Nigel Mansell held the record for the most poles set in a single season, which was broken in 2011 by Sebastian Vettel.
101 Facts About Nigel Mansell
2.
Nigel Mansell raced in the Grand Prix Masters series in 2005, and won the championship title.
3.
Nigel Mansell later signed a one-off race deal for the Scuderia Ecosse GT race team to drive their number 63 Ferrari F430 GT2 car at Silverstone on 6 May 2007.
4.
Nigel Mansell has since competed in additional sports car races with his sons Leo and Greg, including the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans, and was inducted to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2005.
5.
Nigel Ernest James Mansell was born on 8 August 1953 in Upton-upon-Severn, Worcestershire, where his parents, Eric and Joyce Mansell, ran a tea shop.
6.
Nigel Mansell had a fairly slow start to his racing career, using his own money to help work his way up the ranks.
7.
In 1976, Nigel Mansell won six of the nine races he took part in, including his debut event at Mallory Park.
8.
Nigel Mansell entered 42 races the following year and won 33 to become the 1977 British Formula Ford champion, despite suffering a broken neck in a qualifying session at Brands Hatch.
9.
Nigel Mansell discharged himself from the hospital and returned to racing.
10.
Nigel Mansell finished fourth and decided that he was ready to move into the higher formula.
11.
Nigel Mansell's racing was consistent, but a collision with Andrea de Cesaris resulted in a huge cartwheeling crash which he was lucky to survive.
12.
Nigel Mansell's driving was noticed by Colin Chapman, owner of Lotus, and shortly after his accident, hiding the extent of his injury with painkillers, Mansell performed well enough during a tryout at the Paul Ricard circuit with Lotus, where he was pitted against a number of other drivers to determine who was going to take the second seat for the 1980 season alongside Mario Andretti, as Argentine Carlos Reutemann was leaving to go to Williams.
13.
Team leader Mario Andretti wrote his car off in a start-line accident during the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal, so Nigel Mansell had to give up his car for Andretti to compete in for his home race, the final race of the season at Watkins Glen in the United States.
14.
Nigel Mansell managed a best finish of third place, which he achieved five times during the four years, including Lotus's fifth race of the 1981 season, and only the seventh of Mansell's Formula One career.
15.
Nigel Mansell was faster, he had out-qualified Nigel ten times to three.
16.
However, with encouragement from Lotus's sponsors, John Player Special, and with the only other remaining top British driver already confirmed to be joining the factory Renault team, it was announced Nigel Mansell would be staying with the team.
17.
In 1984, Nigel Mansell finished in the championship top 10 for the first time, and took his first career pole position but still finished behind teammate de Angelis, who finished third, in the championship.
18.
Nigel Mansell was remembered by many that year when he collapsed while pushing his car to the finish line after the transmission failed on the last lap of the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix.
19.
Nigel Mansell suffered a concussion, which kept him out of the race.
20.
Nigel Mansell achieved second place at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, and followed this with his first victory in 72 starts at the European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch in England.
21.
Nigel Mansell achieved a second straight victory at the South African Grand Prix in Kyalami.
22.
Nigel Mansell had a new teammate in twice World Champion Nelson Piquet who had joined Williams looking to be a regular winner and contender again after the Brabham-BMWs had become increasingly unreliable and uncompetitive.
23.
Nigel Mansell won five Grand Prix in 1986 and played a part in one of the closest finishes in Formula One history, finishing second to Ayrton Senna in the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez by a mere 0.014 seconds.
24.
The Brazilian added that he won because he was more consistent than his teammate, racking up points and podiums where Nigel Mansell often ran into trouble.
25.
Piquet's was a percentage driving policy which worked well in the ultra-competitive Williams-Honda, whereas Nigel Mansell was a hard charger who many felt often pushed his luck too far.
26.
In 1988, for the first time in his career, Nigel Mansell was a team's first driver, having won more races in the previous two seasons than any other driver.
27.
Nigel Mansell contracted chickenpox in the summer of 1988 and after a competitive drive in the very hot conditions of the 1988 Hungarian Grand Prix the illness became worse, forcing him to miss the next two Grands Prix in Belgium where he was replaced by Martin Brundle, and Italy where he was replaced by Frenchman Jean-Louis Schlesser.
28.
In preparation for the 1989 season, Nigel Mansell became the last Ferrari driver to be personally selected by Enzo Ferrari before his death in August 1988, an honour Nigel Mansell described as "one of the greatest in my entire career".
29.
Nigel Mansell believed that 1989 would be a development year and that he would be able to challenge for the championship the following season.
30.
Nigel Mansell later joked that he had booked an early flight home for halfway through the race as he predicted the car's new electronic gearbox would last only a few laps.
