Nigel Mansell, the most successful British Formula One driver, was a self-made man. His fierce determination and never-say-die attitude saw him claw his way into the racing world and excel in every form of racing. With overwhelming self-confidence and fiery aggression Mansell took on his toughest of rivals head-on to become an instant favourite of racing fans all over the world especially the Italian 'tifosi' who lovingly nicknamed their moustachioed hero, sobriquet Il Leone (The Lion). The 1992 World Champion left the sport with 31 career victories under his belt, which made him the fourth most successful F1 driver behind Michael Schumacher, Alain Prost, and Ayrton Senna. Mansell is also the only person in history to hold both, the American CART title and F1 Championship simultaneously and was the first person to win the CART title in his debut season.

Nigel Ernest Mansell was born on 8 August 1953, in Upton-upon-Severn, Worcestershire near Birmingham. Inspired by the success of the British champ Jim Clark, Mansell started racing as a young boy. After championing the kart-racing circuits, he sold his personal belonging to finance his switch to British Formula Ford championship and took his maiden win in 1977. The crown, however, did not come easily as Mansell suffered a broken neck and narrowly escaped quadriplegia in a testing accident before the race. The next step in Mansell's racing career was Formula Three for which he had to sell his house in order to garner the monetary backing. His F3 career too was marred with accidents as he collided with another car in 1979 to experience a horrifying car that left Mansell badly injured but thankful to be alive. Nonetheless, a resilient Mansell, numbed with painkillers, returned to the track for a trial with Team Lotus shortly after his accident to win first shot at the F1 championships as a test driver.

Setting the fastest lap around Silverstone as a test driver for Lotus saw Mansell earn himself three starts in F1 during the 1980 season. His Formula One debut was at the 1980 Austrian Grand Prix where a fuel leak in the cockpit of his Lotus, left Mansell with painful first and second degree burns on his buttocks. A car failure in the second race and an accident in the third marked the end of Mansell's premier F1 season. Yet, he won himself a seat as the official Lotus driver for the succeeding 1981 season.

Mansell spent four years with Lotus during which he finished just 24 of his 59 race starts, given the frequent mechanical failures of his cars. A third position finish in five races was the best Mansell could achieve in his struggling Lotus during these four years with the first podium finish coming in the 1981 season. At the end of the 1984 season, Mansell moved to Williams to finally kick-start his glorious racing career.

After a slow start with his new team in the 1985 season, Mansell won his first ever F1 race at the European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch in England. Mansell then went ahead and also clinched his second straight win at South African Grand Prix in Kyalami to announce to the world that he had finally arrived.

In a span of 18 months, following his first F1 win, Mansell won 11 races and came extremely close at winning his first world title only to lose the championship in 1986 and 1987 due to a series of unfortunate accidents. Nevertheless, Mansell's thrilling victory at the 1987 British GP at Silverstone in front of his much-hated teammate Nelson Piquet helped the raging Brit to find solace in his inopportune championship loss that season.

The 1988 season saw the Williams team lose its Honda turbo power to McLaren and two podium finishes is all Mansell could manage with a naturally-aspirated Judd engine. However, at the end of the 1988 season, Ferrari opened its door to Mansell and he seized the opportunity with open arms.

In his debut season with Ferrari, Mansell finished an impressive fourth taking two memorable wins, first in the opening race of the 1989 season, the Brazilian GP at Rio and second at the Hungarian GP at the Hungaroring. After his Brazilian triumph, Mansell accepted that the win came as a surprise on his least favourite track but was special nonetheless as he emerged victorious in front of his old rival and local hero, Piquet. Mansell's second victory in Hungary proved to be even more thrilling as he stormed into the front after starting 12th on the grid and perfectly executed a late pass on his archenemy Senna to take a spectacular win.

Mansell's second year with Ferrari proved to be quite a struggle with Alain Prost, the reigning champion, assuming the position of the lead driver for the team and the reliability problems of Mansell's Ferrari. Mansell faced seven retirements that season to end the season with just one victory at the 1990 Portuguese GP and a fifth position finish in the Championship standing. Tired of playing second fiddle to Prost, Mansell announced his retirement from F1 at the end of the 1990 British GP but later retracted his decision after being assured the team lead for Williams by Frank Williams for the subsequent F1 season.

In 1991 Mansell powered his Williams-Renault to five wins to again marginally lose the championship to Senna, driving for team McLaren. However, no one could stop Mansell from taking his first world title in the 1992 season, as he dominated the F1 calendar taking nine victories in the 16 races, including five straights in his Williams-Renault FW14B. Mansell was crowned the World champion early in the season at the Hungarian Grand Prix following which he immediately announced his retirement and switched to IndyCar racing in America over a dispute with Williams involving money.

Mansell again returned to F1 in 1994 as an IndyCar champion after being won over by Williams to race in the final four races. Mansell continued his fine form that season by securing the pole and a win in the last race of the season, the 1994 Australian GP. Mansell again switched to McLaren for the next season and raced twice before finally retiring from the sport for good as the third fastest driver in the history of F1 with an astounding 30 fastest laps under his name. His 32 career poles still secure him the fifth position in the overall pole position tally of all F1 legends.