After years of insistence, Nigel Mansell finally won his long-awaited F1 world title in 1992. The achievement took place at the Hungarian GP, five races before the end of the season, due to the fact that, as Ayrton Senna put it, “the Williams were from a different planet”. And they really were, especially thanks to the car’s cutting edge aerodynamics.
Driving a McLaren – much inferior to the Britton’s vehicle in 1992 – Senna surprised both Williams at Hungaroring’s green light. Starting from third place in the grid, the Brazilian overtook the Lion before the first corner was over and was able to hold his rival behind him for several laps. Ayrton also took advantage of Riccardo Patrese´s mistake, whose Williams was leading the race. The Italian driver went into a gravel trap and Senna took the lead.
Since a second place finish would clinch the title for Mansell, the Lion decided to play it safe after making two big mistakes and losing the position to Gerhard Berger´s Mclaren, only to immediately recover in both instances.
Senna took off in the lead and crossed the finish line 40 seconds before Mansell, who had his champion sash “stamped” by the Brazilian. Berger rounded out the podium in third place. It was only Senna’s second win in 1992, out of a total of three. The other two took place in Monaco and Monza.
“After everything I’ve done to get here, the only way the Lion is overtaking me is from above. He won´t do it on the inside or the outside”, joked Senna after the race. Read the full recap of that race here.
