HONDA The Power of Dreams

By Round 7, the British Grand Prix, which was Williams’ home race, the Drivers’ Standings were: Ayrton Senna (Lotus Honda) with 27 points and two wins, Alain Prost (McLaren TAG) with 26 points and two wins, Nelson Piquet (Williams Honda) with 24 points and no wins, Nigel Mansell (Williams Honda) with 21 points and 2 wins. However, after Mansell secured a victory and a 1-2 finish for Williams Honda in the Round 6, France, the tide had turned in Williams’ favor.

Honda had expanded its engine supply to include Lotus, in addition to Williams, with four cars now being powered by its 1.5-liter V6 turbo engines. Lotus, which had also refreshed its livery, had Senna, with Satoru Nakajima, the first Japanese driver to compete in Formula 1, as teammate. Lotus was the first team to adopt active suspension, and Senna had won at Monaco and Detroit, both of which were bumpy street circuits.

The Silverstone circuit, which recorded an average qualifying speed of 258.976 km/h in 1985, was an ultra-high-speed track, giving the V6 turbo engines a clear advantage. The intense battle between team mates Mansell and Piquet began in qualifying. A fierce battle to set the fastest lap time unfolded throughout the final qualifying session, but Mansell spun out in the final stages, handing Piquet his first pole position of the season.

At the start of the 65-lap race, Prost took advantage of Mansell and Piquet blocking each other to briefly take the lead, but within the first lap, the two Williams cars overtook him. Piquet took the lead, with Mansell in pursuit, and the two quickly pulled away from the rest of the field.

On Lap 13, the balance weight on Mansell’s left front wheel came loose and flew off, causing vibration. Mansell began to fall behind race-leader Piquet. By the end of Lap 35, Mansell had no option but to pit. After changing all four tires, he returned to the track in second place and drove fiercely. However, with 29 laps remaining, he was already 28 seconds behind Piquet, a desperately large gap. Meanwhile, in the Williams pit, Mansell’s tires were inspected with Goodyear staff, and no issues with wear were found. The team instructed Piquet to stay out without a tire change.

However, with around 12 laps remaining, Piquet’s car began to lose grip, and his lap times slowed. Meanwhile, Mansell continued his relentless pursuit. The 7.6-second gap with 10 laps remaining had narrowed to just 0.8 seconds by the start of Lap 63. As they exited Chapel Curve and approached the Hangar Straight, the two cars were side-by-side, in a high-speed battle at 300 km/h. Mansell briefly tried to move left, and Piquet, seeing this in his mirror, also moved left. In that split second, Mansell suddenly changed his line to the right, taking the inside of the approaching right-angle Stowe Corner. With a brilliant feint, Mansell successfully overtook Piquet for the lead, for the first time in the race.

With just over two laps remaining, however, Mansell faced a problem. The fuel gauge on his dashboard read “0.” That year, turbocharged engines were limited to 195 liters of fuel per race. However, despite there being instances where cars had run out of fuel in the final stages of the race, the Honda V6 turbo engine managed to complete all 65 laps. The gap to second-place Piquet was under two seconds.

Immediately after crossing the finish line, Mansell’s car stalled as his fuel ran out. Excited spectators flooded the track and surrounded the car, and Mansell was taken to the podium in a rescue vehicle. This marked his second consecutive British Grand Prix victory.

In Williams Honda’s second 1-2 victory, Senna (one lap down) and Satoru Nakajima (Lotus Honda, two laps down) gave Honda V6 turbos the top four spots. Honda F1 Team Principal Yoshitaka Sakurai commented, “I can’t believe it.”

After celebrating on the podium with a champagne fight, Mansell was urged to take a lap around the circuit on the back of a police motorcycle. He got off the bike at the spot where he had overtaken Piquet, and kissed the track, receiving a standing ovation from 100,000 fans. “In the last 15 laps, fans all around the track waved to me at every turn. That gave me the push I needed. I owe this victory to the fans. I want to thank everyone.”

Although only led for three laps, Mansell was undeniably the hero of the race. He secured his third victory of the season, tying Piquet with 30 points in the championship standings, just one point behind Senna’s 31.