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NIGEL MANSELL-ESTORIL 1989 | |||
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 A
bizarre incident that resulted in Nigel Mansell receiving the black flag.Mansell entered the pits, and attempted to turn into his pit box, but swerved and carried on, only to stop in front of his pit box. The Ferrari mechanics rushed to drag the car back, but Mansell engaged reverse gear, and illegally reversed into his pit box. Meanwhile the Ferrari mechanics re assembled themselves in the pit box to carry out a normal looking pit stop. ''The McLaren mechanics had placed some material in the pit lane and that's the reason why I couldn't stop where my pit team was," Mansell said after the incident. Mansell then exited the pits and resumed his race. However the Briton was black flagged for the illegal manouvre, but chose to ignore the signal for three laps, before colliding with Ayrton Senna's McLaren at the first corner, taking both out the race. Mansell was fined $50,000 and suspended from the Spanish Grand Prix. Mansell appealed, claiming he hadn't seen the black flag: ''If I had seen the black flag I would have stopped,'' he said. ''I'm not crazy to try to risk my life for anything and I certainly wouldn't deserve being in Formula One.'' Mansell's appeal was unsuccessful, and he was therefore unable to compete in the Spanish Grand Prix. Mansell was fuming, and at one point considered his future in the sport. The events of Estoril 1989 are shown below: |
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Step-by-step guide to this incident | |||
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Nigel Mansell enters the pits, everything seems normal. | |||
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But what's this? Mansell has swerved, and is not driving in totally the wrong direction. | |||
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Mansell drives around his pit crew and prepares to pull in front of them. The pit crew move out of the way in avoidance. | |||
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Mansell stops his car in front of his mechanics, and prepares to engage reverse. | |||
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Mansell engages reverse and starts to travel backwards. | |||
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Mansell continues to reverse as his mechanics rush back to the pit box. | |||
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Mansell continues to reverse. | |||
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Mansell turns into the pit box while the mechanics resume their positions. | |||
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Mansell continues to reverse and turn. | |||
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Mansell re-enters the pitbox. The mechanics are now back in position. | |||
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Mansell is now back where he should have been several seconds ago. The pit stop resumes. | |||
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