Nigel Mansell woke one morning and had an epiphany. The Covid-19 pandemic had closed down his car dealership and museum in St Helier, Jersey, and a new home was required for a lifetime of memorabilia. Then his wife, Roseanne, needed heart surgery after complications following a vaccine booster jab.
The Mansells “dodged a bullet”, he tells The Observer. “It was a Covid tragedy; the booster, as with many people, caused problems with one of the heart valves,” he claims. “Unfortunately she had to have major surgery to try and fix it. Covid was criminal. Everyone should’ve been left to their own. All this vaccine caused a lot of people to have a lot of problems.”
The experience made him consider life and at the age of 72, how time was moving on. Then it struck him: “The best thing I can do is let fans around the world look after my collection for the future.”
Mansell, the 1992 Formula One world champion and one of Britain’s most successful drivers, is selling almost all of a collection amassed over 61 years in an auction at BUDDS on Tuesday. Proceeds will go to Youth UK – a charity supporting youth work opportunities and training. Mansell has been its president for 27 years. At his peak, few could keep up with Mansell and he now insists he feels better than ever – at least in his head.
“I got to 28 years of age and just stayed there,” he says. “You try to stay young – you don’t let the old man in. I’m ready for the phone to go to step back into one of the cars if someone needs a reserve driver. I’ve even been slimming in case! I’m ready to go, I tell you.”
It is hard to tell if he is joking.
“I’ve broken my neck, I’ve broken my back three times, my feet are all smashed, I’m going in for an operation to get some splintered bone out of my right foot, and I’m stronger and fitter than ever.”
He wonders, though, where the years have gone. “The most amazing thing is when you’ve been with your partner for 57 years, and you’ve been married coming up 51 years, you go: ‘How did you get old so quick?’
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“We had a great celebration, our golden wedding anniversary last year, but it feels like yesterday. Some of the memories come back. Some of them are missing, but they come back too, eventually.”
A life of high-speed crashes – one at Le Mans at 150mph left him with a bleed on the brain – and broken bones has taken its toll. A two-hour drive now leaves him with an aching back and sciatica. But he says: “You have to adjust mentally.” He credits golf with continuing to condition his mind to compete. And the old fire is still burning. “Winning is everything, I just love winning and competing.”
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He is as in love with F1 as he has ever been. “I lived it, I breathed it, I slept it, I ate it, and I still do now,” he says before animatedly looking forward to the season ahead.
He doesn’t believe age will hold back Lewis Hamilton and makes a bold claim about a driver who finished sixth in last year’s championship and turned 41 in January. “I don’t want to put any pressure on him but I think Lewis is going to have a fantastic year. He’s a young 41. He’s strong as an ox and super fit. If Ferrari put the car underneath him that he deserves he can do the business still and get that magical eighth world title. I don’t think it’s over yet.”
Mansell himself was the last driver aged over 40 to win a grand prix – in Australia in 1994. He is not ruling out another British driver, the current champion Lando Norris, either, the 26-year-old with time on his side. Mansell is close friends with Zak Brown, the McLaren chief executive, and spoke with Norris several times last season.
“He’s so young, he’s got the world at his feet. He’s going to get better, he’s going to be more confident this year. He’s going to have another half a second in his pocket when he wants to push.
“He’s the world champion, when anybody wears that mantle, it puts a stride in your step. You’ve done it; you’ve achieved it. It’s the most momentous thing to achieve, the world champion of anything. All power to his elbow, I think 2026 is going to be a fantastic championship. Mercedes are hot favourites, McLaren are there and Ferrari are there, which is incredibly exciting.”
He is fascinated by the “super exciting” changes this season: shorter, narrower, lighter cars, with a “boost” button giving drivers a spurt of acceleration from electrical energy. The only thing Mansell is wary of is the new 50-50 split between internal combustion and electric motor (it was closer to 70-30 last season).
Norris said the biggest regulation changes in F1 history would see “more chaos in races” with the “emphasis on drivers’ ability to control all of these things”.
“The FIA have got to pay special attention that it’s still flat-out racing,” Mansell says. “We don’t want to have situations where someone has to slow down and let everyone pass because they’re having to conserve the battery. I’d hate to see what happens on the motorway sometimes when these electric vehicles pull over on the side of the road because they’ve run out of power.” He chuckles. “That wouldn’t be very good, would it?”
The Nigel Mansell Charity Auction will be live on Tuesday 10 February here.
Photograph by LAT Images