![]() Mansell fell back into Piquet’s clutches after overshooting a corner, and the treble champion carved past his old rival at Turn 1 before Mansell pitted for fresh rubber. Making a stellar start from seventh was Benetton’s Nelson Piquet, who quickly outbraked Jean Alesi’s Tyrrell at Turn 4 to grab fifth: “Good news to see Nelson looking like he really means business,” noted James Hunt in commentary.Ĭlearly rejuvenated by his victory in Japan, Piquet picked off Prost by lap three and lunged past Berger for third at the hairpin on lap nine, while leader Senna pulled away from Mansell in traffic. Senna led from pole, ahead of McLaren team-mate Gerhard Berger and the Ferraris of Nigel Mansell and Prost. Amid the recriminations that ensued, the build-up in Adelaide featured the extraordinary TV interview where Senna butted heads with Jackie Stewart, speaking his famous line “if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver” and stating he was “designed to win races”. It came hot on the heels of the hugely controversial Alain Prost/Ayrton Senna collision that had decided the world championship’s outcome in Senna’s favour at Suzuka. Piquet took advantage of chaos to win in Adelaide for BenettonĪustralia 1990 was surely one of the most overshadowed grands prix in Formula 1 history – at least when someone hadn’t died in the previous race. 1990 - Piquet's penultimate win, Charles Bradley Prost thus became a jubilant double world champion, two points ahead of Mansell and three ahead of Piquet. The Brazilian charged and set the fastest lap on the final tour but fell 4.2 seconds short of catching the short-of-fuel McLaren. Leader Piquet came in for tyres to avoid a similar fate, handing Prost the lead. ![]() PLUS: How the 1986 Australian GP played out in the pitlane ![]() That was until his infamous tyre failure on the back straight on lap 64, Mansell dramatically fighting the FW11 to avoid an enormous crash before realising his race was done. Prost overtook ‘Red 5’ for second but still Mansell looked good. ![]() With 20 laps to go, leader Rosberg rang the first alarm bell that the Goodyear rubber might not be able to last the race when he suffered a blowout and retired. While Prost began a charge from fourth, Piquet made his way back into second and Mansell settled once more into third. The first crucial moment came when Prost was forced in for a tyre change due to a puncture on a day when going through non-stop seemed possible. Prost made his way by and then Piquet spun, leaving the McLarens of Keke Rosberg and Prost 1-2 and Mansell in third. Mansell took pole but fell to fourth on a cautious opening lap before taking the third he needed from Ayrton Senna’s Lotus on lap four of 82. Mansell required third to secure the championship whatever his Williams-Honda team-mate Nelson Piquet and Prost did. And a remarkable day in Adelaide, still sadly missed from the F1 schedule, meant the crown went the Frenchman’s way. ![]() Nigel Mansell fans could rightly point out that the Briton could or should have been world champion in 1986, but Alain Prost’s campaign in his outgunned McLaren-TAG has to be considered one of the great F1 performances. "And colossally, that's Mansell!" Murray Walker's words on commentary as Mansell's title hopes were extinguished are perhaps among his most memorable From the streets of Adelaide to its current destination of Albert Park in Melbourne, F1's home in Australia since 1996, the Australian Grand Prix has produced thrilling championship deciders and unpredictable season-openers, as well as memorable incidents such as the 2002 pile-up that contributed to Mark Webber's point-scoring debut with Minardi.įrom the controversial clash between Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill that gave the German his first world title in 1994, on a day that Nigel Mansell scored his final F1 victory, to Brawn GP's unforgettable maiden win in 2009 and a surprise triumph for Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus in 2013, there were no shortage of classic moments for our panel of experts to pick out.Īhead of this weekend's 2023 edition, we selected our favourite Australian Grands Prix.ġ986 – The greatest title decider? Kevin Turner ![]()
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