The Unfitting Finale of Nigel Mansell
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 มิ.ย. 2024
- Nigel Mansell. One of F1's most successful and legendary figures. A career with an endless cycle of iconic moments; from daring overtakes to heartbreaking mishaps. If life was a movie, this story of rags to riches would've ended with Mansell on top of the world. But in reality, 'El Leone' endured a messy, unbefitting end to his saga.
Today we look at the concluding chapters of his tale; the heroics and heartbreak of a long overdue world title, a whirlwind comeback with Williams, a mistimed move to McLaren, and two further comeback rumours, before we tackle the question;
Who, or what, is to blame for the less than satisfactory conclusion to the tale of Nigel Mansell? Was this another case of an F1 champion not knowing when to call time, or were there other factors behind the scenes?
Timestamps
Introduction 0:00
From Rags to Riches (1980-1993) 3:14
Welcome Back to Williams (1994) 12:18
Mansell vs Coulthard 21:13
The McLaren Misstep (1995) 27:38
The Comeback Continues? 46:46
Conclusion 50:18
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The man held the Formula 1 and IndyCar championships simultaneously... I'd say despite his setbacks he made his mark and probably has no regrets.
Mansell might have won the championship in 1993, but he did it with a package that Michael Andretti scored more wins and points while developing the unreliable Lola Ford Cosworth in 1992 than Mansell could manage once the car was all sorted out for him.
My favourite storyteller on TH-cam. Totally deserve to be way bigger than you currently are. Keep on with the amazing work you're doing
Thank you! Will do!
Sorry but his creepy voice has tones of 1970s Stranger Danger public service films. Holding out a bag of boiled sweets to a passing schoolgirl...
@@Symptomless_Coma_ ????
yeah I absolutely adore your work
Didn't even see that statistic... "there was never a second consecutive drivers champion with Williams "
Excellent work.
Thank you.
To be objective; Jones was unlucky not to win in 1979, we all know about Hill in 1994, and as covered here, Mansell could’ve won in ‘86 and ‘87 too.
If Hill can somehow lose a title that was basically handed to him on a silver platter, he doesn't deserve it in the first place
Great video, as always!
Funny Nigel Mansell story: In July 1993, he met Dale Earnhardt at Michigan Speedway. Dale asked him when he was going to take a pay cut to race them all in NASCAR.
Mandell would have dominated in NASCAR!
I'm a simple man. Mobile Chicane uploads a video, I watch.
Yes, you are, simpleton.
If only you could come up with an original comment.
Babe, New Mobile Chicane Doc dropped? Do you wanna Mobil Chicane and Chill?
Haha! My partner read this comment aloud to me and she really enjoyed it 😅
Mansell was my father's favorite driver back in the day, so I grew up hearing plenty of stories about him and his skill. It was shocking to me to find out years later that he only had one title under his belt. Then again, given the competition at the time, one title is better than nothing. It's kinda similar to Raikkonen's case in 2000s - great driver who couldn't accomplish more due to very strong competition (and, ironically, he was my favorite driver).
But he won the indie in his rukie year
1993 was great
@@gingernutpreacher I was talking only about F1, though.
Every time I watch a Mobile Chicane video I have the hightest expectations. And quite unlike Mansell at McLaren you exceed them every single time. Thank you.
That bit on Christian Fittipaldi makes me think...
Is he underrated? He had three seasons in the sport, and three teammates total. He was always the best at the teams he drove at, even against the usually more experienced teammates
He was linked to both McLaren and Sauber in 1995, and missed out on both for opposite reasons. McLaren because Marlboro wanted a huge name, Sauber because Peter wanted to be loyal to Wendlinger (who was still dropped five races in)
A very decent driver: one of the rare few to have won F3000 as a rookie, and was a solid performer at Footwork and Minardi against solid performers like Morbidelli and Martini.
Would’ve been interesting to see him at McLaren: ‘95 might’ve been Blundell-esque, but if he could’ve stayed on, he had every chance at podiums and more.
