30 years ago: Mansell's black flag and the clash with Senna at Estoril

The 13th round of the 1989 season Formula 1 takes place on the Estoril circuit (Portugal). There are only four matches left to go, and Alain Prost is a little ahead of his teammate at McLaren Ayrton Senna (20 points).

The Brazilian came back like never before on Saturday afternoon. Qualifying is his thing. The wearer of No. 1 swallows the 4,350 km with anger, his Honda V10 engine screaming until he crosses the finish line in 1'15''468. His direct pursuer, Gerhard Berger (Ferrari) is rejected by almost six tenths!

“No matter what position other drivers have, I have to win, announced Ayrton Senna before the start on Japanese TV. It’s my desire anyway, my desire at every race. » Alain Prost will start from fourth place. This is therefore a great opportunity to catch up with the Frenchman. 

The event started off rather badly for “Magic”. Gerhard Berger skates less when the lights go out and immediately overtakes him. Nigel Mansell (Ferrari) and Alain Prost remain third and fourth. The Ferrari 640 proved more efficient at the start of the effort, and Ayrton Senna gave way to Nigel Mansell.

The Red duo took off, catching up with the first laps around the 30th lap. The fastest mustachioed man in the paddock overtakes his colleague to take the lead. 

Then comes the wave of pit stops. Nigel Mansell is the last man on the virtual podium to enter the deceleration lane on the 39th lap. But, too optimistic, he locks his wheels while braking, almost mowing down the staff and passes in front of his box! 

Seeing the scene, the chief mechanic of the Scuderia Joan Villadelprat (the man with the lollipop) frantically waves his arms to order his pilot to continue his route and to prevent his men from pushing the car.

This gesture turns out to be useless. Nigel Mansell shifts into reverse and actually returns to his spot. 

In this crowd, mechanics change wheels in light shirt and shorts (!). The Briton loses precious time, and emerges behind Ayrton Senna. As he approaches the Brazilian's rear wing, the Race Direction draws a black flag from its reserve...

This punishment is addressed to Nigel Mansell. It is synonymous with pure and simple disqualification for its action in the stands! A sanction with which we do not trifle. Except that the culprit seems far too focused on the diffuser of the McLaren right in front of him. Once, twice, three times, the black flag is ignored. 

He will not have the opportunity to see it a fourth time. At the end of the main straight, he decided to go inside to Ayrton Senna. The latter takes its usual trajectory, the shock is inevitable. And this is how an excluded driver continued his journey until hitting one of the title contenders! 

Some media are suspicious of Nigel Mansell, such as France 2, which draws a link between Alain Prost's future destination (Ferrari) with the color of the Englishman's car. “When we know that Mansell will be Prost's teammate next season, some people wonder. »

Nigel Mansell defends himself. “I swear on the Bible, I was so engaged in catching Ayrton that I didn’t see the flag. And I swear there was no radio communication. » Ron Dennis, boss of McLaren, believed that “if this was Ferrari management's idea of ​​fair play, perhaps it should be changed. »

“I think with his pit stop he knew he was offside, explained Ayrton Senna. You are not allowed to reverse into the pits. It's as simple as that. It is completely unacceptable that nothing was seen or heard. To me, it was obvious that he was “out”. 

I wasn't aware he was disqualifiedHe says. I don't understand why he did this. »

Alain Prost, moved up to second place after the accident, did a good job by taking six points. At the time, caught up in the toxic climate of the rivalry with Senna, he judged the incident with a sharp look. “Everyone has their own problems. I had it at one time too (in particular with reference to the San Marino GP where a non-aggression pact was interpreted in different ways. Editor's note). 

It's a very difficult season for all of us in the team. For him as for me. I'm certainly much luckier these days. But maybe it’s justice too. » 

As for Ferrari, the blunder was exchanged for a nice ticket of 50 dollars from the sporting powers. Nigel Mansell was ordered by the FIA ​​to watch the following event in Jerez (Spain) from his sofa.

The killer news: the 1989 Portuguese Grand Prix was the only F1 event in which the Minardi team led a lap! This feat was achieved by Pierluigi Martini just after Nigel Mansell's disastrous save.