Archives: when Nigel Mansell left F1 for… IndyCar

After twelve years in Formula 1 including six at Williams, Nigel Mansell had his best season in 1992. If everything seems to be smiling for the driver who finally wins the championship, Mansell is at his worst: his relations with WIlliams-Renault have become execrable and a certain Alain Prost just signed with the team for 1993. Flashback.

It is September 13, 1992 at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, 13th of 16 events of the season. Nigel Mansell is already champion and has just obtained his eleventh pole position of the season. Yet the Lion seems dejected, staring blankly in front of the media.

Since the Hungarian GP a few weeks earlier, a heavy silence has reigned within Williams. It must be said that the arrival of Alain Prost, three-time world champion, is imminent, while Ayrton Senna is offering himself “for free” to Williams.

Mansell feels betrayed, abandoned by a team to which he has given everything, tired of the treatment inflicted on him when he is just World Champion. After a meeting with the management, Nigel is distraught in the paddock.

Just before the start of the race, he hurriedly informed the media that he had commandeered the press room for a conference. Before he spoke, several members of Williams' staff tried in vain to dissuade him from speaking, but Mansell had too much on his mind. And he drops “the” bomb.

“I have decided to retire from F1 at the end of this season. I made this decision with some regrets but not without a lot of reflection.”

Mansell continues, he highlights the deterioration of his relations with Williams-Renault in recent days, his reduced salary even though he is just World Champion, the arrival of Prost in the team and probable negotiations with Senna.

For the British, it is too much: the divorce is complete. Before closing his press conference, Mansell emphasizes that he does not want to stop motor racing, out of pure passion for the sport: he puts forward the hypothesis of emigrating to the United States.

A few days after announcing his withdrawal from the F1 paddocks, Mansell signs with Newman-Haas replacing Michael Andretti to compete in the CART championship the following year, theIndycar Today. The steering wheel is the best in the competition and the salary is higher than at Williams.

Accompanied by a state-of-the-art team and attentive staff, Mansell won 5 victories in 13 races. He is crowned champion at the end of a historic season. He indeed becomes the first “rookie” in history to win the Indy champion title, and enters the very closed circle of F1 and CART world champions.

The first Englishman to participate in the entire championship (Clark had already won at Indianapolis), he put the competition in the spotlight: thanks to him, the whole world became interested in “American Formula 1”. Nigel Mansell's motorsport epic then becomes "even more" legendary, that of a young Englishman who gave his whole body and soul for his passion for sport and victory.