Formula 1 | Mansell evokes the past: “Driving turbo cars was the scariest thing we could do”

Interviewed by the FIA's Auto magazine, Nigel Mansell compared modern F1 with that of his period, underlining how the driving style used today is profoundly different from that of the past, an aspect that obviously can never be fully understood by the drivers.

Recent technology, in fact, has made driving cars much simpler than in the past, a factor which obviously distances the concept of Formula 1 from that experienced by the Englishman between the eighties and nineties.

“Driving those turbo cars was the most exhilarating and scary thing we could do in our lives,” said Nigel Mansell. “Nothing comes close to the 11 Williams FW1987B. Nothing in the world. Today's drivers don't know what it means to drive a Formula 1 car."

“In qualifying we reached up to 1500 horsepower”, continued the Englishman. “It was scary and the car was literally trying to kill you at every turn. It's an F1 that will never return."