"Nigel would have won again in 1993." David Brown talks Nigel Mansell with Peter Windsor

We talk to David Brown, Williams Race Engineer with Nigel Mansell from 1985-94 - the period in which Nigel won 28 F1 races and the World Championship. In conversation with Peter Windsor, David talks about the Golden Era of the Williams-Honda turbos; the game-changing FW14-Renaults - and, among many other aspects of F1 life, what track-walking was like with Nigel on the Thursday before a race and why Nigel used to confuse the Honda engineers by singing into the radio...
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[@crapmalls]

Nigel was awesome. Some of the best wins but definitely most heartbreaking losses

[@Mark-zk3gu]

You really think he would've won 93 after Prost absolutely creamed him in the same car in 90 and Hill did the same to him in 94? That's just straight up revisionism

[@crapmalls]

@@Mark-zk3gu youre telling the story bro, continue..

[@kdm6287]

Great interview, please can we have more like this. Great work

[@DuncanCunningham]

Does David never age? He is aging very well indeed. I've always wanted someone to do an interview with him at some point. Thank you Peter for using your connection and relationship with David to do this.

[@adrianhughes2163]

Great interview, and as a Nigel Mansell fan from my youth it was great hearing about him. Thank you :)

[@harblewarble6427]

Great interview! David and Peter have so much insight to share once they get talking.

[@sen5908]

People may mock me, but Nigel was up there with Senna Prost etc, you may say he only won one championship but he is the only driver to hold the F1 title and the Indycar one at the same time, winning that in his first year, after a horrific crash, and injury's, could you imagine, pick up the pace Nigel, "f*** o** i loved the man, give me our nige any day over Hamilton with his Friday designer clobber 😂

[@David_D.]

No mocking at all, you're absolutely correct. 👍👏

[@daniels.2720]

Great conversation Peter = more please !!

[@Yonner666]

If Williams had kept Mansell in 1993 as you say he would have won the title then, but he should be a three times champion if it wasn’t for the tyre explosion in Adelaide in 87.

[@David_D.]

The tyre explosion was in '86. He should have won in '87 too but for appalling misfortune. The same goes for '91 so he should have been a five time champion.

[@neiljones3855]

Great to hear David again remember Nigel Mansell introducing him on one of his season review videos and thinking wow they have won 28 races together great to see he is still racing.

[@DominicRumbles]

Bravo Peter. Brilliant conversation with someone who was integral to the Williams success story. Not many people will appreciate that Nigel had finesse, a real empathy with the car and ability to drive around the issues to go faster. Wonderful insight.

[@con8v11]

Indeed, a lot of people suggested that Nigel was hard on cars, and he just used to muscle cars around the circuit, suggesting he was just brave with no natural talent. It's nice to hear from people that really knew that it was indeed the opposite. I have no doubt that he would have beaten Prost in 1993 as the the car suited his driving style and total commitment you had to have driving the active car. Not taking anything away from Prost, who was one of the very best.

[@mosca3289]

Great to hear insider stories of the older drivers.

[@vintagevinylvets1187]

Nigel was my favorite driver during his era. Miss watching those cars.🏁

[@bobarchbold275]

A magnificent drive down memory lane...love every minute of it....thank you both!

[@luisdesantis6035]

I enjoy immensely these type of conversations.

[@nicktheengineer5976]

Fantastic. I really enjoyed this

[@harrychalcraft9711]

I really appreciate the realism and less of the flair with this channel, Peter comes across as someone who always has time to have a detailed and interesting conversation about particular subjects without fretting "is this interesting enough?!" Yes, it very much is. Let people speak and talk to them what they're passionate about.

[@harrychalcraft9711]

The great content will flow from there.

[@80sandmore94]

Next time please ask Mr Braun if he remembers the garage in Imola that made the steering column modification in Senna's Williams...

[@mark4lev]

I don’t think he’d want to talk about that. Senna kept hitting his knuckles on the cramped tub, so they slimmed down the steering column.

[@timothydavey2406]

More please.

[@andrewstorm8240]

Any chance to have Nigel on the show

[@rajjy1976]

Would’ve been nice to hear about his brief time with Senna…

[@80sandmore94]

This man knows exactly what cause the accident of Ayrton Senna.

[@Tracertme]

This was the last of the good days of F1 it’s all been downhill since then.. by the time we got to Lewis it was all over….

[@rhodaborrocks1654]

I remember the smell of that fuel from the spectator stands, burnt washing powder is how I described it.