31.
Nigel Mansell became the first driver to win a race in a car with a semi-automatic gearbox.
32.
However, Nigel Mansell finished fourth in the Championship with the help of a second win for Ferrari at the tight and twisty Hungaroring for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
33.
Early in practice Nigel Mansell had seen that trying to qualify the car high on the grid was a pointless exercise and he decided instead to concentrate on a good race set-up.
34.
Nigel Mansell recalls one incident where at the 1990 British Grand Prix, the car he drove did not handle the same as in the previous race where he had taken pole position.
35.
On confronting the mechanics, it transpired that Prost saw Nigel Mansell as having a superior car and as a result, they were swapped without telling Nigel Mansell.
36.
This, combined with the fact that Frenchman Prost was not only a triple World Champion and the winner of more Grands Prix than anyone in history, but spoke fluent Italian, whereas Nigel Mansell's Italian was only conversational at best, gave Prost greater influence within the Maranello-based team.
37.
Nigel Mansell scored only a single win, at the 1990 Portuguese Grand Prix, and finished a thrilling second to Nelson Piquet in Australia, and finished fifth in the World Championship.
38.
Nigel Mansell would agree to return only if a list of demands were met, including undisputed number one status over Riccardo Patrese, guarantees of support in a wide variety of areas with each guarantee in writing, and assurances from suppliers such as Renault and Elf that they would do everything necessary to help him win.
39.
Frank Williams said the demands were 'impossible'; Nigel Mansell concluded that if that were the case he would be happy to retire.
40.
Three weeks later the impossible had happened and Nigel Mansell was a Williams driver.
41.
Senna's car had stopped on the final lap, but, rather than leave his rival stranded out on the circuit, Nigel Mansell pulled over on his victory lap and allowed Senna to ride on the Williams sidepod back to the pits.
42.
Senna was on 40 points with four straight wins to open the season by the time Nigel Mansell gained his first finish with a second in Monaco.
43.
Nigel Mansell then had the next race in Canada practically won when his Williams FW14 stopped half a lap from the finish with what was reported to be transmission failure, though it was claimed by designer Adrian Newey that Nigel Mansell had let his engine revs drop too low while he was waving to the crowd in celebration and stalled his engine.
44.
Nigel Mansell started the 1992 season with five straight victories.
45.
However, with seven laps remaining, Nigel Mansell suffered a loose wheel nut and was forced into the pits, emerging behind Ayrton Senna's McLaren-Honda.
46.
Nigel Mansell became the most successful British driver of all time when he won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, as he surpassed Jackie Stewart's record of 27 wins with his 28th.
47.
Nigel Mansell was finally crowned Formula One World Champion at the age of 39 early in the season at the Hungarian Grand Prix, the 11th round of that season, where his second-place finish clinched the Drivers' Championship, securing the title in the fewest Grands Prix since the 16-race season format started.
48.
Nigel Mansell set the then-record for the most wins in one season ; both records stood until broken by Schumacher in 2002.
49.
Nigel Mansell managed 14 pole positions that year, a record only broken by Sebastian Vettel in 2011 in the Brazilian Grand Prix on 26 November.
50.
Nigel Mansell held the record for the most races before becoming World Champion with 180 races; this record was broken by Nico Rosberg in 2016 with 206 races.
51.
Nigel Mansell holds the record for obtaining pole position and scoring the fastest lap and subsequently retiring from the race.
52.
Nigel Mansell is the driver having the most wins without ever winning Monaco.
53.
Nigel Mansell won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award again in 1992, one of only four people to have won the award twice.
54.
Williams decided that there was little sense in paying the high fees Nigel Mansell went on to demand, and told him that he needed to sign on the original deal or Senna was ready to instead.
55.
When Nigel Mansell discovered this to be untrue and a ruse, he decided to move on and called a press conference to announce his retirement.
56.
An 11th hour offer was made to him at the Italian Grand Prix, but by then the damage was done - Nigel Mansell retired from F1.
57.
Nigel Mansell would go on to score five wins for the 1993 CART season, which, with more high-placed finishes, was good enough to earn him the championship.
58.
Subsequently, Nigel Mansell was due to sign autographs at a K-mart store, but because of a lack of demand the event was cancelled.
59.
Nigel Mansell was the catalyst for the breakdown in the relationship between himself and Mario Andretti.
60.
Mario has since remarked "I guess if Ronnie Peterson was the best team-mate I ever had, Nigel Mansell was the worst" and "I had a lot of respect for him as a driver, but not as a man".
61.
In 1994, after the CART season ended, Nigel Mansell returned to F1 and re-joined the Williams team.
62.
Prost, Nigel Mansell's replacement, won the 1993 Drivers' Championship and then retired after the season.
