There's no denying that any F1 fan asked to recall a couple of favourite F1 memories would include at least one incident involving Nigel Mansell, be it his wheel-to-wheel face-off with Ayrton Senna at Barcelona, his explosive tyre failure at Adelaide or his desperate, but inevitably futile, attempts to pass Senna at Monaco (pictured). There are many, many more.

A keen Tweeter, on a variety of subjects, but mainly F1, at a time fans are being surveyed for their thoughts on the current state of the sport, Mansell has delivered his own verdict.

"Some of the current rules need tweaking," he told Sky Sports News HQ. "DRS is a false overtaking aid because it doesn’t give the driver (a chance) to slipstream and to play a chess game to plan where to pass someone.

"Although Pirelli have done the job they’ve been asked to do, the tyres should go back to the old tyre size where they were very large and robust with plenty of grip. If a driver wants to deliver the car into the corner and brake really late and try to get sidewards, he then has the ability to do so with bigger tyres and more grip.

"There has got to be a rethink of certain things and a little bit of magic," he urged. "KERS is a very good situation because it can be managed by the drivers on a lap-by-lap basis for either attack or defence, but take some of the driver aids away and let the drivers drive and race the cars like they used to.

"The drivers are not being given an opportunity to express how great they are as a race-car driver because there are too many aids and too many engineers telling them how to balance the car. The great thing about years gone by is that they had to balance the car themselves."

Any chance he could replace the Strategy Group?

LATEST NEWS

more news >

LATEST IMAGES

galleries >

Click to go to the main galleries section

READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by TheDarkKnight, 15/06/2015 8:19

"No one has mentioned getting rid of Todt and Ecclestone - unless that's obvious nowadays"

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

2. Posted by karel, 15/06/2015 5:46

"Change the engine, ban driver aids, leave constructors to do their thing again. remember Colin Chapman and his magnificent findings, let drivers be drivers: need for speed and big balls :)"

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

3. Posted by nonickname, 12/06/2015 15:25

"New strategt group....
Nigel Mansell.
Alain Prost.
Keke Rosberg.
Alan Jones.
Pope Francis ( for balance and behaviour of the group)
Regs.
1..500 kg max weight dry.
1.. 10 and 13 inch wheels
3..10000 + motors. The BMW did 1400 in qualifying trim.
4...tubs to withstand the same as passenger plane.(around 8g) It will make drivers feel fear,which is long gone from their job)
5..No radios
6..4 mechanics on the grid at any time.

No chance!!!

OMG

"

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

4. Posted by RDFox, 12/06/2015 13:40

"Simple way to make F1 more interesting again:

* Limit total car downforce to 9800 kilonewtons (equivalent to 1000 kg), but greatly open up the restrictions on how it's generated. Allow both front and rear DRS controlled entirely by the driver, with no restrictions on when or where it's used. (Wanna try and run Curva Grande with the DRS active? It's YOUR funeral!)
* Set a limit of 900kW (essentially 1200 bhp) engine power, with perhaps 150 kilograms (or an equivalent volume) of fuel to complete the race, and essentially no restrictions on *how* you generate the power (except, perhaps, for prohibiting the use of gas turbine engines, if it's felt that turboshafts are just too much of a power-to-weight weapon).
* Eliminate sintered carbon brakes; mandate the use of either ceramic or iron brake rotors and carbon-metallic brake pads, to force drivers to brake earlier for corners and give more opportunities for mistakes under braking.
* Eliminate the ability to change most car settings from the cockpit--leave the driver with only brake bias, front and rear anti-roll bar, and fuel flow limit setting adjustments (i.e., basically what they had in the IndyCar series around 1995); the only way to adjust other settings currently tweakable from the cockpit would be by plugging in a laptop during a pit stop.
* Optionally, return to manual H-gate shift-pattern gearboxes.
* Allow all the pit communication you want... in the form of *text messages only* that must be read from a display on the steering wheel. No verbal communication except in case of emergency (such as "you're on fire, stop and get out now!"). If you want to coach the driver through turn-by-turn, you're free to do so... but only at the cost of his having to spend his time reading the steering wheel instead of actually driving the car..."

Rating: Negative (-1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

5. Posted by BWesty, 12/06/2015 11:28

"Spot on. I could not agree with Mr Mansell more, remove all the gadgets and let them go racing...I love the idea are removing radios and going back to pit boards only. If Hamilton had no idea what the drivers behind him were doing, he would be racing his socks off from start to finish. This would open up a whole new can of worms regarding tyre life and fuel usage . I also mentioned in another post that going back to manual gearboxes (with a clutch) would really test the drivers ability to control all aspects of the race and the car. Do you honestly think Hamilton would have pitted with 15 laps to go at Monoco if some engineer hadn't squawked into his ear to do so. Not a chance, he would have tried to stay out.
These young drivers are just glorified Xbox or Play station jockeys... and the engineers are like their mommies bringing them a cup of hot coco when their bums get tired of sitting on the couch. LOL:)"

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

6. Posted by Cobra Driver, 12/06/2015 10:48

"A thing of beauty is seeing a true "car control" driver oversteer through a difficult corner. Can you say Gilles Villeneuve? Mr. Ape is quite correct, although I would use a more-descriptive body part term that begins with "a" and ends with "e"."

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

7. Posted by ape, 12/06/2015 10:00

"Of course less driver aids and less communication , this pampering by the engineers has to stop ,cut out all the communication, let the driver decide and do the thinking, they are treated like monkeys now. Just build the cars a little less critical ... not so difficult.

But the top teams don't want to change , and they still wonder why the fans run away. Stupids
"

Rating: Positive (4) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

Mansell: Take away driver aids

LATEST NEWS

RELATED ARTICLES

LATEST IMAGES

POST A COMMENT

Post your comment

READERS COMMENTS

Share this page