Thirty years ago today, Nigel Mansell's glorious Formula 1 career ended in bleak fashion as he retired his McLaren from the 1995 Spanish Grand Prix and then split with the team after a disastrously brief stint.
In an interview for sports journalist Graham Nickless' new audiobook Cheers to 50 years...On The Sporting Frontline, Mansell has revealed new details about Bernie Ecclestone's role in getting him out of IndyCar - where he intended to stay long into the 1990s - and back into F1 in 1994 for the return that proved so shortlived.
Graham has kindly provided The Race Members' Club with an adapted extract and interview clip from his book in which Mansell says Ecclestone bought out his CART IndyCar contract with Carl Haas and Paul Newman's Newman/Haas team so that he had no choice but to return to F1. That F1 comeback then went awry as Williams picked David Coulthard over him for 1995 despite Mansell winning the 1994 finale at the end of his four-race stint for the team, steering Mansell into his ill-fated McLaren move.
You can hear and read more on Patreon - and there's 75% off your first month in the Members' Club right now - but here's a taster from Graham's book:
"Yeah, of course it hurts," Mansell opened up to Nickless. "I mean, it would've been much better to do a few more years and then have a retirement year and everything else, like a number of drivers do.
"But, when you have people selling your contracts from underneath your feet, and they're not even having a word with you, as if it's OK, there's no words to describe how that makes you feel.
"I understand why Bernie wanted me back, but the far-reaching powers to come across the Atlantic and do a deal with Newman/Haas, and Carl Haas especially, to be able to achieve what he did, it's pretty ridiculous.
"Bernie comes over and buys all my contracts out from Carl Haas, which, I've got to say it, bless him, if he had had a backbone, he wouldn't have sold the contracts."
Mansell was all set to make his home in the States with his wife Rosanne - who he has just celebrated their 50th anniversary with - until Ecclestone's intervention.
The Formula 1 powerbroker desperately wanted the British crowd pleaser back on the grand prix grid and Mansell often told Nickless he was under extraordinary pressure to do so.
Listen to an extract from Cheers to 50 years...On The Sporting Frontline on The Race Members' Club
The double world champ went on: "And you know, he changed our lives again. We were very settled, we had contracts for '95, '96 and '97.
"We had all sorts of plans for the future. It was fantastic. And then, the rug's pulled from under your feet."
· The audiobook 'Cheers to 50 years...On The Sporting Frontline' written by Graham 'Nico' Nickless is available now on Amazon, Spotify and Audible and the ebook on Kindle. The book version will be out soon.
For the full story of how Mansell's time with McLaren in F1 went so wrong, check out this episode from the first season of our Bring Back V10s podcast:
And if you want a happier Mansell tale, Bring Back V10s also covered his incredible title-winning IndyCar rookie season with the help of renowned US journalist Curt Cavin.
The Race Members' Club gets every episode of Bring Back V10s early and ad-free, plus exclusive bonus content from the series such as Glenn Freeman's debrief videos answering your questions and epic research notes, and our members-only extra Bring Back V10s series reliving the 1993 and 1997 F1 seasons race-by-race.