63.
Nigel Mansell's return was helped by Bernie Ecclestone helping unravel his contracts in the United States.
64.
Nigel Mansell took his final Grand Prix victory in Adelaide, the last race of the season, having out-qualified the two title contenders at the time, Damon Hill and Michael Schumacher, in the process.
65.
The plan initially was for Nigel Mansell to protect Hill from Schumacher, but both drivers passed him at the start and eventually collided, handing Schumacher his first world title.
66.
Nigel Mansell purportedly agreed a new contract to drive for Williams again in 1995, but later claimed this was rescinded.
67.
Nigel Mansell's car was completed in 33 days and in time for Imola, where despite being in the top six late in the race, a clash with Eddie Irvine saw him finish 10th and out of the points.
68.
The Spanish Grand Prix saw Nigel Mansell become frustrated over his car's handling characteristics, he chose to retire after just two races with the team.
69.
In 2015, Nigel Mansell stated that he was wrong to leave McLaren so soon and that in hindsight he should have continued with the team for the season and help improve the car.
70.
The Jordan team said after the tests in Barcelona in December 1996 that Nigel Mansell decided against it.
71.
Nigel Mansell took part in the 1993 TOCA Shootout, held at Donington Park.
72.
Nigel Mansell drove a Ford Mondeo with his usual red number 5.
73.
The race ended in disaster for Nigel Mansell; he was knocked unconscious following a crash with six laps remaining.
74.
Nigel Mansell lost control of his car through the exit of the Old Hairpin, over-corrected the slide and collided with Tiff Needell's Vauxhall Cavalier, resulting in a spin and a bad crash into the tyre wall under the bridge.
75.
Nigel Mansell made a return to racing in 1998 in the British Touring Car Championship, driving in a Ford Mondeo for three rounds.
76.
On 16 July 2005, Nigel Mansell took part in a Race of Legends exhibition event at the Norisring round of the DTM.
77.
Nigel Mansell competed against other Formula One World Champions Jody Scheckter, Alain Prost and Emerson Fittipaldi, as well as Motorcycle Grand Prix World Champions Mick Doohan and Johnny Cecotto, each driver having an opportunity to drive Audi, Mercedes and Opel cars.
78.
Nigel Mansell became a financial stakeholder and a driver in the new Grand Prix Masters series.
79.
Nigel Mansell was paired with Chris Niarchos, finishing seventh in class and 21st overall.
80.
On 3 July 2009, Nigel Mansell tested his other son Greg's World Series by Renault car at the Silverstone Circuit, setting a best time six seconds off the pace of the fastest driver in the session.
81.
Nigel Mansell raced a Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S in the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans, alongside his two sons.
82.
Reports at the time indicated that he had suffered a concussion, but Nigel Mansell later revealed that the accident left him unable to talk or recognize his wife and children.
83.
Nigel Mansell took this role at the 2010,2011,2012,2013,2014,2015,2016 British Grands Prix.
84.
Nigel Mansell has written several autobiographies and books on racing in general:.
85.
Nigel Mansell participated in Prince Edward's charity television special The Grand Knockout Tournament.
86.
Nigel Mansell appeared as a playable driver for Williams in Codemasters' F1 2013.
87.
Nigel Mansell has been married to Roseanne since 1975 after meeting as students.
88.
Nigel Mansell lived in Port Erin on the Isle of Man during most of his F1 career until 1995.
89.
Nigel Mansell spent 11 years of his life as a Special Constable on the Isle of Man during his driving career, and in Devon after he retired from racing.
90.
Nigel Mansell is the owner of the Team UK Youth cycling team.
91.
Nigel Mansell appeared without his moustache in the first half of the 1988 season.
92.
The moustache made a re-appearance when Nigel Mansell was interviewed by the BBC at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.
93.
Nigel Mansell's sons Leo and Greg are former racing drivers, while his daughter Chloe is a designer.
94.
Nigel Mansell raced with a blue helmet with two red and white arrows on each side forming on the front a drawing resembling the Union Jack with the upper angles of the arrows united by a red and white 'U' with the white chin area, when he entered Williams, a blue ring was added on the white part of the helmet.
95.
Nigel Mansell was awarded the title of BBC Sports Personality of the Year in both 1986 and 1992.
96.
Nigel Mansell was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2005.
97.
Nigel Mansell won the Hawthorn Memorial Trophy, an award for the leading British or Commonwealth driver in F1 each year seven times.
98.
Already an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, Nigel Mansell was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to children and young people.
99.
Nigel Mansell has received the Special Constabulary Long Service Medal.
100.
Nigel Mansell received The London Classic Car Show Icon Award in 2018.
101.
Nigel Mansell was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2006.