Mansell making strong bid for world drivers’ title

Press, 11 July 1986, Page 20

Mansell making strong bid for world drivers’ title

By

GEORGE TANNER

As this season’s world drivers’ championship reaches the half-way stage, Nigel Mansell (Britain) is clearly emerging as the most serious threat to reigning world champions, Alain Prost (France) and the Marlboro McLaren team.

The 31-year-old Mansell, who was raised in Birmingham but now lives in Port Erin on the Isle of Man, ■is currently one point behind Prost at the top of the championship points table with eight races remaining in the series.

Mansell, who could so easily have carved out a career as a professional golfer, such is his prowess at that sport, is currently the toast of the Formula One racing world, having won five of the last 11 world championship grands prix.

Mansell’s debut in Formula One came at the, 1980 Austrian G.P. at the wheel of a John Player Special Lotus-Cosworth. Despite some determined drives, which included leading the rain-soaked 1984 Monaco G.P. for five laps before spinning out of contention, success eluded- Mansell and for most of his term with the Norfolk-based team. He was overshadowed by his Italian team-mate, the late Elio de Angelis. With the arrival on the Lotus doorstep of Brazilian hot shot Ayrton Senna, Mansell packed his bags and headed for the greener pastures of Didcot and a contract with the Canon-Williams-Honda team. Mansell’s move to Williams, partnering the “Flying Finn,” Keke Ros-

berg, did not initially set the world alight, but after coming to grips with the temperamental Honda-V6 turbo-engined car, success finally came his way on his home ground at the, 1985 European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch.

The former triple world champion, Jackie Stewart (Scotland), once said that a driver has an enormous pyschological barrier to overcome in attempting to win his first grand prix, but once the initial success is achieved, winning becomes so much easier.

Mansell gave support to Stewart’s view by winning the South African G.P. at Kyalami a fortnight after his inaugural Brands Hatch victory. After being unsuccessful on 73 previous occasions, two consecutive victories were an enormous boost to Mansell’s confidence.

The 1986 season started disastrously for the Williams team when team manager, Mr Frank Williams, was injured in a road accident in France. His Injuries have left the one time physical fitness fanatic permanently paralysed.

The team’s subsequently low morale was boosted somewhat by the maiden victory of Mansell’s new team-mate, Nelson Piquet, in the season’s opening race in his native Brazil.

Many motorsport followers seriously believe that Piquet is the fastest man in Formula One, given the right machinery, but this year the former double champion seems to have lost his motivation and apart from his Brazilian performance, he has been nowhere near the pace of Mansell. With victories this season in Belgium, Canada and France, Mansell could easily be on target to emulate the feat of his compatriot, James Hunt, who exactly a decade ago won the world drivers’ title for Britain.

It is, perhaps, ironic to think that in 1976 Hunt won the title driving a Marlboro McLaren and while Britain would dearly love to produce another champion, the McLaren team could well prevent it

The next round in the championship is the Brit-

ish G.P. at Brands Hatch, the scene of Mansell’s first triumph last year. With Mr Williams making his return to the circuit to oversee his team’s activities at the British event, a win to Mansell

'would give bls team the championship lead, provide them with a pyschological advantage over the opposition with five victories from nine starts and provide Mr Williams with just the medicine his doctor ordered.