On 13 April 1986, Ayrton Senna took Formula 1’s third-tightest victory in history at the Spanish Grand Prix, beating Nigel Mansell by 0.014s under the chequered flag.
The new Jerez track had opened just four months prior, and the F1 race was just the second major event to take place there.
It was also the second round of the 1986 season; McLaren’s reigning champion Alain Prost and team-mate Keke Rosberg qualified outside the first three rows and suffered engine failures in the Jacarepagua opener, paving the way for home heroes Nelson Piquet and Senna to achieve a Brazilian 1-2 for Williams and Lotus respectively.
Senna, Piquet and Williams team-mate Mansell were the top three on the grid again at Jacarepagua, and again at Jerez. Just like in Brazil, Lotus’ lead driver was eight tenths faster than anyone.
But the picture was much more balanced in the race. Halfway through, Senna led Mansell (who had dropped back early on due to fuel consumption worries before fighting back to second place) by under a second, with Piquet, Prost and Rosberg five to seven seconds down on the leader.
“From the green light to the flag, there was no time to think on anything else apart from driving as quick as possible,” Senna reflected.
Mansell eventually made a move for the lead, but excessive tyre wear meant he needed new tyres and made a late pitstop. The Briton rejoined over 20 seconds down with nine laps remaining and caught Senna on the very last tour, but the two-time grand prix winner held him off by the slimmest of margins for a third career win.
“I’ve never worked so hard in my whole career. It was so close I think they should give us seven-and-a-half points each,” Mansell smiled – a victory was worth nine points at the time, with second place awarding six.
This was the second-tightest F1 race ever at the time, after the 1971 Italian Grand Prix, when Peter Gethin prevailed over Ronnie Peterson by 0.01s – times weren’t measured to the thousandth of a second yet in that era.
The 2002 United States Grand Prix then became the second-tightest, as race leader Michael Schumacher slowed down, allegedly attempting a dead heat with Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello, but the latter crossed the finish line 0.011s ahead.
Mansell ended up losing the 1986 title to Prost by two points – fewer than the three he lost to Senna at Jerez, though it’s obviously not a simple case of ‘what if’ – after his rear-left tyre exploded in the title decider.