@@TheMobileChicane he was also younger than most at the time, he was 20 when he debuted at a time when that was not the norm
It seems winning F3000 as a rookie in the 90s was a death sentence (him and Badoer)
One of my personal driving heroes. Thanks so much for making these, I love these deep dives. Keep making them and I'll keep watching.
Excellent.
As an aside, Mansell was rumoured to make a return to CART too with Patrick Racing for 1998 or 1999 but nothing came to pass.
Interesting, thanks for the info! Wonder if that would’ve gone as well as the McLaren comeback..
@@TheMobileChicane Yeah I dunno about that one. Not well, CART was at its best then.
As a great Mansell fan I did find this quite compulsive watching.. well done. My own personal view is not to focus too much on the statistics.. those are for the guy that bores everyone in the pub to tears.. oh, yes.. and politicians... I wouldn't focus either on the final years of his career.. maybe he didn't demonstrate his earlier talent to the same degree, if you believe your main talent is what makes you who you are.. why would you want to give it up? Yes, maybe he should have bowed out sooner.. but for me, he was the most entertaining, aggressive compulsive winner of that era. I don't doubt that Rembrandt splashed a bit of paint around that didn't match his best.. why focus on that? One of Murray Walker's most repeated comments was that "there is only one fastest line through a corner" .. Well, yes.. as long as it wasn't Nigel Mansell. The Alpha Male personalities involved in all aspects of F1 will forever create complex issues off-track.. but for pure driving commitment and aggression.. sit back and watch the best of Nigel Mansell.
The “unfitting” finale we seen what you did here!
Thanks for the video
1:58 also the Ben and Jerry’s analogy is top notch when you think you should stop it’s probably too late lol
Idea for a next video: The story of Stefan Bellof and what could have been
Added to the (ever-growing) list!
Sad thing with Mansell is that (as mentioned early on in this video) he got the perfect sendoff TWICE, as champion and as comeback race winner, then bows out from a car his arse is too wide for, after a couple of races most notable for clattering Eddie Irvine's front wing.
He was an arrogant prick
How have I only just discovered this channel…..subbed. Quality documentary. I never knew the deep details of the McLaren disaster. Thanks for this content!
Hell yeah, I’ve been anxiously waiting for this one since the announcement.
Have been looking forward to this all week!!
This really was great stuff, thank you!
Excellent video, enjoyed it start to finish!
My dad is a great storyteller himself, and he had told me all about Mansell and how great he was. Yet, I don’t think anyone could beat your storytelling!
I hope next time you cover one of us Brazilians, it’s one that is not as shaky as Rosset😂
Keep up the great work! I absolutely love your content and have recommended your channel to all my racing buddies! You’re both the F1 creator we diehard fans need and deserve!
I’m sure your dad is just as good as me!
One of the next two videos will be about a Brazilian, and one definitely better than Rosset 😅
Thanks for the support!
@@TheMobileChicane I'm looking forward to it, as I am to any of your uploads!
@@TheMobileChicane I'm eagerly awaiting your video about Roberto Moreno then!
@@GuzziHeroV50 So, my uncle is in and around the karting circle around my home city, and he says that Moreno dropped there once with only his helmet and overalls and went around asking if someone had a Kart for him to drive. Didn't care about anything else, just wanted something to drive. Seems like he kept his MO from the F1 days to recent times at the very least lol
@@Ruppel98 he is such a nice guy, I remember when he went to Forti Corse he wore a curly hair wig at the car launch to see if anyone would notice. Nobody did 🤣
Love your videos, already saved to watch later
pole for best F1 moustache in history Nigel vs Keke
Let me throw a third name into the mix; Harald Ertl
there are few things to understand about Nigel that will help you to understand the man.
1: he was between 5 and 10 kg overweight average compared to others depending of the era. therefore, he had to work a lot harder because he had around half a second lost already just due to the weight. that's why he was all the time on the nerves. he had to give 110% to win.
2: his frame size has been an issue too for designing cars. many things could've been done on SOME cars that never saw the daylight because of that.
3: what could have his career been had Chapman been alive? and Lotus with it? because Lotus with Chapman was something else. after the passing of Jim Clark, Chapman wanted not to burn Mansell. he wanted to preserve him as much as possible. he was Chapman's champ!
