jack on his helmet and a chip on his shoulder, he was both quick and controversial. His awkward personality made him some enemies, his heroic performances made him millions of fans. Nigel Mansell was a driven man and it showed.

Born on 8 August, 1953, near Birmingham, Nigel Ernest Mansell first drove a car in a nearby field at the age of seven. That same year he watched Jim Clark in a Lotus win the 1962 British Grand Prix at Aintree and decided then and there to emulate the great Scot, an ambition no doubt entertained by countless other small boys. Few of them would have persevered through Mansell's many misfortunes. 

After considerable success in kart racing, he become the 1977 British Formula Ford champion, despite suffering a broken neck in a testing accident. Doctors told him he had come perilously close to quadriplegia, that he would be confined for six months and would never drive again. Mansell sneaked out of hospital (telling the nurses he was going to the toilet) and raced on. Three weeks before the accident he had resigned his job as an aerospace engineer, having previously sold most of his personal belongings to finance his foray into Formula Ford. Next, Mansell and his loyal wife Rosanne sold their house to finance a move into Formula Three. In 1979 a collision with another car resulted in a huge cartwheeling crash he was lucky to survive. Again he was hospitalised, this time with broken vertebrae in his back. Shortly after this, stuffed with painkillers and hiding the extent of his injury, Mansell performed well enough in a tryout with Lotus to become a test driver for the Formula One team. In his Formula One debut, at the 1980 Austrian Grand Prix, a fuel leak in the cockpit left him with painful first and second degree burns on his buttocks. 

Mansell became very close to Lotus boss Colin Chapman and was devastated by his sudden death in 1982. He stayed with the team for two more years, then moved to Williams in 1985. Near the end of that season, having no victories to show for 71 Grand Prix starts, Mansell suddenly blossomed into a prolific winner, starting with the 1985 European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch, where he wept on the podium. In a span of 18 months he won 11 races, yet lost out on two World Championships he was poised to win. In 1986 a burst tyre in Adelaide destroyed his season at the last possible moment. In 1987 it was a serious qualifying accident at Suzuka that injured his back again (a spinal concussion) and handed the title to his hated Williams-Honda team mate Nelson Piquet (who called Mansell "an uneducated blockhead" and took verbal shots at Rosanne). For Mansell (who never physically attacked Piquet as he had Ayrton Senna after they collided at Spa), the highlight of 1987 was his scintillating late race charge to beat his least favourite Brazilian at Silverstone. Mansell was simply unstoppable, setting lap records 11 times in the final moments as he reeled in the other Williams. On his victory lap, as thousands of patriotic fans in the feverish grip of 'Mansellmania' flooded onto the track, their hero stopped to kiss the tarmac at the spot where he'd overtaken Piquet at 180mph. 

Mansell thrived on adversarial situations, using them to fuel his motivational fires, and if they didn't exist he seemed to go out of his way to create them. His 'me against the world' mentality caused conflict. At Williams, Patrick Head said "he thinks everybody is trying to shaft him at all times" and Frank Williams called him "a pain in the arse". The media also tired of Mansell's chronic complaining. But the fans loved him for the pure, palpable aggression with which he raced. Even that wasn't enough to overcome the deficiencies of the Judd-engined Williams cars in 1988 and when an opportunity arose at Ferrari Mansell seized it with both fists. 

His 1989 debut with Ferrari began with a win in Rio and throughout the season he flogged his Ferrari for all it was worth, endearing himself to the fanatical Italian tifosi who called their moustachioed British hero 'Il Leone' (The Lion). At the Hungaroring, where overtaking is supposed to be impossible and where he had qualified a seemingly hopeless 12th, Mansell stormed through the field, scraped past Senna's McLaren in a breathtaking manoeuvre and won the race. In 1990 the wheels came off Mansell's Ferrari bandwagon when Prost became his team mate and out-manoeuvred him politically. At Silverstone the 'British Bulldog' theatrically threw his gloves into the adoring crowd and announced he was retiring at the end of the season. A couple of months later he made a U-turn and announced he was returning to Williams. In 1991 he won five times in the Williams-Renault but lost out on reliability to McLaren's Senna, who took the title. The next year Mansell dominated, winning nine of the 16 races in his Williams-Renault FW14B, but shortly after he was declared the 1992 World Champion he again announced his retirement. His grievances with Williams included a dispute over money and anger that the despised Prost might be his 1993 team mate. Williams offered a last-minute incentive of whatever conditions he wanted but Mansell stalked off to IndyCar racing in America, where he immediately dominated, even on the unfamiliar high speed ovals, and became the 1993 IndyCar champion. 

In 1994 Williams persuaded him to return for the final four races, the last of which, in Australia, he won in stunning fashion from pole position. The next year he raced twice for McLaren but decided the car wasn't up to his speed. And so, after 187 hard races in 15 tumultuous seasons, 41-year-old Nigel Mansell left Formula One racing for good.

He retired a rich man, operating several business enterprises, including a Ferrari dealership and a golf and country club (he played golf to a professional standard) and lived the good life with his wife Rosanne and their three children. 

"I had my fair share of heartaches and disappointments," he said of his career, "but I also got a lot of satisfaction. I only ever drove as hard as I knew how."

Happy birthday Nigel!


(source: f1.com)

2014 Canadian Grand Prix preview

Are you ready for the Canadian Grand Prix? I know I am! Can't wait to see what the Mercedes drivers argue about in this race. Maybe if Lewis Hamilton wins then everything will be ok but if Nico Rosberg wins it will be a much darker sight. 

Make sure to check Hamilton's face if this happens. He will have a fake smile on his face like last time. Rosberg probably will have a fake smile too but at least his expression won't look as obvious. That's one thing Hamilton should work on. Rosberg on the other hand should work on being a better driver than Hamilton.

