Comments on: F1 links: Mansell vs Hamilton

By: Gezzy

Gezzy — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 21:06:56 +0000

How many potential drivers even had a chance,hence the reason Hamilton was “out on his own” also Hamiltons father made the approach to McLaren to give him a chance.

By: Paul Sainsbury

Paul Sainsbury — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 09:58:14 +0000

Yeah, totally wrong there. How do you explain the fact that he was in a league of his own from well before the MaClaren involvement. Mmm, and maybe that is why they bought him up, eh?

By: Robert

Robert — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:43:26 +0000

What are his sons doing, last time I read they where testing Le Mans cars together.

By: pSynrg

pSynrg — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 23:14:50 +0000

Erm, classic Mansell?

By: The Limit

The Limit — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:28:34 +0000

One reflects on Mario Andretti’s comments on Nigel Mansell when reading these comments, non of it polite enough to print. Is this another case of Mansell showing off that legendary ‘chip on the shoulder’ that he has carried around for years?
He always seemed to be battling adversity did Nigel.
No rich team owners to help him at the beginning of his career, heavily in debt, yet making it anyhow. At the sametime he always got himself hurt in some strange
circumstances. Who could forget Nigel hobbling away from his Williams after crashing in Australia, or celebrating victory before braking down on the last lap, or cutting his hands to pieces whilst raising the
winners trophy in Argentina? All classic episodes, all filled with paranoia that others were out to get him!
His rough relationships with Piquet Snr and Prost attest to this theory perfectly, including allegations that Prost stole his pole winning car for a race whilst both were at Ferrari twenty years ago.
In stark contrast, Lewis Hamilton did have Ron Dennis and McLaren as backers from an early age, but that only
shows great foresight and intelligience from Lewis and his family. They knew they couldn’t make it alone, they needed Dennis and his team’s help.
In doing so, through great determination and a large slice of luck, Hamilton’s debut season was run in one
of the fastest and most reliable cars McLaren have
produced in the last ten years.
In the process, Hamilton has won a title and second place in just two seasons. At the same time, he has gone toe to toe with both Raikkonen and Alonso and has not looked too shabby. He does it with great style, at times almost ease, and has given the sport something
it has been lacking. Personality!
The real reason Hamilton is hated by so many is that he is not just fast and successful, but successful so early. To the exception of Jacques Villeneuve, Hamilton has to be one of the few rookies to win a title so early in their career.
He has not endured years of nearly winning titles as Mansell did, or Raikkonen for that matter, he has just blindsided everybody very quickly.
Nobody discounts that Mansell was and still is a great champion. He is one of the few to be an F1 and IRL champion at the sametime, and has made millions from his profession. He came along way from the gutters of
Birmingham, England, to one of the best racing drivers in modern open wheel history. He was always outspoken, opinionated, and arrogant, which he used to great effect to annoy his rivals. This time though, he has
shown this side of his nature to a negative affect.
This time, he is dead wrong!

By: Gezzy

Gezzy — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:19:53 +0000

Being bankroled by McLaren from schooldays could make many Lewis’s methinks

Gezzy

By: sumedh

sumedh — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:30:18 +0000

This comment is more sillier than Massa’s testing championship comment.

By: Mussolini's Pet Cat

Mussolini's Pet Cat — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:46:50 +0000

oh Nige, you silly old sausage. Do you remember what you said about the Williams back then??? Something about a monkey could drive it and win?? We all now it’s impossible to compare drivers from different eras, so dont bother!

By: Ant

Ant — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:25:31 +0000

Everyone is bashing Mansell for having an easy Championship in 92, but everyone seems to forget that he did narrowly miss out on two other Championships that were very hard fought.

Whilst I don’t agree with his recent comments about Lewis either, give the guy a break – he was a good driver in his time and achieved a lot.

By: hamilton wc 09

hamilton wc 09 — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:51:30 +0000

typical mansell, hell of a driver but god hes up his own ****, he won the world tittle with probably the best car ever made in f1, how good was he in 1990 for ferrari?? thrashed by prost. he just always seems to want to make his 1 world tittle sound better than anybody elses even though it was the easisiet tittle ever won when you look at the standard of the competition in 92 and the fact that mansell was de facto number 1 driver in the team,

By: Chaz

Chaz — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:39:46 +0000

BBC seem to have semi relaunched their F1 sport page…

By: John Spencer

John Spencer — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 11:46:23 +0000

I was never a Nigel fan, and this kind of comment illustrates why. F1 drivers are generally pretty low on humility but they usually have the sense to hide it. Nige can never stop sounding hard done by, even though he only had Ricardo Patrese to beat for the 92 championship (Keith noted above the Williams dominance that year). Lewis arguably had two genuine rivals, Kimi and Felipe, plus others there or thereabouts (Robert Kubica, and even Heikki if we extend that Ricardo Patrese analogy). So to use Nige’s logic, Lewis’s championship is worth twice or three times as much as Mansell’s.

Nobody disputes that Mansell was a good driver (although many would argue about where to place him in the hall of fame) but former world champions sound so much more dignified (think Hill, Scheckter, Lauda, Stewart) when they talk UP the sport nowadays, rather than continuously moaning about how things aren’t as good as in their day.

By: Adrian

Adrian — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:23:30 +0000

I believe it has something to do with safety and the physical grid sizes at some circuits… Spa springs to mind with it’s grid on a bend…

By: ajokay

ajokay — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:23:05 +0000

It also took Mansell his entire career to win his Championship. Lewis was a whisker from his on his first outing, and nailed it at the second.

By: Somers

Somers — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 09:58:07 +0000

LOL @ Mansell was there not 22 cars at the start of last season though

By: PJA

PJA — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 09:56:39 +0000

I agree that Mansell’s argument doesn’t work as it is quality vs quantity, and in this case quality of opposition wins. I am sure everyone would prefer a full grid and close racing but we don’t seem likely to get that any time soon.

I believe the current limit for the size of the grid is 24 cars. Does anyone know when this was introduced and why was it just so circuits knew how many teams they had to have space for? Also what is the most number of cars to have started a Grand Prix, I know there used to be pre-qualifying so not all cars made the Grid.

By: diseased rat

diseased rat — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 09:37:14 +0000

Mansell’s argument is silly. Sure he worked hard for his WDC but using those extra 5 cars on the grid as a reason why his was harder? Check the starting grid in that year, that last 5 or 10 cars were always tanks driven by jokers with no chance of doing anything.

By: Chaz

Chaz — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 09:19:48 +0000

Button seems to be putting a lot of faith into Ross and I hope he wont regret it.

As for the Mansell vs Hamilton spat, I’m with Mansell at the moment that is until Lewis has cut his teeth a little longer in the sport. That’s not to say that I don’t admire Lewis’s skill and achievements thus far in F1 in the slightest…

By: Hounslow

Hounslow — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 08:43:38 +0000

I don’t read any humour into Mansell’s remarks, just stupidity.
I wonder what he will say when Hamilton wins another World Championship. Could these asinine comments have anything to do with an intended comparison with Mansell’s sons?

By: DG

DG — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 08:18:36 +0000

Good old Jenson, backing his team leader….isn’t this just another way of saying that he’s been given a pay cut? And he still has to be competitive…..