4: Copse silverstone 92 Williams car = 20 kmh faster than Patrese at the apex. what else? ...
5: he's also able to beat his mates with their own tuning on the car on a fast lap. Piquet still has it in the throat.
Mansell was fire and water at the same time. he could deliver the best as much as horrendous performances. some people called him a "Diva". i don't see it that way. like i said, he had to work a lot harder because of his weight/frame disadvantage to the competition. so he was always full bore! at some point you have to crack. do stupid things. it's just the nature of the behavior to me.
but for sure, Mansell will never be forgotten. so many good memories with him. just a classic F1 driver. Motorsport hall of fame.
My favourite F1 historian/storyteller. Always waiting for your new upload. Keep up the good work man, love your vids
I started following F1 right around the end of Mansell’s career in 95. Honestly back then he didn’t even register on my 10 year old mind…Hill, Schumacher, and Coulthard (along with later Mika Hakkinen) made a huge impression on me - it’s funny to see how I didn’t even notice someone so large back then! This was super insightful! Awesome deep dive
Thanks! Whereas for me, when I started watching Coulthard was at the tail end of his career, so I didn’t appreciate this was a race winning, championship hopeful from before!
great work on the video man, keep it up
Great video as per usual!
Brlliant loved that so much thanks for posting
Great video. Thanks for sharing.
Love your videos! :)
The Mobile Chicane is realy doing Videos right out of his heart. I like this SO much
Always wonderful content
Brilliant as always, thank you!
Great video, keep up the good work,
Ah I see words at play when I read that title alone.
Love it. Unjudgmental, analytical, thoughtful. more of that please. Great channel.
I do think Mansell was probably the one to blame for this unfitting finale as he was the not the right person to join a McLaren that was still rebuilding after the loss of Senna and Honda. It was also crazy how hard he flopped when compared to Michael Andretti in 1993 as well.
This was a shame since I do think that Mansell is still very iconic since it was crazy to think about how much he endured during the 80s and then finally achieving success in 1992. Too bad the contract shenanigans during that year kind of soured a pretty perfect and dominant year. At least that lead Mansell to show how good he was elsewhere with his very successful 1993 campaign in the states and being able to drive in the BTCC's golden age must have been really fun as well.
It’s crazy to think that McLaren made two misguided driver signings within the space of three years…
@@TheMobileChicane Also a funny coincidence that both have been covered on the channel as well.
Damon Hill got his chance because of Mansell leaving then just a few short years got the flick to.
@@titchlilly1294 Despite Williams being an amazing team in the 90s, it was pretty hard to stay there.
@@BerserkerRohan frank Williams and Patrick head were both dictators
These keep getting better 🤯
Very poetic. Well done mate
Excellent insights into Mansell. Always enjoy your work,,, and how thought provoking you are. 👍👍
I Absolutely Love this channel. ❤
This Aussie loves him so much I gave myself the online racing Gran Turismo ID SirNigelMansell. His 1993 season in Indycar is him at his best. Totally dominant even after hitting the wall at Phoenix and missing 2 races and wrecking his back so bad he couldn't feel his legs at the Indy 500. Still finished 3rd after scraped the wall. His Indy 500 1994 was outrageous because of how he was knocked out of the race by the worst Indycar driver ever.
Great work!
Loved it! Great Job! What a legend Mansell, but sometimes conditions are not...ideal, let's say 😅
A great video. I was taken aback by your slow and low volume reading at the start, but that is the only nitpick I can give. The rest was perfect. I have put it right in my "inspiration" playlist.
Fantastic video as always. Is your mention of infinite improbability a reference to the GP rejects forum..?
Could be 👀
He didn’t die though did he! That’s a pretty big win, especially in those days with his aggressive style!
This is good stuff!
Why no mention of Piquet when talking about Mansell?
Also, Mansell was considered to be a difficult pilot by many, that's what Williams' Frank Dernie Said on some documentaries (there are many videos on TH-cam)
Best wishes.
Who?
