I have also learned that you cannot please everybody and that no matter what you do or say and no matter how you carry yourself when you are in the spotlight, people are going to criticise you. Sadly that is a given element of my life and I have come in for a lot of criticism, some of it justified, most of it, I believe, not.
If pushing everybody to produce commitment at the highest level in order to win really is whingeing, then Iâm a whinger â but I have the satisfaction of knowing that it leads directly to success.
There is a deplorable and negative characteristic of the British, which is to try to undermine success and to glorify the gallant loser. It is often called the âtall poppy syndromeâ. The media have a simplistic perception of a lot of stars; they like to stick a label on someone and work from there. Once the label is stuck on it is difficult to shake off. People are actually a lot more complicated than that and in most cases there is a great deal going on behind the scenes, which would explain a lot if only it were more widely known.
In 1992 I was criticised for implying that the victories we were accumulating were entirely due to me and not to the team and our fabulous car, FW14B. I always paid tribute to the team in post race press conferences, itâs just that the media chose not to use those quotes in their articles. I did a long interview with the BBC at the end of the year, where I spent quite some time going into detail about how the team had done a great job, but they cut that part out when they aired the programme.
The way I work is that I am the captain of the ship and I work for the common good within a team. I donât like anyone telling me how to drive a racing car or what to do out on the track â thatâs my business and my record speaks for itself. Outside the car I listen to all of the technical advice and make use of all the expertise available. I am a team player and I know that unless some outside factor comes in to upset the balance, whatâs best for me is whatâs best for the team.
When you hire Nigel Mansell as your driver, the actual time spent in the car and what I can do with the car is far from all that you are buying. The ability to get the best out of the the car is well known, but also crucial is the ability to get the car into a shape to be used like that.
I need to be surrounded in a team by people who believe in me and who know that if I am given the right equipment, Iâll get the results.
When I aligned myself to Williams in 1991/92, everybody worked my way and we delivered the goods: nine wins, fourteen pole positions and the title wrapped up in record time by August. If we hadnât delivered the goods then I could sympathise with the teamâs frustration and difficulty in continuing the relationship. But to change tack just because of pressure from the teamâs French partners to bring aboard one of their fellow countrymen, Alain Prost frustrated me enormously, although I could understand the reason behind it.
There is an old Groucho Marx joke which goes: âI wouldnât want to be a member of a club which would have someone like me as a member.â I am the exact opposite of this. I only want to be in a team that wants me there and wants to work the best way both for the team and for me. If I feel that I do not have the teamâs full support, then I am quite prepared to leave.
I donât want to be in a situation where everyone is not pulling together.
BE FAST AND CONSISTENT
Patrick Head, Williamsâ technical director, has said that one of my major strengths as a racing driver is that I donât have on days and off days. I am consistently fast, which is a big help to a team when it comes to developing a car. They know that the speed at which I drive a car on any given day is the fastest that car will go, so they always have something consistent to measure against.
Of course, in reality, every human being has on days and off days, but if you are a real professional it shouldnât show in the car, because you are being paid to drive the car and to perform. Also your professional integrity should not allow you to take it easy on yourself when you feel like it. A champion needs to have that extra will and determination to get the job done so that, although you might not feel on top form out of the car, you perform to the highest levels in it. That takes a lot of energy but it is vital if you are going to be successful.
Sometimes you have to face the fact that even your best efforts are not going to yield the results. In my second year of IndyCars in 1994, it just wasnât possible to do what we had done the year before and win races consistently with the car we had. I gave it a massive effort in bursts during qualifying and sometimes was able to get on pole or the front row, but the Penskes were so superior over a race distance that there was nothing I could do to beat them, even if I drove every lap of the race as if it were a qualifying lap. When itâs not possible you canât make it happen. Thatâs not to say that I gave up or resigned myself to making the numbers up. I was just being realistic.
I am often asked how I feel I have improved as a driver over the years. Obviously you cultivate your skills and talents in all areas, but if I had to be specific I would say that I have improved as a human being and that has matured my racing technique. Iâm a little bit more patient now and Iâm not as aggressive as I used to be, although there is still a lot of aggression there. I have much more knowledge of how to get the job done and I donât pressure myself into doing a certain lap time, which I used to do all the time.
I am a better thinker in a racing car nowadays, I donât feel that I have to lead every lap of a race. As long as Iâm the one who crosses the line first thatâs the important thing.
I have also developed the courage to come into the pits when the car isnât working and to tell the crew that itâs terrible, rather than feel that I have to tread on eggshells so as not to hurt their feelings. In the early days, when I complained about a car everybody would say, âOh, heâs whingeing again, heâs no good.â Now I have the self belief and I know what is right and what is wrong and stick to it. I donât just steam in and criticise, I make suggestions and pressurise people into accepting that something isnât good enough and needs to be changed. In other words I have become a little wiser about how to operate and do things.
MY UNUSUAL DRIVING STYLE
My driving style has changed little over the years that I have been racing. It is quite a distinctive style, because I tend to take a different line around corners from other drivers. The classic cornering technique, as taught by racing schools, is to brake and downshift smoothly while still travelling in a straight line and then to turn into the apex of the corner and apply the power. Thus you are slow into the corner and fast out of it.
I never consciously set out to ignore those rules, I just devised my own way of driving and stuck to it because I found it faster. It is a lot more physical and tiring than the classic style, but itâs faster and thatâs what counts.
My style is to brake hard and late and to turn in very early to the apex of the corner, carrying a lot of speed with me. I then slow the car down again in the corner and drive out of it. Because I go for the early apex, I probably use less road than many other drivers. In fact if you put a dripping paint pot on the back of my car and on the back of another driverâs car around a lap of a circuit like Monaco, you would probably find that my lap is 20 or 30 metres shorter than theirs!
To drive like this I need a car which has a very responsive front end and turns in immediately and doesnât slide at the front. I cannot drive on the limit in a car which understeers, for example. My cars tend to handle nervously because I need them to roll and be supple; a car which does this at high speed is an uncomfortable car to drive and is very demanding, but invariably it is faster. Because itâs ânervousâ it will react quickly to the steering and will turn quicker into a corner. The back end feels like it wants to come around on you, but thatâs something you learn to live with. Although itâs nervous itâs got to be balanced properly, if it isnât then thereâs nothing you can do with it. A stable stiff car is reassuring to drive and wonât do anything nasty to you, but itâs not fast. If you want the ultimate then