Nigel Mansell

Nigel Ernest James Mansell (born 8 August 1953) is a British former racing driver best known for his time in Formula One. Although not a regular winner, Mansell was regarded as one of the best drivers of his generation and also one of the best British drivers all time.

Formula One

1987: Arrows

By 1987, Mansell was team leader at the USF&G Arrows Racing Team alongside promising young Brit Chris Dagnall. Mansell only managed a single podium with the Arrows team in a season fraught with reliability issues. Mansell was outperformed by Dagnall and as such was let go at the end of the year.

1988-1989: Williams

Mansell signed a two year contract with the Canon Williams Honda Team in 1988, teaming alongside Kazuki Fushida in the first year. Mansell managed two podiums in the first half of the season with thirds in San Marino and Great Britain but was ruled out of several races following the Hungarian Grand Prix after contracting a severe bout of chickenpox. Mansell was replaced by Emerson Fittipaldi in this time and returned three races later in Belgium. Mansell finished the year in sixth place.

Mansell was demoted to the second seat after defending champion Jérémy-Étienne Voeckler was frozen out by McLaren ahead of the 1989 season. Williams were a decent package once again and Mansell was a regular visitor to the podium throughout the season. Mansell even scored a win in the final race of the year in Mexico to finish his Williams stint in style. Mansell finished 1989 in fourth place, outperforming his champion teammate whom only managed sixth.

1990: Ferrari

Seeking a more politically neutral driver to team with defending champion Ayrton Senna - Mansell was signed by Ferrari ahead of 1990 with Alain Prost moving in the opposite direction. Mansell took a good few races to get up to speed with the Maranello team - taking until July's French Grand Prix to return to the podium with a second behind teammate Senna. Three races later he'd follow this up with another second place in Hungary - this time behind former Arrows teammate Chris Dagnall. Following the 1990 season, Mansell opted to take a sabbatical from the sport.

Later Career

Team Ownership

In 2018, Mansell - along with Russian businessman Boris Rotenberg - entered his eponymous team into the Formula One World Championship, operating out of a facility at Donington Park race circuit in Leicestershire. The team's drivers were Russian Artem Markelov and Briton Bradley Dagnall - son of former Arrows teammate Chris Dagnall. Over the course of the years, the team became increasingly more Russian influenced - replacing Dagnall with Sergey Sirotkin and taking on a Russian racing licence a year later in 2019.

In 2020, Markelov took the team's first podium finish with a third place in the Argentine Grand Prix. Three races later, Markelov scored the team's first win at the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix.