Nigel Mansell's 5 Pole Positions (1987)
A legendary competitor, Mansell remains the only driver to hold both the F1 World Championship and the American open-wheel National Championship simultaneously.
Nigel Mansell is a British former racing driver who won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1992 with Williams, and won 31 Grands Prix across 15 seasons.
- Achievement
- 5 Pole Positions in First 7 Races
Lore & Background
Mansell's career in Formula One spanned 15 seasons. He set the record for the most pole positions in a single season with 14 poles in 1992, a record later broken by Sebastian Vettel with 15 poles in 2011. Mansell was the last Formula One driver to win a Grand Prix over the age of 40 with his win at the 1994 Australian Grand Prix; as of the last verified F1 season (2024), no driver has surpassed this milestone.
In Their Own Story
The air at the Circuit de Monaco smelled of high-octane fuel and impending rain. Nigel Mansell sat in the cockpit of the white FW11B, gripping the steering wheel as the Honda V6 roared to life. It was his fifth qualifying session in a row where he had been fastest. The crowd's roar seemed to vibrate through the chassis. He didn't need to look at the timesheets; he knew the gap. With one final lap, he sliced through the hairpin, the car dancing on the edge of adhesion, securing another checkered flag before the race even began.
Reader's Guide
Mansell won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in 1992 with Williams. He won 31 Grands Prix across 15 seasons. In American open-wheel racing, he won the IndyCar World Series in 1993 with Newman/Haas Racing, and remains the only driver to have simultaneously held both the World Drivers' Championship and the American open-wheel National Championship.
Did You Know?
- Mansell is one of the most successful British Formula One drivers of all time in terms of race wins with 31 victories.
- He was the reigning F1 champion when he moved to CART, becoming the first person to win the CART title in his debut season.
- Mansell raced in the Grand Prix Masters series in 2005, winning the Kyalami event but not the overall championship title.
- He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2005.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who set 5 consecutive pole positions for Williams in 1987?
Nigel Mansell, widely known as 'The Lion,' claimed five straight pole positions during the opening stretch of the 1987 season while driving for Williams Racing.
What car and engine powered Mansell's 5-pole streak in 1987?
The Williams FW11B, running the Honda RA167E V6 turbo, was the combination Mansell used to dominate qualifying sessions that early in the year.
How many races did Mansell's 1987 pole streak cover?
Mansell took pole in five of the first six rounds of the 1987 championship, a consecutive run that defined the team's early-season rhythm.
Why is Mansell's 5-pole run a landmark in Williams Racing history?
That burst of qualifying supremacy helped cement Mansell's 1987 World Championship and is still cited as one of the clearest examples of a driver and car clicking perfectly in the team's catalogue.
Who was Mansell's teammate during his 1987 pole-position streak?
Nelson Piquet shared the Williams garage with Mansell that season, forming a British-Brazilian pairing that made the team's front-row presence nearly impossible to ignore.
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