The Nigel Mansell Effect™

[raymondu999]

Hey all... just wondering here... I think this year has surprised quite a few people in the inter-team battles. Webber VS Vettel I think has caught out quite a few people by surprise, as I think most people were expecting Vettel to be ahead. Button-Hamilton has taken a similar story, but Hamilton is only trailing by 4 points. I feel the common denominator in both cases is that Webber, and Button, were both practically just classified as "also rans" for most of their career. Then Button won his WDC and Webber won in Spain 2010... and both just boosted their confidence by miles. This in a sense is similar to what happened to Nigel Mansell... are there any other known cases of this same effect taking hold on other drivers?

[xpensive]

Niki Lauda wasn't considered much at the beginning, started out as a pay-driver for MrM in 1972 and after a year of driving shitboxes from Bourne in 1973, he joined Ferrari in 1974. This was not a very much coveted seat at the time, Jacky Ickx had left for Lotus, but Mauro Forghieri had struck aerodynamic gold and he could have won the title that year.

Jacky Ickx never won another GP.

[WhiteBlue]

Sebastian is still faster than Mark IMO. His problem in the last three races were a damaged chassis in Spain and Monaco and a loose shock absorber linkage in Turkey that also damaged the lower right rear wishbone assembly in Q3. Now Seb is driving Mark's old 02 chassis and will probably still be faster although Mark switched to the tub 04. I understand that 04 had some subtle improvements that are not covered by homologation, perhaps they simply build this tub without time pressure and were able to apply greater care avoiding faulty materials or manufacturing faults that affected 03 negatively.

[raymondu999]

Yes but this thread isn't quite Vettel vs Webber.. it's just discussing those drivers that are seemingly up to no good, then suddenly hit a milestone and become amazing drivers.

[Just_a_fan]

Yes but this thread isn't quite Vettel vs Webber.. it's just discussing those drivers that are seemingly up to no good, then suddenly hit a milestone and become amazing drivers.

Mansell was always quick, always drove with his heart. Indeed, that was his problem really - he was rubbish at playing the team politics game.

He was hit by lots of failures at critical times too which seemed to knock him back mentally. His WDC was truly earned in my opinion - here was a guy that put everything he owned on the line (literally - he mortgaged his house to keep racing at one point) to be a racing driver. That he won the F1 title and then the Indy title the year after was due reward.

He was a whinging bugger though...

[lebesset]

real racer was nige , grafted his way to the top , good luck to him , should have won more championships

but I disagree with the

he was a whinging bugger though

if you had said

he IS a whinging bugger , I would have totally agreed

look at his criticism of hamilton for getting millions from McL from the age of 7 ; the fact that hamilton didn't get anything until his dad had held down 3 jobs and had to re-mortgaged the house seems to have escaped him ,McL supported him when he had shown he was exceptional , great investment

and of course nige has never supported his sons so that they could go racing , has he ? not much he hasn't

[andrew]

Mansell only won the championship as the 92 Williams practically drove itself it was so good and the absence of Prost certainly helped that year.

I think Mansell was over-rated and he was constantly a miserable git. Bit like a dying duck in a thunderstorm and man, did he whinge!

[Chaparral]

Mansell only won the championship as the 92 Williams practically drove itself it was so good and the absence of Prost certainly helped that year.

I think Mansell was over-rated and he was constantly a miserable git. Bit like a dying duck in a thunderstorm and man, did he whinge!

Andrew I think Mansell was certainly a pain in the arse when it came to whinging thats for sure although some of my British mates try and tell me it was his 'Brummie way' whatever that means? does anyone know what this means?? bottom line was the guy gave his all thats for sure - in essense you had to have the car to do the job and lots of time he didnt and sometimes he did he won the CART title first time out for instance which was a big achievement especially as he had (no) oval exposure prior to the changeover from F1 to CART

[manchild]

Mansell only won the championship as the 92 Williams practically drove itself it was so good and the absence of Prost certainly helped that year.

I think Mansell was over-rated and he was constantly a miserable git. Bit like a dying duck in a thunderstorm and man, did he whinge!

Oh Really?

He lost one title due to injury and two titles due to technical failures

1986 - 2nd in WDC - tyre failure cost him title http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=187Jw4CLtkE 2nd in WDC

1987 - 2nd in WDC - as he got spinal injury and didn't participate last two races

1991 - 2nd in WDC - badly tightened wheel in Portugal, out of fuel in Canada http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeDt6eCXUTY

He just had a lot of bad luck, and by any other mean he was as good as his main rivals of the time.

[andrew]

Thems excuses. [-X

[xpensive]

Mansell out of fuel in Montreal 1991, never heard that version really?

[manchild]

Thems excuses. [-X

Hey, you've described him as poor driver. He was 3 times vice-champion in seasons where not his driving but technical failures and injuries prevented him from taking titles.

Check the drivers he left below despite all that happened to him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_Formula_One_season

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_Formula_One_season

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Formula_One_season

Three former champions in 1986 (Jones, Rosberg, Piquet), one in 1987 (Prost) and two in 1991 (Prost, Piquet). That is not something "poor drivers" can achieve. Name me similar statistics from the career of the guy from your avatar.

[andrew]

Mansell out of fuel in Montreal 1991, never heard that version really?

Is that the race where he started waving to the crowd and switched the engine off by mistake, handing Nelson Piquet his last win in F1?

[xpensive]

In all of those three seasons, 86-87-91, Mansell had a superior car, while in 1995 with a car less so, he walked out of the team (McLaren)
after being thrashed by Hakkinen.

[andrew]

In all of those three seasons, 86-87-91, Mansell had a superior car, while in 1995 with a car less so, he walked out of the team (McLaren)
after being thrashed by Hakkinen.

I thought it was due to the car being too narrow for his, er how shall I put it, bulk.