Eurosport - Mon, 29 Dec 14:19:00 2008
Moustachioed Briton Nigel Mansell streaked to the chequered flag in our poll of the greatest ever Williams drivers.
Our Nige took 41% of your votes with 3,160 of you placing the 1992 world champion ahead of Frenchman Alain Prost, who polled 24%.
Damon Hill, another British world champion, took the final spot on the podium with 12%.
Mansell had three spells with Williams, between 1985-88, 1991-92 and for a final short spell in 1994, when he replaced then-rookie David Coulthard for the final three races of the season.
Bushy-browed Mansell won a total of 31 of his 191 races, amassing a total of 480 career points, and was a recent inductee to the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
RESULTS
Who is the greatest Williams driver?
1-Nigel Mansell - 41%
2-Alain Prost - 24%
3-Damon Hill - 12%
4-Nelson Piquet - 9%
5-Jacques Villeneuve - 8%
6-Keke Roseberg - 4%
7-Alan Jones - 3%
7,744 votes at 14:00 UK time Monday December 29
What you said:
Futchi: "It has to be NICO ROSBERG - a beautiful driver with a delicate touch on the curves and yet capable of magnificent endurance and power thrusting all the way down the Straight. No contest!"
Russell O: "Damon Hill - Don't make me laugh! Even David 'gutless' Coulthard would have been champ in a Williams that season."
Alan K: "I would say Alan Jones, he won a title against the odds at the time and should have won a second had it not have been for his team mate forcing him off the track in a critical race. He was frightened of no one on or off the track, he was something special, if you doubt it ask Frank Williams for his opinion of Alan Jones."
sinednavanod: "Has to be Hill! Catapulted into the hotseat after Senna's death, he held the team together through it's most traumatic period. He almost pipped Schumacher in 94 with an inferior car, while in 95 he had no luck. I'd like to also point out that Mansell's world title came in a vastly superior car in 1992, like Hill in 96, but Hill had real competition in Villeneuve in 96. So Hill gets my vote!!!"
Comment 22 - 41 of 61
Mansell is well the best driver that Williams has ever had, but in saying that Senna could of been as successful as Mansell.
As for the rest thety don't even come near to the mark.
Lets face it the only reason Hill won a championship is because no other team had a car anywhere near good enough.
Hill does not deserve the respect that the other drivers command.
He was well and truly over rated!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It should of been -12%
IS HE NOW NAMED --- SIR --NIGEL
So if that is the case then Prost is a better driver than Senna if numbers do not lie.
In the Williams era every other driver is better than Prost full stop.
If Prost was that good a driver why did he not win the championship in a Ferrari or did that fact pass you by!!!
Forget his achiemevements with other teams and solely on the Williams team, Prost should at most be 4th in the list.
When it comes to F1 excitement rules not numbers that is why Prost will never be remembered the way Senna, Schumacher, Kimi or even Lewis would be remembered except for his cry baby attitude like Alonso.
to f1junky1000
What ur saying would have made any sense if mansell had at least half the achievement prost have. Numbers don't lie. U may like Mansell for being brit and all but prost was by far the better driver ... accept it
mauricechela Nigel Mansell is ten times the driver Alain Prost will ever be remember Prost was also the idiot at McLaren throwing his toys out of his pram.
Also he went to Ferrari after that can some tell me what happened at Ferrari, OH YES HE GOT THE SACK!!!!
The survey was the best driver for Willaims and not over their career and believe you me I am surprised Prost got as much as 24%.
I consider Rosberg, Hill and Piquet ahead of him and Nige ahead of them all.
Signed Nigel Mansell print titled 'Victory' @ Silverstone in 1992 for sale. Go to ebay
Nigel had more bottle than the average whiskey factory, that's why the tifosi called him the lion and why he was the best driver Williams ever had.
How did Damon Hill get 12%?
I guess that the average rate u get for being brit. Mansell in front of Prost... u make me laugh. very pathetic
Saying that Chad is looking stupid is the understatement of the year!!!
ps chad i didn't bother changing your name to something more sarcastic because you've already made yourself look stupid without my help.
well chadbuchman if you want the facts in QUEENS ENGLISH - he went on to win the PPG IndyCar World Series in his rookie year. which it was then known as, can't see no CART in there matey can you.
it has got 2 b mansell by far a gentle man and a born racer anyone could have won in hills car even frank williams said it his self
Corporal ZZzzzzzZZZZzzzzz let me help YOU! m8 ...........and he went on to win the C.A.R.T. CHAMPIONSHIP in his rookie year too. amazing driver old nigel.................... " thats the type of motor-sport literacy I can understand!.......... U R WELCOME C.
The FW-16 was not and "Ill-handling" car. Ayrton's accident was caused by his car bottoming out after his tire pressures got too low, following a slow safety car (which was Bernieand Max's fault) during the start at Imola. What made the car unstable, as with all of the cars, was the FIA's reduction of the rear difuser (as well as some other changes) in their knee-jerk reaction to the accident.
If it was legal, I would compile the 200 most exciting passes in F1 over the past 25 years; from my collection, and put it on YouTube. Nigel easily has over 60. Too bad they don't old F1 races available to market.
Chad B. YOU want to learn to read m8, nowhere did in mention indy500. made yourself look like a BIG LOSER now, assumption is the mother of all f*&K ups
Thanks junky. btw I agree with what you say about Nige. He may not have been the best ever driver in F1 - that's Jim Clark for me and Schummy or Senna for many others. But Nige was my favourite driver - if you see what I mean. Nige was the perfect blend of skill, bravery and outright lunacy to be a broadcasters dream. Just ask Murray Walker about his best times in F1 and count the number of references to Nige.
The Italians didn't call him the Lion for nothing.
Marion. I just reported you. Does that makes me a grass? i dont care. I dont actualy care what you think and i want you removed from here as My 10 year old nephew asked me the other day why "Father glock" is a cheater. Thanks for screwing up the nations youth you **** (rhymes with blunt).
you will not see a gutsier driver than il leone...fact
Bill Mac you actually have nothing to apologise for.
You are very civil in your discussions and that is a great thing.
I was just correcting Chad whatever he chooses to call himself from time to time, that yes maybe Nige did not win Indy500 but the Indy championship that he won has this race included, yes the Indy 500 is glamourous as the Monaco GP but if you do not win it does not mean you have lost the championship.
Look at F1 the first ever race recognised as a F1 race was at Le Mans. Yet today we no longer race F1 cars at Le Mans, does that mean it is no longer the F1 championship? Also if you do not win at Monaco does that mean you cannot win the F1 Drivers championship?
Chad your reasoning and opinion on this issue is massively flawed.
littlee.69123 from what I remember of the era when turbos and normally aspirated cars run at the same time the turbos used to do the butt kicking.
It makes no sense anyway to compare two drivers in different types of car.
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