“at the Time, it was common to see Dead,” says Nigel Mansell, when it is addressed to the early 1980s, the formula 1 history, as well of the ‘Daily Mail’. And Mansell concedes: “All this could you employ the mentally well.”
An experience on the race track of him until today, says Mansell, formula-1 world champion of 1992. It is the accidental death of Ferrari-icon Gilles Villeneuve. “What happened to him in Zolder, I won’t forget until the end of my days,” says Mansell.
Villeneuve had collided in the Qualifying for the Belgium Grand Prix in 1982 in Zolder with the March of Jochen Mass. “I drove in the car behind them and saw everything,” says Mansell. “I saw how he flew through the air as he came down, he was thrown from the vehicle as he crashed into the guard rails.”
The formula 1 as a risk-sports
He could remember well what had gone to him in this Moment by the head. Namely, that Villeneuves chances of Survival “virtually non-existent” had been, so Mansell more. “It was the most shocking thing I’ve ever seen. I was upset and still am.”
In the formula 1 in the 1980s, serious accidents such as this had been but a cruel reality. Racing was, according to Mansell, the has never officially resign, a “serious thing”. He says: “Even if you’re not killed, you could’ve injured. The gangs were very close to the track. You never knew what would happen.”
A change in thinking have used in formula 1 after the accidental death of three-time world champion Ayrton Senna, therefore after the San Marino Grand Prix 1994 at Imola, when Roland Ratzenberger was killed in a car crash.
Imola in 1994 brought a change in thinking
This tragedy was a “disaster for Motorsport,” says Mansell in retrospect. “Because it has changed the Motorsport in a sustainable manner. There were a lot of good changes but also some bad.”
What Mansell, for example, as a “terrible mistake” feels: “a Lot of race tracks in the world were sterilized.” Tradition rates, which had remained for decades, almost unchanged, were due to increased security requirements, a new face, Corners disappeared, fall zones grew.
Mansell disturbs this Trend. Justification: “The formula 1 was once incredible Sport, because you sure were rewarded for doing well and punished if it was you indifferent. You couldn’t do with 250 cases, by a curve to have a certain Talent. Today,” says Mansell, “is quite different.”
What used to be better
However, Mansell admits how difficult it was to compare different formula-1-age to each other. Fixed a doubt, they are free for him but: in the past, it was much more dangerous.
“had Many brilliant driver at the time, little accidents, broke, but the legs or arms and had to end their careers. Today, the driver does not make part of terrible mistakes, hurt but. You’re sweating almost not at all in the car,” says Mansell and quips: “At the end of the race it always looks like they come fresh from the hairdresser!”
30 years ago the reality was different. To have “in my time, you knocked, you to 180 Grands Prix on the shoulder and congratulates you for a good career, because you survived it had,” says Mansell.
“Now, to the best of the riders riding 300 races and get away without injury. You can simply not compare,” says the 31-times formula 1 winner. “We had to invest blood, sweat, and tears, and got only nine points for first place. Today, it is much easier and gets 25 points for the victory.”
This article was written by Stefan Ehlen
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