With 31 race victories, Mansell is the second most successful British Formula One driver of all time.
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Nigel Mansell is a former British racing driver who won the Formula One World Championship as well as the CART Indy Car World Series. When Mansell switched to CART, he was the reigning Formula One champion, becoming the first driver to win the championship in his first season and the only driver to hold both the World Drivers’ Championship and the American open-wheel National Championship at the same time. His Formula One career lasted 15 years, with his final two full seasons of top-level racing in the CART series. With 31 race victories, Mansell is the second most successful British Formula One driver of all time.
In 2005, Mansell competed in the Grand Prix Masters series and won the championship. He later agreed to drive the number 63 Ferrari F430 GT2 car for the Scuderia Ecosse GT race team at Silverstone on May 6, 2007. He and his sons Leo and Greg have since competed in many sports car events, including the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans, and he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2005.
Mansell had a sluggish start to his racing career, relying on his own funds to assist him climb the ranks. He transferred to the Formula Ford series against his father’s wishes after achieving tremendous success in kart racing. Mansell won six of the nine races he entered in 1976, including his first at Mallory Park. He competed in 42 races the next year, winning 33 of them to win the British Formula Ford championship in 1977.
In 1978–1980, Mansell competed in Formula Three. His Formula Three debut began with a pole position and a second-place finish. However, due to a business agreement with Unipart, his team was forced to use Triumph Dolomite engines, which were far inferior to the Toyota engines used by the leading teams. He left the team after three seventh-place results and a fourth in his final race. He drove for David Price Racing the next season. He finished ninth in the championship after his maiden win in the series at Silverstone in March.
Mansell’s ability as a test driver, which included recording the quickest lap around Silverstone in a Lotus vehicle at the time, pleased Lotus boss Chapman enough that he gave him three F1 starts in 1980, driving the Lotus 81B, a development version of the Lotus 81 utilised by the company. He suffered horrific first and second degree burns on his back on his Formula One debut at the 1980 Austrian Grand Prix due to a fuel leak in the cockpit that happened shortly before the race started.
Mansell began the 1992 season by winning five consecutive races in a Williams. When Mansell won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, he broke Jackie Stewart’s record of 27 wins, becoming the most successful British driver of all time. At the age of 39, Mansell was ultimately declared Formula One World Champion at the Hungarian Grand Prix, the season’s 11th round, when his second-place finish sealed the Drivers’ Championship, securing the title in the fewest Grands Prix since the 16-race season structure began. Mansell also set the record for the most wins in a single season, which he held until Schumacher beat it in 2002. That year, he won 14 pole positions.
| Races | 191 |
| Wins | 31 |
| Podiums | 59 |
| Pole positions | 32 |
| Points | 480 |
Nigel Mansell is married to Roseanne Mansell. The couple tied the knot in 1975 and lived at the Isle of Man until 1995. In 2004, Roseanne was diagnosed with cancer which resulted in an especially tough time in Nigel’s life. Of course, he was not alone. The couple has two children, Greg Mansell and Liam Mansell. In an interview with The Guardian, Nigel said said that his wife’s illness had played a part in his decision to let his sons take up motorsport. “A number of things have happened in my wife’s life and mine over the past couple of years to make us realise that you’re only here once [in September 2004, Rosanne Mansell was diagnosed with cancer]. If something makes someone happy then that’s what they should do. Although part of me still wants them to wake up and say this isn’t a good idea,” he said.
Former British racing driver Nigel Mansell has a net worth of USD 90 million. He is the reigning Formula One World Champion and the first person to win the CART Indy Car World Series in his debut season. Nigel is one of the most successful British Formula One drivers of all time, having won 31 races and ranking sixth overall in the race winners list. Murray Walker named him among the top ten Formula One drivers of all time, and the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network ranked him 24th on their best drivers of all time list in 2008.
