Nigel Mansell was one of the greatest drivers of his generation and finally won his only F1 championship in the 1992 season.
However, when the 1993 campaign began, the Brit wasn’t anywhere to be seen on the grid despite helping Williams earn their fifth Constructors’ Championship and fourth drivers’ title.
Nigel Mansell has now spoken to The Race about his absence from the grid that year and believes he would have added a second F1 title to his collection had he been kept on.
Williams lined up in 1993 with Alain Prost and Damon Hill who was promoted from his role as reserve driver having raced twice for Brabham the previous year.
It was a combination that paid off for Williams, winning another Constructors’ Championship with an Adrian Newey-designed car, defeating Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.
However, Mansell has now admitted that he would have destroyed Prost in the 1993 Williams had he been retained by the team.
Instead, he switched to IndyCar, where he showed his credentials and won the championship off the back of his F1 victory the year before.
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Nigel Mansell says he would have ‘brained’ Alain Prost in 1993 Williams
The early 1990s had some of the strongest grids in the history of Formula 1.
Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna were all at their peaks and several young drivers were starting to make their impact.
Michael Schumacher was on the cusp of becoming a world champion for the first time and Mika Hakkinen and Jean Alesi were young drivers beginning to make their impact.
There were more cars on the grid – 26 in 1993 although the days of pre-qualifying had only just finished – although the gap between the front and the back was much larger than it is today.
In 1992, Williams had a sensational car and Mansell and his teammate Ricciardo Patrese finished first and second in the Drivers’ Championship.
However, the Brit nearly doubled his Italian teammate’s points tally with Prost – who ended up with 51 race wins in his career – nowhere to be seen on the grid.
He had been released by Ferrari and replaced by Ivan Capelli but Williams decided to bring him back to form an all-new partnership with Hill despite how successful Mansell and Patrese were.
Mansell has now admitted that he would have dominated Alain Prost if they had raced each other at Williams in 1993, however, he was never handed that opportunity.
Nigel Mansell went out on a high in his final full season in Formula 1
Asked if he would have beaten Prost in 1993 and if he regretted not staying on, Mansell said: “I’d have brained him. I’d have no problem whatsoever. Not being arrogant, I was so quick in that car.
“But again, they didn’t want me in the team, [Alain] Prost didn’t want me in the team.
“It was Renault backing, Renault fuel, Renault sponsors, the whole lot. And that’s why I only had a contract for two years.
“My contract finished at the end of that year and it was very public, I got the world championship and then I was told I wasn’t required the following year.
“That’s not me saying I didn’t want to be there. And then they offered me a job for half the salary. So yeah, it was really smelly.”
Mansell wasn’t on the grid in 1993 but returned the following year at Williams following the death of Ayrton Senna.
David Coulthard initially stepped into the Brazilian legend’s car, but Mansell raced four times in his place in 1994, winning the season finale in Australia.
Mansell raced twice for McLaren in 1995 but that was the end of a storied F1 career for one of Britain’s most successful drivers in the sport.
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