Nigel Mansell won’t be driving a Williams-Renault in 1991 because Ayrton Senna might be. After mulling it over for a week, allowing the hysteria surrounding his forthcoming retirement [following his Ferrari’s failure in the 1990 British Grand Prix] to subside, I can only conclude, sadly, that Mansell has been driven from Formula 1 by the politics and dithering chicanery which are endemic to this business.
In Le Castellet, a week before Silverstone, I spoke to him at length. It was late Saturday afternoon, and he had spent most of it closeted in the Ferrari motorhome, discussing his future with company president, Piero Fusaro, and team manager, Cesare Fiorio. There was intense pressure on him to re-sign, but the proposal was not to his liking. He declined to make a decision on the spot, and who could blame him?
