Buoyed during the winter by an oh-so-close campaign with the Williams FW14 in 1991 (five wins and second in the drivers’ standings), Nigel Mansell headed to a reconfigured Kyalami armed with an all-new FW14B, powered once more by the 3.5-litre V10 Renault, but with tweaks to the trickery.
And the Englishman, who’d taken his second career victory for Williams on the old layout back in 1985 and subsequently gone on to win 19 more races, dominated every pre-race session, topping the times in both free practice sessions and both qualifying shootouts, as well as the race-morning warm-up.
Starting from pole position for the 18th time in his career, Mansell got the jump on fellow front-row starter and reigning World Champion Ayrton Senna, with the second Williams of Riccardo Patrese leaping up to second from fourth on the grid on the run to the first corner having jumped Senna and his McLaren team-mate Gerhard Berger.
And from that moment on, the Williams FW14B booked its place in the pantheon great Grand Prix cars. Mansell disappeared up the road, leading every one of the 72 laps and finishing not far off half a minute ahead of Patrese. Senna took the final podium spot, 10 seconds adrift of the second Williams. The Brazilian’s consolation prize was that he had nailed a faster race lap than Patrese, although neither man got down into 1m17s territory – where Mansell had been two laps from home as the fuel burned off.
Elsewhere, what would be a torrid season for Ferrari kicked off with a double retirement for Jean Alesi and Ivan Capelli, while British fans cheered Johnny Herbert home to sixth place for Lotus – his best result for three years.
At the very bottom of the timesheets was Italian lady racer Giovanna Amati, who failed to make it in to the race after clocking a qualifying lap almost nine seconds slower than Mansell’s in her Brabham BT60B. She would persevere in Mexico and Brazil but fail to make it onto the starting grid of a World Championship Grand Prix, leaving Lella Lombardi’s milestone as the last woman to race at the top level – in Austria in 1976 – intact to this day.
South African Grand Prix, 1992
1. Nigel Mansell (GB) – Williams-Renault FW14B, 72 laps
2. Riccardo Patrese (ITA) – Williams-Renault FW14B, +24.360s
3. Ayrton Senna (BR) – McLaren-Honda MP4/6B, +34.675s
4. Michael Schumacher (D) – Benetton-Ford B191B, +47.863s
5. Gerhard Berger (AUT) – McLaren-Honda MP4/6B, +1m13.634s
6. Johnny Herbert (GB) – Lotus-Ford 102D, 71 laps
Images courtesy of LAT
Formula 1
On this day...
Williams
nigel mansell