[@_Ben4810]

I do enjoy these interviews with the team engineers...any chance you do interviews with Team Lotus alumni Ronnie Peterson's mechanic Keith Leighton & Nigel's engineer (& much more...) Nigel Stroud please Peter. 👌🙏👍

[@MENQN]

Peter before your fun years on ITV, Nigel Mansella knew how to fill up a crowd at Silverstone now it's of course that Hamilton that never disappoints us at Silverstone so they even had to name the straight after him.

[@Tjescoo]

Heey where did your first january livestream go? :(

[@tintintintin7649]

Try and get Ron Dennis please!

[@paulstone3209]

You didn't discuss David engineering Senna for the few races of 94. On the point of our Nige should have been world champion 86 87 91, 92 of course and most definitely 93. 5 time world champion

[@brendanbrown3100]

Prost would have won all those easy in a Williams!

[@F1jones]

And yet in reality he needed the launch of the Neweymobile era to get it done. 1x WDC.

[@David_D.]

Yes, definitely a five time champion.

[@harrychalcraft9711]

11:00 I know it's not the same thing but when I'm doing a long race in a simulator game it can totally take seconds out of my lap when i get disturbed through that stupid AI radio or world chat and foreign language/expletive.

[@TheSimon521]

the red 5

[@F1jones]

To be fair, who wouldn't have?

[@michaelcruse7570]

Wooda,coulda,shoulda

[@Mark-zk3gu]

Its incredible how the Brits boost this mid driver. Spent majority career spanked by better drivers in the same car. Is an all time great because he won a title in one of the most dominant cars of all time.

[@jarekaugustyn4598]

Mansell and Prost in Williams versus Senna and the winner of the 1993 WDC would have been Senna... As far as I know Mansell received Frank Williams accept for his financial demanding in Monza but refused as, in his view, it was too late. Am I correct? Pity. Mansell alonside Prost would definitely mean Ayrton as 1993 WDC.

[@brendanbrown3100]

No way - Prost easy beats Mansell over a season. As soon as Prost speak French with the Renault engineers, Mansell goes into a sulk, quits the test session and goes off playing golf.

[@jarekaugustyn4598]

​@@brendanbrown3100 Prost beats Mansell but sometimes Mansell would have been better and take-off Prost points.... anyway it is all what if. The thing is Mansell and Prost at Williams could result in one special way: Senna with us until today.

[@jonathanowen8389]

Interesting possibility. Bit like Prost won in '86, when Mansell and Piquet were taking points off each other. Would have made a great season.

[@jarekaugustyn4598]

@@jonathanowen8389 We have lost not only 93 but also 94 threeway battle: Mansell and Prost in Williams and Senna in Mclaren..... As you know initially Prost contract was also for 94 but he gave up another season with Senna in Williams. I am sure he would not mind it if Mansell was his teammate durning 94.

[@brendanbrown3100]

@@jarekaugustyn4598 Prost would have creamed Mansell in 94 given all the banning of driver aids. Mansell’s chances in 93 were better but he was never as consistent as Prost. You don’t get points for being spectacular.

[@harrychalcraft9711]

It was a sad day when I found out "our Nige" was a passionate golfer. Typical really.

[@mytinplaterailway]

Mansell had a championship winning car in '86,'87,'90,'91 and '92. Only won one of those. In '90 he was the incumbent, and Prost still thrashed him. Prost would have beaten Mansell again in '93.

[@stuffilike4498]

Williams didn't do team orders in 86/87, reported that Frank and Patrick were more interested in Constructors P1 than driver glory. 1990, lot of DNF's for both drivers and Mansell told them early on he was retiring (Told the public at British GP after the gearbox failed again) Ferrari rallied around Mr Prost to try to catch Senna for the rest of the year. 91, car got better through the year before the Suzuka accident ended it. 92 stroked it home. Slightly different to your memory. In a Williams, in his team, he'd beat Prost in 93 IMHO.

[@mytinplaterailway]

I don't remember Prost needing team orders either. 1990 is the best guide, 5-1 wins pretty impressive. Mansell threw his toys out of his pram because he'd more than met his match.@@stuffilike4498

[@michaeldellorso889]

Are you suggesting Peter overrates Mansell? It was before my time, but he rates Mansell higher than others do. Does it big time with Leclerc.

[@mytinplaterailway]

Mansell was a fantastic driver, the equal - almost - of Keke Rosberg, faster than Piquet. But not as good as Prost.@@michaeldellorso889

[@brendanbrown3100]

Of course Ferrari would rally round Prost - he was faster!

