page_title: Nigel Mansell
section_title: 1985–1988: Williams
hierarchical_section_title: Nigel Mansell / Formula One / 1985–1988: Williams
caption_attribution_description: Nigel Mansell driving for WilliamsF1 at the 1988 Canadian Grand Prix.
context_page_description: Nigel Ernest James Mansell, CBE is a British former racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship and the CART Indy Car World Series. Mansell was the reigning F1 champion when he moved over to CART, becoming the first person to win the CART title in his debut season, and making him the only person to hold both the World Drivers' Championship and the American open-wheel National Championship simultaneously.
  His career in Formula One spanned 15 seasons, with his final two full seasons of top-level racing being spent in the CART series. Mansell is the second most successful British Formula One driver of all time in terms of race wins with 31 victories, and is seventh overall on the Formula One race winners list behind Michael Schumacher, Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Fernando Alonso. He held the record for the most poles set in a single season, which was broken in 2011 by Sebastian Vettel. He was rated in the top 10 Formula One drivers of all time by longtime Formula One commentator Murray Walker. In 2008, ESPN.com ranked him 24th on their "Top 25 Drivers of All Time" list.
context_section_description: 1985
  In 1985 Frank Williams hired Mansell to drive alongside Keke Rosberg as part of the Williams team, Mansell later saying "We have the greatest respect for each other." Mansell was given the "Red 5" number on his car, which he carried on subsequent Williams and Newman/Haas cars and which was brought to the public's attention mainly through commentator Murray Walker for the BBC.
  Rosberg, the 1982 World Champion who was heading into his fourth season with the team, was initially against Williams signing Mansell based on the clash the pair had at Dallas the previous year (Rosberg won that race and in an interview while on the podium publicly berated Mansell's blocking tactics while leading early in the race, which earned Rosberg a round of boos from the crowd who had appreciated Mansell's courage in trying to push his Lotus to the finish in the extreme heat). Other factors were what Rosberg later said in a 1986 interview was second-hand information about Mansell which ultimately proved to be false. The drivers found they got along well and from early in the pre-season formed a good working and personal relationship.
  1985 initially appeared to provide more of the same for Mansell, although he was closer to the pace than before, especially as the Honda engines became more competitive by mid-season.
  During practice for the 1985 French Grand Prix, Mansell unwillingly broke the record for the highest speed crash in Formula One history. At the end of the Paul Ricard Circuit's 1.8 km long Mistral Straight he went off at the fast Courbe de Signes at over 322 km/h (200 mph) in his Williams FW10. Mansell suffered concussion which kept him out of the race. Teammate Rosberg claimed the pole for the race and finished second behind the Brabham-BMW of Nelson Piquet.
  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. He achieved a second straight victory at the South African Grand Prix in Kyalami. These triumphs helped turn Mansell into a Formula One star.
  1986
  Going into 1986, the Williams-Honda team had a car capable of winning regularly, and Mansell had established himself as a potential World Championship contender. He also 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. The Brazilian publicly described Mansell as "an uneducated blockhead" and had also criticised Mansell's wife Roseanne's looks, later retracting these statements following threats of legal action.
  Mansell won five Grand Prix in 1986 and also 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 (Mansell later jokingly said they should give himself and Senna 7½ points each). The 1986 season was led mostly by Mansell in championship points, and it went down to the wire in Adelaide, Australia for the Australian Grand Prix with Prost, Piquet and Mansell all still in contention for the title. The equation was simple, Prost and Piquet needed to win and have Mansell finish no higher than fourth. After aiming for a third-place finish which would guarantee him the title, Mansell would narrowly miss out on winning it after his left-rear tyre exploded in spectacular fashion on the main straight with only 19 laps of the race to go. In a 2012 interview for Sky Sports Legends of F1 Mansell revealed that, had he hit the wall rather than wrestling the car safely to a halt in the run-off area at the end of the straight, the stewards would most likely have red flagged the race. As the race was over two thirds distance, he would have kept his position and won his first F1 world title. Instead Mansell ended the season as runner-up to Alain Prost. His efforts in 1986 led to his being voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
  1986 proved to be a tough year for both Mansell and the William
caption: Mansell driving a Williams FW12 at the 1988 Canadian Grand Prix
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