Many doubted the wisdom of Nigel Mansell's move to
Ferrari, for the 1989 season, particularly over his ability to handle the unforgiving Italian press
and the tortuous internal politics of Maranello. But Mansall emerged as a
calmer, more relaxed driver and fitted into Ferrari instantly and
effortlessly. He couldn't have made a better start, of course. His victory
at the Brazilian Grand Prix was a dream debut for Mansell and John Barnard's
new chisel-nosed car which had proved so unreliable during testing and
practice. After that win he was dubbed "Il Leone" by the
Italian fans, the tifosi.
During the first half of the season the Ferrari was
rarely reliable enough to reward Mansell's efforts but he produced a typically
gritty drive at Silverstone, keeping the pressure on Alain Prost (McLaren) all
the way despite the McLaren's technical superiority. And then came his drive in
Hungary.
This memorable race had produced a shock even before
it started. Riccardo Patrese (Williams), whose only two previous pole positions
dated back to 1981 and 1983, produced an astonishing lap on Friday which would
stand even on Saturday. Ayrton Senna (Mclaren) qualified second, but the most
impressive qualifying performance, was a popular third place for Alex Caffi (Dallara). Mansell found that the softer Goodyear
qualifying tyres were difficult to use correctly, and twelfth on the grid was
the best he could manage. However, there was an indication of what would follow
in the Sunday morning warm-up, when he topped the list.
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| 1989 Hungarian GP - Mansell would battle from 12th on the grid. |
The prospect of a duel to decide who would be in front
at the first corner, between Senna and Patrese, was something to look forward
to. Senna, who had battled here in 1988 for the rights of the person in pole
position to choose which side of the grid to start from, found himself on the
dirtier inside line in 1989. But although he almost managed to squeeze inside
Patrese at the right-handed first corner, the Williams was narrowly ahead and
Senna was almost squeezed over the kerbing.
At the end of the lap, Caffi was third, followed by
Gerhard Berger (Ferrari), Prost, Thierry Boutsen (Benetton), and
Alessandro Nannini (Benetton) before Mansell appeared.
Starting the fourth lap, Berger managed to pass Caffi
at the first corner, smoothly moving up to third place. Four laps later Prost
also managed to use his Honda power to get ahead of the Dallara, but he would
be the last man to pass the well-driven Dallara for fifteen laps, when Mansell
at last burst through. But he was 17 seconds behind Prost and it looked
impossible to make up the difference although Mansell, of course, had other
ideas. He carved as much as a second a lap out of the Frenchman's
advantage, and when Berger stopped for tyres on lap 29, Mansell moved into
fourth place, 5.9 seconds behind Prost.
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| 1989 Hungarian GP - Patrese shows that he still has mettle. |
For the first part of the race it was impossible to
judge the status of the drivers, since most of them were expected to make pit
stops for tyres. However, cooler weather than in qualifying, coupled with some
gamesmanship by the teams, allowed most of the leading contenders to run
non-stop.
At half distance Patrese was defending the lead so
firmly that even Senna, tracking his every move, seemed unlikely to pass.
However, the Brazilian cannot have felt comfortable, for behind him now was
Mansell, who had passed Prost and moved into third place.
Sadly, this promising four-way battle for the lead was brief, lasting
until Patrese retired on lap 53 with a steaming engine. It was a stone through
the radiator of his Williams-Renault that eliminated the Italian when he was
admirably maintaining a narrow advantage. The battle between Senna, now
leading, and Mansell was extraordinary given that the McLaren-Honda's power allowed
it to pull away noticeably even on the short straights. In braking, and in most
corners, the more aerodynamic Ferrari made up all the difference, and on lap
times there was virtually nothing between their performances.
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| 1989 Hungarian GP - Mansell doggedly pressures Senna. |
The deciding moment of the race came halfway round lap
58. Mansell had been tracking Senna's McLaren within less than a second, and
all he needed was a mistake by the Brazilian to let him grab the
lead. Senna did not exactly make a mistake: he had the misfortune to
come round a corner and be faced with a slower car, that of Stefan Johansson
(Onyx). Johansson, in trouble with gears, was reluctant to move off line,
despite moving so slowly, and Senna arrived behind him from the previous corner
so fast that he almost caught the Onyx. Mansell appraised the situation almost
instantly, braking hard and almost hitting Senna as he opposite-locked to his
right.
"Ayrton is obviously more difficult to pass than Alain, but he was
a bit too close to the car in front, and had to slow in the middle of the
corner," said Mansell. "I was very close as well, and almost hit the
back of Ayrton, but I was able to throw the car sideways and just have enough
momentum to go past." He added that he was tempted to close his eyes...
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| Split second - Mansell seizes the opportunity to pass Senna. |
The large contingent of tifosi in
the crowd got the message that a Ferrari was in front, and Mansell was greeted
with huge cheers. He went on to win majestically, with Senna in second and
Boutsen gaining third after a late pitstop by Prost to
clean his helmet visor.
Not even Ayrton Senna would disagree that Nigel Mansell deserved to
win the 1989 Hungarian Grand Prix. Only Riccardo Patrese, who had driven
immaculately in the lead, from pole position, for 52 of the 77 laps, could
offer a better claim than Mansell's. It was a consistently hard,
competitive race this - one of the best of Mansell's career by his own
reckoning - that took the relentless Englishman from 12th place on the grid
into eighth by the end of the first lap, and past no fewer than six rivals by
sheer persistence.
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