F1 Fanatic – The Formula 1 Blog

There is no excuse for not having this one in your collection. A scintillating season with three drivers still in the championship hunt at the final round – and we all know what happened to Nigel Mansell at that infamous race.

The video is packed with spectacular action from classic mid-eighties turbo cars, including the Mansell/Nelson Piquet battles in the Williams FW11, Keke Rosberg’s swansong in the McLaren MP4/2C, and the last ever John Player Special-liveried Lotus.

1986 is not so well remembered for being the year in which Elio de Angelis died in a testing accident at Paul Ricard. Narrator Clive James gives suitable pause from his otherwise light-hearted commentary to pay tribute.

Otherwise this is an essential video and there’s very little to say against it – except perhaps the somewhat odd inclusion of a few semi-naked beach ‘beauties’ at the French race. That aside, this should be top of your list if you’ve not already bought a copy.

Best bit: Of course there’s the dramatic finale in Australia, but there’s also the photo-finish between Mansell and Ayrton Senna at Jerez to savour.

F1 Fanatic verdict

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Reviews

• "Grand Prix Heroes" DVDs reviewed
• "Team Lotus: My view from the pit wall" by Peter Warr - review
• "The Limit: Life and death in Formula 1's most dangerous era" - review
• "He's done it again" - official 2011 F1 season DVD reviewed
• F1 2011: The F1 Fanatic review
• F1 2011: Checklist
• Red Bull Racing RB6 F1 car Haynes Manual reviewed
• The Making of Senna part 9: The response in Brazil
• The Making of Senna part 8: The Death of Ayrton Senna
• The Making of Senna part 7: Imola 1994