Damon Hill once feared for Nigel Mansell’s life after ‘ridiculously dangerous’ pole lap

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Nigel Mansell is known for being one of Formula 1’s toughest drivers having competed during the era when the cars were using turbos.

During the 1987 season, Mansell was at Williams driving the FW11B and was up against teammate Nelson Piquet in the title battle.

Heading into the Monaco Grand Prix, the fourth round of the season, Mansell needed to at least finish the race after the team suffered a double retirement at Belgium when the Briton collided with Ayrton Senna and Piquet suffered a broken turbo pipe.

Qualifying in those days featured special super-soft tyres, in a bid to prevent drivers from trying to find clean air to complete laps on tyres that were only good enough for two attempts.

Damon Hill was at the race in Monaco and recalled watching Mansell on his hot lap when speaking in the book, Lights Out, Full Throttle.

Damon Hill recalls seeing Nigel Mansell’s ‘incredible’ Monaco pole lap in 1987

Mansell would go on to qualify on pole for the race by 0.6s from Senna in the Lotus, on a lap Hill described as being ‘incredible’ watching trackside.

“In 1987 I watched Nigel’s [Mansell] pole lap at Monaco, which was incredible. At the time I used to be able to get a pass from Bernie and walk around the edge of the track,” said Hill.

“There was no catch fencing at all, so in hindsight, it was ridiculously dangerous. I was quite lucky, really, because as I was standing by Massenet, Philippe Streiff in the Tyrell crashed right in front of me and I got covered in brake fluid and carbon fibre shards. That was interesting.

“Best of all was watching Nigel on qualifiers in that turbo Honda. He came up the hill and I had real trouble moving my head fast enough to keep up with him. I remember thinking to myself as he flew past me. ‘S—-, he’s not going to stop!’ I genuinely thought Nigel Mansell was going to die that day. He obviously didn’t, thank god, and make it round in one piece.”

Nigel Mansell retires as Ayrton Senna makes F1 history

Mansell would go on to lead the race from pole for 30 laps before he was struck with a turbo boost problem, effectively forcing him to retire for a second race in a row.

The double retirement impacted his championship chances a lot later in the season, as teammate Piquet managed to finish in second place.

The eventual winner would be Senna in the Lotus 99T, which would be the first car to win an F1 race with active suspension.

The driver-aid would later be banned in 1994 after Williams brought an advanced version to their car in the early 1990s, leading to Mansell’s only championship-winning season in 1992.