@@schanche1965 Nelson Piquet. You know, the guy who actually won a WDC with an FW11 while Mansell threw it into barriers along with inventing other creative ways to break the car. But what else would anyone expect from Mansell, who was beaten by de Angelis 3x, and also Rosberg, Prost and Hill respectively? Luckily, there was always Patrese to be partnered with.
New Mobile Chicane video out, this essay can wait!
Excellent! After the last F1 win, should have stayed in indycar.
Great video. I've been a fan of Nigel Mansell, even though it was a bit before my time when he was at his best years at Ferrari and Williams. Shame that the McLaren journey never worked out for Nigel, I guess when you bite the apple too much, you'll end up disappointed with the outcome. Will you ever cover the story of Michael Schumacher and Ferrari early years one day? Would love to watch that. Anyways, keep up the great work. I'm looking forward to the Senna Lotus video whenever that comes out. 🫡👍
I've been really enjoying your documentaries, and this one is no different. informative, entertaining, and interesting framing!
the only difficulty I have with your videos is that you talk like you're deliberately keeping quiet, and so even when I turn the volume up to max safe levels, I have trouble understanding you without noise cancelling on. I mostly hear the S and T (and similar noises) at the beginning and end of each word, like when someone whispers loudly. I'm not sure if that's something that you can change, maybe you don't want to change it and that's fine! it's part of your style after all. but it would make watching your videos a little easier if it could be eliminated.
Thanks for the kind words!
I’m not sure about the audio; I can only speak from my end, the audio is edited and boosted after recording, and it sounds fine from my end. But I’ll take a look if there’s anything else I can do.
@@TheMobileChicane Sounds perfect from my end too (through a Bose speaker).
Can't believe your channel hasn't blown up yet. The content is so thorough and well edited (with many other F1/motoring channels definitely not deserving of the level of support/subs they get!)
Keep on doing what you're doing. It scratches that F1 itch that many of us have :)
@@TheMobileChicane might just be me, my ears are sensitive to weird things sometimes. keep doing what you're doing!
Mansell was a real entertainer. F1 was blessed to have him, Rosberg, Lauda, Senna, Piquet, Schumacher, Berger and Prost all competing in the same era. Only 2003-13 has had the same quantity of talent compete at a similar time.
good video but you forgot the last chapter, our Nigel last race. Going to Le mans with his 2 sons . as with Nigel when the flag drop it was all or nothing his Le mans ended in the wall in first hour and his 2 sons did not even get to race
Another great video. Some of the best F1 content on TH-cam and always an original take on things! As for the topic of the video, with Hamilton now on a 50 race winless streak (though that's nothing compared to the 10+ years Alonso hasn't won a race), will we be talking about Hamilton, the way we talk about Schumacher now? At least Rossi was still enjoying himself, as is Alonso. Doesn't seem like Hamilton is.
My favourite racing driver ever. He got more than his share of bad luck, otherwise he would’ve been a 3 or 4 time world champion, instead of just once. Even though there’s loads of great F1 drivers that can’t even say that.
Nigel also completed a very private straight line test for Tyrell in 1997 too...
Great video again, wasn't originally very interested in Mansell and his last F1 years, but your video made time fly by!
Don't want to sound malicious, but there is something oddly satisfying or hilarious for me about how 3 strong-minded and very confident English people (Mansell, Williams and Dennis) managed to create all of this mess, and how it ended up being people like Prost, Senna and Schumi making the right decisions throughout
Mansell never met a teammate not named Patrese who couldn't beat him six ways to Sunday. It was a perfect ending for him.
I think a video on David walker failing to score any points while fittipaldi won the championship should be made
Nigel was my favorite in those days. I saw how he missed a previous championship by bad luck. In one race he had to make up seconds a lap to get back and nearly did just that. I never again saw a driver throw a Ferrari around the track like in that race. He virtually straightened the curves. I'm willing to aknowledge Senna a superior but Mansell.. A lion indeed.
Nigel looked like he was 40ish even in the 70s/80s.
Senna documentary for the 30th anniversary of his passing coming soon?