Even though I probably like Rosberg more as a person I must say that I think Hamilton is a better driver. Don't take this the wrong way! I don't hate Hamilton and Rosberg is also a very good driver. This is just if I had to take a pick.

What about the previous races in Canada? This is actually the place where Hamilton took his first victory back in 2007. I remember people saying that Hamilton was leading the championship because he had better consistent results than Alonso, Räikkönen and Massa. The three other "better" drivers had won races but Hamilton was still leading the championship with podium finishes (2nds and 3rds). Then in Canada he showed everybody that he is a superstar who is also able to win races. He also won the race after that in the US.

The same race in 2007 was also the race where Robert Kubica had his terrible accident. The following year he won the race. 
Here's a video of the accident:



What else has happened in Canada? In 2011 Canada offered us the longest F1 race in history (4:04:39.537). Sebastian Vettel was leading the race from the start till the last few laps and made a small mistake. Jenson Button was behind and overtook him right away and won the race. He was waiting the whole day for Vettel to make a mistake and he finally did. Sebastian Vettel was soooo frustrated...



Speaking of frustrated who remembers what happened in 1991? Nigel Mansell was about to win the race and was already waving to the crowd on the last lap but then his car broke down. Nelson Piquet was behind him and won the race for Benetton.



I have always enjoyed the Canadian Grand Prix and will probably enjoy this one as well.


Then it's time for my predictions again!

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

The race:

1. Lewis Hmilton, Mercedes
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
3. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari

Fastest lap: Fernando Alonso, Ferrari

Surprise: McLaren will show some improvement in Canada.

Remember to post your own predictions to our F1-4-LIFE PREDICTORS LEAGUE.

The rules:

POINTS: 1st - 3
2nd - 5
3rd - 10

HOW IT WORKS: the aim of the game is simply predict who comes where in the race (top3). A total of 18 points can be won on a race day. If you get winner and and 3rd place right but 2nd wrong you get 13 points same if you get 1 correct. eg. 2nd you get 5 points. If a driver wins the race and you said he would come 2nd or 3rd no points would be awarded. Same if he came in another position, and you predicted that wrong. A table will be posted up every race weekend. The point scoring system will change once the cars become more competitive. Everyone will say a merc 1,2 so it won't be close or fun.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR PREDICTIONS: send an email to f14lifeblog@gmail.com or message the Facebook page to submit your predictions. You have until lights out to make them. If you submit them when the race has started they won't count. So be quick! like the Mercedes.

THE PRIZE: the winner of the league will win themselves a admin place on the F1 4 LIFE page along side JT, AE & MW. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway. We may also come up with some other prize if it helps.

THIS TIME YOU ALSO GET BONUS POINTS! PREDICT POLE POSITION AND FASTEST LAP CORRECTLY TO EARN 2 EXTRA POINTS!

That's it for today and if you want to send me feedback then email me: f14lifeblog@gmail.com

1985 European Grand Prix - FULL RACE

Ayrton Senna on pole but Nigel Mansell was more successful in the race and got his first vistory in F1. Alain Prost became world champion and you can also see Frank Williams without his wheelchair in the end.

F1 Legends - Nigel Mansell

I can't believe I haven't posted this earlier! Well.. here it is.

F1 TREASURES VII

I haven't found any treasures for a while but now I did!

Bought this old retro game for only 3 euros from a Finnish website called huuto.net .

The website is like eBay but Finnish.

The game is originally from Asia (1993) and it's clearly pirated. It also says on the back of the box "FOR SALE AND USE IN JAPAN ONLY".

I found out that this game is known as "Nigel Mansell's World Championship Racing" outside of Asia.

Here's a video what the game looks like:

1985 European Grand Prix

Nigel Mansell

Another full race from the 80's. Enjoy this nostalgic grand prix!

Nigel Mansell on Top Gear

Nigel Mansell with his Williams back in 1992.

Nigel Mansell on Top Gear!

Legends of Formula One - Murray Walker

I don't know how familiar you are with Murray Walker but he is a legend in british F1 broadcasting.
If you are british then just press play and watch this for the first time or again.

For you who don't know anything about him - he's been a commentator since 1948 which means that his career is older than Formula One itself!
If this man says something about F1 then you better believe it's true! ..well actually not always because he is also famous for saying weird and funny stuff like this:

"He's obviously gone in for a wheel change. I say obviously because I can't see it"

"With half the race gone, there is half the race still to go"

"Do my eyes deceive me, or is Senna's Lotus sounding rough?"

"Anything happens in Grand Prix racing and it usually does"

"Alboreto has dropped back up to fifth place"

"As you look at the first four, the significant thing is that Alboreto is 5th"

"I can't imagine what kind of problem Senna has. I imagine it must be some sort of grip problem"

"He is shedding buckets of adrenalin in that car"

"It's raining and the track is wet"

"And there's just a few more corners for Nigel Mansell to go to win the Canadian Grand Prix...and...he's going rather slow....HE'S STOPPING HE'S STOPPING!"

"and this is the third placed car about to lap the second placed car"

[During a F1 race, describing how the leader can see the driver following him] "... Mansell can see him in his earphone..."

Murrary: "What's that? There's a BODY on the track!!!" James Hunt: "Um, I think that that is a piece of BODY-WORK, from someone's car."

"And there's a 600 foot drop on my left..AND we're doing 120 mph... AND we're approaching a hairpin...OH MY GOD we're going to die..."

Murray: "And look at the flames coming from the back of Berger's McLaren"
James Hunt: "Actually, Murray, they're not flames, it's the safety light."

"...and he's lost both right front tyres" (which may have been accurate back in the days of the Tyrrell P34, but it was from 1995!)


Enjoy the short documentary film by pressing play.