Nigel Mansell won’t be driving a Williams-Renault in 1991 because Ayrton Senna might be. After mulling it over for a week, allowing the hysteria surrounding his forthcoming retirement [following his Ferrari’s failure in the 1990 British Grand Prix] to subside, I can only conclude, sadly, that Mansell has been driven from Formula 1 by the politics and dithering chicanery which are endemic to this business.
In Le Castellet, a week before Silverstone, I spoke to him at length. It was late Saturday afternoon, and he had spent most of it closeted in the Ferrari motorhome, discussing his future with company president, Piero Fusaro, and team manager, Cesare Fiorio. There was intense pressure on him to re-sign, but the proposal was not to his liking. He declined to make a decision on the spot, and who could blame him?
He had other, more immediate, matters on which to concentrate, among them a race to be run the following day, in which he was starting from pole position. An answer was promised at Silverstone.
Mansell, by his own admission, does not have the consummate political skills of many of F1’s leading players. “To be like that,” he said that afternoon, “you have to manipulate, lie – and anticipate so many moves ahead, because you’ve got to cover your lies. I’ve always found life much easier just going along, telling the truth. Sometimes it seems to cause me more trouble than it’s worth, but I refuse to change…”
He stressed to me, in France, that he genuinely had made no decision about 1991. The choice was clearcut: stay at Ferrari or go back to Williams. There had been other offers, of course, but none worth his serious consideration. So which way was he to go? Each had its attractions, and also its minus points.
There was also, he pointed out, a third alternative. He could retire. And looking back now, I confess I didn’t take this suggestion perhaps as seriously as I should have done. In times past, after all, Nigel had spoken airily about “chucking it all up and going off to play golf”, but it was never with much conviction.
After his disqualification in Estoril last year, and the subsequent ban from the Spanish GP, he spoke again of the possibility of walking away from it all.
Mansell had three options for 1991: stick at Ferrari, twist to Williams or leave the F1 table entirely
Photo by: Motorsport Images
In what circumstances, I asked at Ricard, would you quit? He considered for a moment or two. “If I couldn’t… put a package together for next year,” he began hesitantly, “in which… I’m actually competing for the World Championship, I’d stop.
“That’s what it’s all about for me now – the championship. It’s not about money, or driving for a team with a magic name, or any of that stuff. It’s a matter of a solid job, being competitive everywhere, finishing races.”
In the middle of 1989 his future looked to offer exactly that. He had signed a new Ferrari contract, and one which promised him absolute number one status, two cars at every race, and so on.
“Being with Ferrari has put me on a different level altogether – even in the eyes of Williams, I think. If I were to go back there, it would be totally different” Nigel Mansell
It was known that Gerhard Berger was moving to McLaren at the end of the year, but there was no decision yet about his replacement. Favourites for the drive were Riccardo Patrese and Nicola Larini. Whomever, Nigel’s team-mate would be a firm number two, and in those circumstances I believe he would have been at his most settled, most formidable.
Mansell’s standing, he freely admits, had lurched upwards since his move to Ferrari: “I think Williams would even admit it now, but there was no way they believed I was any kind of star when I was there. They thought I was doing a solid job for them, winning races, but I don’t believe they ever accepted I really was quick, and well able to do the job of a number one.
“Being with Ferrari has put me on a different level altogether – even in the eyes of Williams, I think. If I were to go back there, it would be totally different.”
His situation at Ferrari changed, fundamentally, of course, with the arrival of Prost. Once Alain had decided that his McLaren days were over, but made clear he wished to continue in F1, it was obvious that Ferrari would be at his door.
Prost’s arrival at Ferrari from McLaren in 1990 meant Mansell had to give up priority treatment
Photo by: Ercole Colombo
Any deal with the world champion, though, was dependent on Mansell’s agreement to renounce his firm number one status for 1990, and this the Italians secured, complete with sugared pill.
At Monza, where Prost’s signing was confirmed, Nigel spoke positively about his forthcoming team-mate – “The one man in the pitlane, I believe, from whom I can still learn.” He was sure, he said, that Alain would change a lot of things for the better at Ferrari.
So, too, he has, and Mansell does not dispute it. What he had underestimated, perhaps, was the ‘honeymoon’ aspect of Prost at Ferrari, where there is always a love affair with a new driver – particularly one who startlingly succeeds.
It was the same a year ago, when Mansell was the blue-eyed boy, and Berger mumbled about being taken for granted. Not until Monza did Gerhard finish a race, by which time Nigel had 38 points on the board – 18 of them from a couple of stirring wins.
Now, in 1990, everything has gone the way of Prost. At mid-season, he leads the World Championship, having won four of the eight races. Mansell, by contrast, has retired five times, his highlights thus far a second place in Mexico, and Ferrari’s two pole positions, in France and England.
Although the team was keen to retain him for next season, he must have realised that the force was with Alain. If what he wanted was unequivocal number one status, his own T-car at every race and so on, he would have to move.