The moustache increased downforce
A Senna video you say? 👀
@TheMobileChicane
Need a proper in-depth review and documentary on the goat himself by the Imola GP?
Anything under 2 hours will be a disappointment.
Thanks for using actual footage/clips of the driver/team you talk about.
@@TheMobileChicaneI would love to see it from just about everything, even his love life plus rumors of p*do relationship at one point as well, because... If that happened, the Brazilian court had to jail him but was the age of consent at the time in Brazil did stop or do any of it...
I do apologize for letting you know of rumors and innuendo but there had to be something that was wrong with said rumors.
Thanks for reading anyway.
(about Senna tbh)
OMG an hour of mobile chicane, truly the heavens have opened up for us today 🙏🙏
Nigel said that he would be able to improve his golf handicap during the 1988 season, that was the only good thing about Williams using Judd engines!!
Great video. Nigel Mansell is a childhood hero for me. I watched every race I could, battling against Prost and Senna. The number of times he came close to winning the title was extraordinary to watch. When the F1 title was won followed by indicar it was incredible to watch.
I think there are a number of drivers who didn't know when to quit. Michael Schumacher is a case in point. It seems motor racing is a bit of a lottery. Getting the combination of right car with the right driver at the right time is difficult.
Although in terms of mature drivers, the one I admire at the moment is Fernando Alonso. I think if he has the right car, he could win another title.
Schumacher’s definitely an interesting case. Keep your eyes peeled for a video on him in the future!
I'm sorry, I can't come out tonight, The Mobile Chicane has uploaded 😍
never clicked so fast on a video in my life, happy friday all
fucking love your videos man. do you upload them in podcast form anywhere?
Thanks! I’m looking into the podcast thing; will announce on here when they’re up somewhere!
Il Leone *
El Leon would be in Spanish
(magnificent video once again by the way, you do more than deliver my good sir !)
That was a great nickname for him. In a lion pride, the females do the work to hunt while the male gets first dibs on the winnings. Much like Mansell liked to benefit from the development work performed by other drivers.
Enjoyed it the 1st time I am now watching it for the 2nd time
Very interesting video on my favourite driver. I think it may have been too harsh on him in places.
It's obvious that Jo Ramirez couldn't stand Nigel but for him to describe him as a has been was ridiculous. It was literally months after his win in Australia and he'd proved over those 3 or 4 races he was right on the pace. Admittedly, he could be his own worst enemy by doing so little testing.
I suspect we're about to witness an equally disastrous result with Hamilton and Newey moving to Ferrari in the twilight of their respective careers.
Yet another Mobile Chicane classic
I‘m simple man I see a new TMC video, I click, like and listen
The ‘94 French Grand Prix was the first all British F1 front row since……..answers on a post card.
1977 British Grand Prix? James Hunt and John Watson. Good bit of trivia!
Pretty revisionist on Schumachers return. In hindsight Schumacher was in top for in 2012 a lot of the time. Nobody realised Rosberg was almost as fast as Hamilton.
That’s fair. I’m working on a Schumacher video now (long after I’d finished writing this one), and 2012 Schumacher was very strong.
@@TheMobileChicaneWhen this will be out as got to be honest what happened at Australia 94 also made me stop watching F1 for good. It took until the end of the 97 season for me to love F1 again.
@@evonne_oback in 1997 instead of enjoying F1 you should have worried about some interracial boy being discriminated against, bullied , or even beaten for the wrong skin color
… seriously, wtf is wrong with your backwards uncivilised island ?
… no wonder he lives in Monte Carlo now
Il Leone (The Lion)
For everything post 1994, let's be honest, who would have thought Mansell could be a great fit ? Only Mclaren. A driver who was never known for being the most reliable on track. If Mclaren didn't burned the bridge after 1989, they'd have had their experienced driver able to help develop the car. I wouldn't blame Mansell for all this, but as said, wrong driver for wrong team at wrong time. I think and feel that Prost could have provided some "Lauda lesson" to Hakkinen as Lauda provided to Prost in 1983, even in a mid-tier Mclaren: not as fast, but smarter and more reliable.
