Not Charles Leclerc! This F1 Driver Suffered the Most Heartbreaking End to an F1 Race Amidst Promising Title Hopes

Nigel Mansell is an F1 driver adorned by fans all over the world. His style and winning mentality made him one of the popular drivers of his era. And when he stood on the top step of the podium, it was indeed a hard-earned victory. But sometimes, it is a little too early to celebrate victory before one crosses the finish line.

Proof of that came in the 1991 Canadian Grand Prix. When it all seemed to be going Mansell’s way, disaster struck, and his car stopped running on the final lap of the race.

Before we go racing in Canada, we look at this classic gem of retirement, and what caused it. As the 2022 title battle rages on and the luck swings in favor of reigning World Champion Max Verstappen; Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has been deemed unlucky so far. However, in the context of Nigel’s retirement, Charles Leclerc’s engine issue in Azerbaijan doesn’t seem to be so bad. 

The F1 season so far until Canada for Williams and Nigel Mansell

Coming into the Canadian Grand Prix, things hadn’t gone Nigel’s or Williams’s way. With Ayrton Senna and McLaren notching up four victories in the opening four rounds of the season; the season had proved to be a tough one for the Grove outfit. 

On top of that, Williams was also battling with the F1 car. Often unreliable, the car didn’t achieve what it was capable of. Using a new semi-automatic transmission, the car would often go on to retire while in contention for the race win. This is owing to the fact that Williams had less time required to test and develop the car prior to making its debut in the season opener in Phoenix. 

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However, all that was to change in Canada as it was Nigel’s Williams teammate, Riccardo Patrese, who bagged pole position. Mansell qualified a close second and Ayrton Senna in third with his McLaren. On Sunday, Mansell went past his teammate and into the lead of the race. As the race went on, one by one, most of his rivals retired due to technical issues.

With McLaren’s Ayrton Senna also retiring; it was almost impossible for Mansell to not win. But on Riccardo Patrese’s car, the semi-automatic transmission caused some problems and hence that allowed Benetton’s Nelson Piquet to get past and hunt down Nigel Mansell. 

How it all went down for Mansell on the last lap

As the race almost came to an end, Mansell, buoyed by the smell of victory, started waving to the crowd. After all, the victory was his. However, as he arrived at the hairpin corner, his Williams FW14 slowed down unexpectedly, and that handed the victory to Nelson Piquet. 

This was not the ideal situation and Nigel Mansell made his feelings very clear. “It is almost unbelievable,” he said in absolute disbelief. I went into the hairpin changed down from fifth to fourth, like I had done the previous 68 laps, and then it went to neutral and the engine cut almost simultaneously like there was an electrical failure. It just stopped. It was as simple as that.” 

While it is not known what happened at the time, sources indicate that Mansell allowed the engine revs to drop. Due to this, the alternator couldn’t produce enough power to maintain the engine management system’s baseline voltage.  

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Despite the incident, Mansell was classified as a sixth-place finish. A story for the ages to remember whenever we go racing in Canada.