[@gavinfinlayson485]

No he wouldn't... Prost would have raised his game. Smashed him in 90 and would of done the same in 93.

[@detonator2112]

Nigel was beaten by Elio de Angelis at Lotus. Nigel was easily beaten by Keke Rosberg at Williams 1985. Nigel was beaten by Piquet 1987. Nigel was completely demolished by Prost at Ferrari 1990. What makes you think he would have won if he had Prost or Senna as a teammate? Never ever. He was a fast and spectacular driver but made lots of crucial mistakes.

[@adelaidecity76]

Nigel was a clear number 2 at Lotus, and just look at Senna in 86 - he knew that Lotus wouldn't prepare two cars equally so he vetoed Warwick. Yes, Nigel was beaten by Keke for much of 85 but after that first win at Brands Hatch he was like a new driver and with 2 poles and 2 wins in the last 3 races he looked every bit as good as Rosberg. Nigel beat Piquet in 86 and was clearly faster in 87. He wasn't 'completely demolished' in 1990 unless you just purely go off stats and the fact is we don't JUST go off stats - otherwise we'd all be saying Lewis is the greatest driver of all time. He was equal in quali with Prost at 8-8 and had truly appalling reliability. He would have had at least one if not two more wins that season if the car didn't fail. Finally - Prost by his own admission did not like or master the active car at all. He was not at the level that he was in passive cars. He's said this himself. Mansell absolutely thrived in the active car as we know. That's the counter argument. You might be right that he'd lose but it's an easy case to make that he absolutely could have beaten Prost in that active car.

[@detonator2112]

@@adelaidecity76 Don't get me wrong. Mansell was one hell of a driver. Won CART and everything. But what has always pissed me off is that the UK media thinks he's God. He was ALWAYS complaining after every race. Whether it was some physical condition or then the car was crap, etc. It was only his heroic skills that brought the podium, etc. He welcomed Prost to Ferrari with open arms but when Prost was kicking his ass he started complaining about "Prost's poltics" and made nasty remarks to the UK media. In 1987 he said that Honda installed some microchips to his car that made it "self destruct" because they wanted Piquet to win, etc. etc. It was always someone else's fault when he wasn't fast enough. 1986 Adelaide was bad luck. I'll give him that. Still he was amazing to watch and made some memorable overtakes (like Mexico I think 1990 when he overtook Berger on that dangerous straight, etc.) Great driver. But if he had Prost/Senna as a teammate there's very little chance he could have won the WDC. Mansell was not on the same level. Sure he was fast enough but he was very error prone driver who took many unnecessary risks and couldn't handle pressure well. A bit like Alesi but had access to much better cars throughout his career. Also watched his quite recent interview and he told how "he was always beating his teammates". No he was not. De Angelis beat him five years in a row and Rosberg made him look like an amateur. Sure he got better with experience but his career is not quite the fairytale as the UK media wants us to believe.

[@adelaidecity76]

@@detonator2112 Ha ha, I have to laugh because yeah, you have some valid points and yes he definitely had his moments - as did the English press. I think the whingeing bit was definitely exacerbated in his latter years, although it was interesting, he was famously limping around and collapsing after races in 92 but it turned out that he needed ankle surgery after his crash at Adelaide in 91 and didn't get the op because it would have ruined his season prep. Anyway, I broadly agree with what you're saying. My main argument really, the crucial one, is that he was good enough to beat an Alain Prost or an Ayrton Senna on his day and 93 I truly believe was just the absolute right chance for him to beat Prost - considering that Alain absolutely did not get on with that FW15C - despite him winning 7 races. Honestly though, Damon did give him a good few scares through the year and by Alain's own admission he wasn't mastering the car like a passive one. Those active cars really suited Mansell and numerous Williams insiders say that same. I would have loved to have seen it but sadly we'll never know and anyway it gave us that great 1993 Indycar season!

[@detonator2112]

@@adelaidecity76 Either way he was a character. I miss drivers like Mansell. At least he didn't look like a boy band member with no personality like the current drivers LOL. All those 80's guys were warriors.

[@adelaidecity76]

@@detonator2112 Absolutely. You hit the nail on the head - warriors. The danger, the unreliability, the recalicitrant cars and crappy circuit facilities etc. Sometimes I just look at these stats get blown out of the water by Lewis and Max and just shake my head. I sound like a classic old man but dammit, it's just not the same!

[@TerribleFire]

Mansell was a whinger.