I'm going full fantasy now, but just imagine Hakkinen with Lauda's or Prost's racecraft... not that he was bad, but imagine.
In the end, and this is what F1 told us, drivers that are able to last tend to be those that are smart enough off track. Mansell did last but wasn't, Raikkonen wasn't either, Alonso seems to have so much racecraft that he can compensate, Prost was, Piquet, Patrese and Laffite probably, Lauda was, Hill was (though he went way too long for its legacy), Fangio probably and we can only speculate that Clark would have had the racecraft that you need to last. Mansell, I think, was lucky enough to get his title late enough to have some redemption arc and there's no surprise that he got a seat for 1991 very late.
The only thing fitting in the '95 Mansell-McLaren combination was how tightly Nigel fit in the cockpit of that lemon of a car. It was hard to watch because I had nothing against either one of them.
31:05 Marlboro were as interested in "low-key" as the Hulk. Unexpected chuckle 😅😅 On a serious note, I never understood this country's love affair with Nigel. Ive always found him to be a bipolar POS whose head was bigger than a 2024 F1 car
I'm sorry did you say Mansell was fit?
No I said he doesn't fit?
Oh that's much worse
Superb stuff 👏🏻
A fantastic video, went deeper into the situation and history of Mansell than anything I've ever seen before. I'm a brit but never really liked him, I dislike him even more now. What a toxic personality.
Just like Nelson Piquet and Fernando Alonso, horrid people but amazing driver.
Fun fact, you can find it on TH-cam, BBC news reported on Nigel Mansell being too big for the Mclaren with the caption "big problem" 😂
Mansell was a hothead who only succeeded with the robotic Williams FW14 which corrected all of his mistakes.
@skyhigh6089
Only person in the World..... EVER to hold the Indy Car and F1 Championship at the same time. Wind your neck in and have another game on Playstation!
@@Boobyi1953
🤦🏻 nobody gives a flying f@ck about your sports 🏏 🏈⚾️ and its “legends” outside of your dreadful 50 states
What a ridiculous statement to make. Yes he won 9 races that season but he also won 22 from his other seasons. When he finished his career he was 3rd on the all time list for wins. And don't forget he was racing alongside Piquet in 86 and 87 and basically would have won the title both seasons if it wasnt for a blown tyre and a wheel nut shearing off.
the real owner of "5"
It certainly wasn't ever #1 in F1.
If a F1 driver is good enough, he or she doesn't need to pay for a seat!
That 94 Williams is the most beautiful thing 👌👌 even more so than 91 Jordan
can i make a correction, Mansell did not make attempts to sign for Williams in 1993 as renault had already insisted that Prost be the lead driver for 1993 and after what had happened at ferrari it left a bitter taste in his mouth and he went to indycar.
Senna did offer to driver for free but at no point was that an issue for Nigel as he had a better relationship (barely) than he did with Prost
IMO Mansell should have stayed in the states. He didn't get on well with Mario Andretti so it's not like he could have stayed in that championship team, but starting his own team or hooking up with an ascendant team like Forsythe/Green would have given him a respectable place to be for the next several years, and could have helped to give CART the big-name stability it needed in a period where all of their top names were constantly being pilfered by F1, NASCAR, or the IRL.
Williams and contracts in the 90's were quite a battle 😂
Mansell - Best there ever was! Not red 5 but no. 1 all day long.
So true, just ask Nigel, he’ll tell you.
REMINDER
Mansell ONLY won any championship after Nelson Piquet retired from racing. Piquet even attempted to return in Indy just to torment him but it didn't go well.
Instead of getting a fairytale ending to his racing career as a whole as an aging legend his career ended with a severe concussion at the 2010 Le Mans 24hrs after just 4 laps.
You know, I'm starting to think this Mansell guy isn't all that pleasant...or that good, at least compared to other contemporaries.
Continuing for too long has one plus, at least you know you didn't retire too early.
43:14 - here after Monaco 2024 👀
TL;DR Mansell was a talented primadonna and teams like Ferrari and Williams indulged him too much and he couldn't hack a proper professional environment.
Off topic... are Patrick Head and Bill Belichick related? 🤔