At Ricard, as I say, he had reached no firm conclusion, yet I felt more and more strongly that his inclination was towards a return to Williams. Very well, perhaps the money would be less than at Ferrari, but the primary consideration – getting everything in place for a no-holds-barred tilt at the championship – appeared to be on offer.
Mansell’s hunt for an all-out title-fighting situation would mean he would need to move out of Prost’s wake at Ferrari
Photo by: Ercole Colombo
During the days before Silverstone it appears that Mansell and Williams reached agreement, but on the Friday evening a fly of considerable size was revealed in the ointment. It had ‘Nacional’ across its chest.
Ayrton Senna, not surprisingly making the most of his privileged position as F1’s leading power broker, had not yet given Williams a once-and-for-all refusal. Until he did so, no other signings were possible. And it was upon learning this that Nigel took himself out of the Williams game.
In recent weeks the discussions between Senna and his boss Ron Dennis appear to have taken their toll of both men’s patience. The essential problem is not one of money, but of length of contract. Dennis wants Senna to re-sign for three years, while Ayrton prefers the traditional Andretti route of one season at a time.
“I’ve had it with the politics. I just felt weary of it all. And I went back to the motorhome, talked it over with my wife and a couple of friends, then made my announcement” Nigel Mansell
Although the Brazilian has talked at length to Ferrari this year, there seems little realistic prospect of his going there for 1991, since Prost would simultaneously head through the door in the opposite direction. In light of his recent achievements for Ferrari, such a thing would be unpopular, to say the least, in Italy. Illogical, too.
Many are those who suggest, though, that Senna would like a one-year deal somewhere for 1991, so as to leave himself free perhaps to go to Ferrari in 1992, in the event of Prost’s retirement, which most anticipate at the end of next season.
I would be staggered if Senna left McLaren-Honda for Williams-Renault; staggered, indeed, if he were to drive for anyone but Dennis next year. But such is his clout in this business that team managers are prepared apparently to await his pleasure – even if there is little realistic chance of his joining them.
In the meantime, though, there are those at McLaren who have begun to murmur that his legendary dedication to the job has suffered of late, that his mind is on next year, rather than this weekend.
Senna remained kingpin in the driver movements – even if both he and Dennis ran out of patience with negotiations
Photo by: Sutton Images
Be that as it may, by the Saturday of Silverstone one of Mansell’s three options was gone. That afternoon he drove perhaps the greatest single lap of his life to take a pole position which swept Senna, Prost, everyone from the board. And then he went off to think a little more. Did he really need all of this any longer?
On Sunday morning, race morning, he was very relaxed. “I knew,” he said after the race, “that this might be my last British GP. Various friends of mine came to the race, in fact, specifically for that reason.
“For some time it had been a matter of if, if, if – if certain things didn’t happen. And they didn’t. When I pulled off in the race, and walked back past the crowds, I suddenly knew that was it.
“I’ve had it with the politics. I just felt weary of it all. And I went back to the motorhome, talked it over with my wife and a couple of friends, then made my announcement.
“It would have been lovely,” he said, “to have been able to make it at the victory press conference, but that wasn’t to be.”
Not to be, also, is a 1991 GP season in which each of the three leading teams has a genuine ace in the number one car. Senna’s McLaren against Prost’s Ferrari against Mansell’s Williams… consider how that might have worked.
Senna, I cannot doubt, will stay at McLaren next year, and equally sure is that Prost will remain with Ferrari. But who, now, will take up the fight with Frank? Renault pressure is strong for either a superstar or a star who speaks French; Jean Alesi meets the second of those requirements, if not yet the first, but looks like being a busy fellow in 1991.
The Mansell-Ferrari fairytale didn’t yield the ultimate prize, but events in 1990 set the wheels in motion for his ultimately successful Williams return
Photo by: Ercole Colombo
If the rumours be true, in addition to his contract with Tyrrell, he has also signed ‘letters of intent’ with both Williams and Ferrari! And the further word is that he is bound for Maranello.
If all these tales be true, they would seem to have a problem down Didcot way. Al Unser Jr, romanced to some degree at the start of the year, gave up on making phone calls which were never returned, and signed at the weekend for three more years of Indycar racing with Rick Galles.
On Sunday evening I watched Screensport’s live transmission of the CART race through the streets of Toronto. It poured down throughout, but Al Jr calmly drove away into a race of his own, finally beating Michael Andretti by close to a minute [38.1s].
A turbocharged car on skinny tyres is not the easiest proposition in these circumstances, but while others spun, missed braking points and hit walls, Unser was inch-perfect all the way. I hope not, but it may be that his talent is now lost to F1 for good. The whole thing seems to have become so rich, so precious, that no longer dare owners take a chance on something that just might work explosively.
For different reasons Nigel Mansell and Al Unser Jr may be off the F1 wallcharts in 1991. It may change, but at this moment I suspect their overriding feeling will be one of relief.
Mansell’s sole victory for Ferrari in 1990 at the Portuguese GP was a useful sign-off to his departure
Photo by: Motorsport Images
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