1 Mansell’s charge

We could have filled much of our Top Ten with Nigel Mansell’s British GP heroics – in 1992, for example, he was on pole by almost two seconds – but his 1987 victory stands out. The weekend was a straight fight between Mansell and his Williams teammate Nelson Piquet, who threatened to ruin the party by claiming pole and leading for most of the race.

Neither of them had planned a tyre stop, but a severe vibration forced Mansell to dive into the pits on lap 35. He emerged nearly 30 secs behind with only 30 laps to go, and for a time failed to trim the gap; 10 laps later, he threw delicate fuel calculations to the winds, turned up the boost and went for it. Riding on a wave of home support, he slashed Piquet’s lead and caught him with just over two laps to go. Into Stowe, with the Brazilian frantically scanning his mirrors, Mansell dummied left before switching to the inside. The roar of the crowd was clearly audible as he muscled past and went on to claim a memorable victory. Anorak fact Despite a new, tight chicane before the final corner, Mansell crossed the line during qualifying at 189.418mph