I wouldn't include Kubiça in that. Of the other three, Vettel is still the weakest fighter, which of course was Mansell's strongest card. All else being equal, I think he'd have a real battle with Hamilton and Alonso (and Button). I'll add that Mansell is a conceited loudmouth who underplays and understates other people's ability and always thought (and still does) that he is better than everyone who has been on a grid since he left. - This takes nothing away from him as a driver, it's just that his opinionated opinion of himself and others should be taken with sea-water…
Yep. All too often. He's a member of the BRDC as I'm sure you know, and his speeches are the dullest snooze-fest you'll ever hear. Someone once told me he was Best Man at a wedding: by the time he'd finished talking about himself, even the teetotallers had gone to the bar (for brandy)…
Assuming all cars were equally matched, I think Mansell would have struggled against some of the better drivers to be honest. My knowledge of Mansell is limited compared to others but from what I've seen of him, I don't believe he would be able to beat drivers like Alonso, Vettel, Rosberg, Button, Hamilton and even Massa (when hes not struggling with the tyres). Certainly Mansell would stand no chance against Alonso, Vettel and Hamilton. The different eras and regulations make it almost impossible to compare - as Mifune has already said - but my opinion is that the current class of 2011 are overall better than the drivers in Mansell's day.
Mansell showed up well against his peers of the late 80's, he just carried an awful lot of bad luck around with him. Some of it made by himself it has to be said, but that he could easily have won the 86 or 87 WDC's but for the multitude of mehcanical failures and unfortunate events that seemed to happen to just his Williams shows he was up there with Prost, Piquet & Senna at the time. His performances in the Williams in 88 did defy belief sometimes as he was usually the only non-turbo driver to take the fight direct to the McLaren's & Ferrari's. Trouble is, his persona and constant paranoia that everyone was out to get him meant he didn;t get much sympathy from within the paddock and the more the British media lapped it up, the more he thought that the problem was never him.
I agree with all if this Mansell is also the only driver I ever heard of in any pro race to park his car and walk back because he was getting beaten by other drivers
To be fair to Mansell, and casting aside his unfortunate personal characteristics; he was a hell of a driver. As others have pointed out, it is impossible to compare like for like, but it's worth remembering that he had the measure of Senna on plenty of occasions. The trouble is that his particular brand of inverted charisma makes people want to forget anything he did on track…
I think a lot of people don't rate Vettel because he has the best car, but forget that Schumacher, Prost, Senna, Fangio only won WDC's because, they too, had the best car.
By and large, this is true of course. And this is a characteristic of motor sport, not wholly restricted to F1. Even in the various one-make series, some teams are significantly better funded and better prepared than others. The only precise comparison is for drivers to be in the exact same car. Imagine a time trial where every driver uses the same car. Of course, even this has its drawbacks; it wouldn't compare 'racers' both only fastest laps on a clear track!
Even then it wouldn't be an entirely fair comparison since drivers have differing styles meaning they're suited to some cars (and circuits as well) better than others. Everything in motorsport is open to interpretation, we could never know for sure who the greatest was without someone being distinctly better than everyone else (Lionel Messi for example), but the standard at the top is too high to allow that.
Mansell would whip all today's lot. Definitely. Doubt me? Easy to prove me wrong. Just get a time machine, go back in time and get a prime Mansell from the late 80s, bring him back to the current day (although what does that really mean when you have a time machine?), put Nige in a Sauber or something, and then sit back and watch as Mansell wins every race. Case closed.
Trying to be funny or wannabe sarcasm or real opinion? I have no clue what your target was .... anyways ... its really easy to prove you wrong. How? The man himself told us: "bar Vettel"! *Pun intended*
