From: aghao@sersun2.essex.ac.uk (Aghanya O A)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.sport
Subject: The NEW Nigel Mansell (Senna was innocent!) (SPOILERS)
Keywords: THAT qualifying incident.
Date: 6 Apr 92 14:07:46 GMT
Reply-To: aghao@sersun2.essex.ac.uk (Aghanya O A)
Organization: University of Essex, Colchester, UK

Greetings.

Well, I am happy, and I am unhappy.  I am happy 'cos 'Our Nige' did me 
proud again on Sunday.  However, I must also say that that was basically one
of the most boring races we have seen since 1988, when Senna and Prost were
at it all year.  At least in Mexico 2 weeks ago, we had the fleeting
spectacle of the Berger-Brundle battle :-).  

I was saying this last year, and I'll say it again - if the opposition don't 
get their act together, and soon, the Williams team are going to spoil the 
season for us fans, and I would much rather Mansell won on the track after 
some serious, *HARD*, racing, than by default because his opposition fell by 
the wayside.  I'm pretty sure that if you asked him at the end of the season, 
he would agree.  Having said that, the rules are the same for everyone, and
it is up to Ferrari, McLaren, Benetton, et al to get their house in order,
and give the Williams team a run for their money (as I also remember saying 
last year!).

Turning to the notorious Senna-Mansell incident in Saturday's Qualifying,
trevc@mips.com (Trevor Cotton) wrote:

>Appears that Senna is feeling the pressure, and is re-deploying some
>of his old tactics - if you can't beat 'em, take 'em off!
>
>Fortunately, our Nige survived this one.

In a similar vein, Alan.Crowder@prg.oxford.ac.uk wrote:

>I HATE SENNA!!  What a prat taking nigel off on saturday, he needs a ban
>from F1 to cool him off.


Now, I saw that incident LIVE (via satellite), and EUROSPORT was kind enough to
show several replays of it from many different angles. and I have absolutely
*NO* hesitation in saying that Mansell was *COMPLETELY* to blame for that
particular bit of stupidity.  I will now attempt to justify my point of view.

It was in the dying moments of Q2, and Mansell had been pounding round for a 
few laps.  Senna emerged in the 7A, and as he came out, Mansell was just 
crossing the line.  As they came out of turn three onto the straight, Senna was
perhaps 5-8s ahead, with Mansell closing.  After a few more bends, Mansell was 
right up Senna's gearbox, and clearly, that particular lap, if it WAS a hot 
one, was long gone.  I expected him to sit back and wait for an opportune 
overtaking moment, but he was all over the McLaren, dodging this way and that.
Finally he tried to overtake round the outside of a hairpin, and Senna (who I 
thought was also playing the silly game and covering up the inside), moved 
wide, pushed Mansell onto the marbles, and that was it.

However, John Watson, who was commentating at the time, said (and I agree) that
"The onus is on the overtaking driver to make sure that he could overtake 
safely before doing so"  Even if Senna was blocking Nigel, there was NO need 
for him to overtake there at all.  I think that he was trying to rub in the 
fact that the Williams is a better car (at the moment) and press home his
psychological advantage.  OK, that's his decision.  I think it is grossly 
unfair though to lay the blame on Senna, and even Mansell agreed, saying that 
he "thought Senna had moved over to let him through", and that "he didn't 
blame Senna at all".

That's what I mean by my headline (The NEW Mansell), because I feared that
he would march into the McLaren pit and grab Senna by the throat (a la Spain 
1986?).  I thought he showed considerable and admirable maturity
(for a pleasant change!), and was man enough to say "*I* f*cked up, no harm
done, let's get on with racing".  

With that sort of attitude, I reckon he could be ready, at long last, for 
title #1...

Cheers,

	Obi.

===============================================================================
    .-----,   .           !    Obi Aghanya
   /     /   /        @   !    Fault Tolerant Systems Research Group
  /     /   /----,   /    !    Dept. of Comp. Sci, University of Essex
 /     /   /    /   /     !    Colchester  CO4 3SQ,  UK
(_____'   (____'   (__    !    EMAIL : aghao@uk.ac.essex
            (Waterloo in '92 - for Ayrton! :-)