The eras in Formula 1 can always be defined by a clash of titans on track and in 1987 that happened between Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell.
Spa Francorchamps was the setting of the third round of the season, and early championship leader Mansell had qualified on pole for Williams from teammate Nelson Piquet.
Rising star Senna was third on the grid, having qualified in his Lotus 1.4 seconds off the pace and managed to climb up to second at the start.
Mansell led the pack, but further back, Rene Arnoux and Andrea de Cesaris tangled, while Thierry Boutsen hit a spinning Gerhard Berger. A heavier crash would happen to Philippe Streiff at Eau Rouge in his Tyrrell, which in turn also took out teammate Jonathan Palmer.
The race was restarted after the carnage, and it was Senna who took the lead away from Mansell and Piquet after driving between them off the line into La Source. It would be the start of a chain reaction for Mansell, who would describe his anger at Senna as ‘red mist’ when later speaking to Sky Sports F1.
Nigel Mansell saw red mist after clash with Ayrton Senna
Mansell would chase Senna on the opening lap and managed to get a run on the Lotus coming out of Blanchimont.
As he attempted to go around the outside of the right-hander of Fagnes, the two cars touched and both would end up in the gravel, with Senna out on the spot.
Mansell recovered back on track, but it was clear that the damage to his Williams was too significant to continue, with him forced to retire. The irate Williams driver would march straight down to the Lotus garage to confront Senna, after seeing what he called ‘red mist’ after the incident.
“You can’t control when you see the red mist because everyone has got a chip inside them called self-preservation. When you’re on the edge and almost just lost your life because someone has been brainless, and basically putting somebody in the situation where you either back out or both get killed,” said Mansell.
“We had a situation like that, and regardless of how I felt, I had red mist. I never feared for my life, I was just red. And I was like a great big bull in a ring, anything I saw was red and I thought I’d go and see my friend Ayrton.
“We had very good communication. It was very lively, and to my amusement, I had four people holding me down, and then he stood in front of me and hit me quite a few times. But the fantastic thing is that the FIA didn’t do anything because we were two big guys going for the title, and they thought, let them sort it out. Sometimes the drivers need to sort it out.”
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How the 1987 Formula 1 season panned out
Mansell would be in a season-long battle with Piquet for the title after winning races in France, Great Britain, Austria, Spain and Mexico.
But a crash at the second-to-last round at Suzuka would ultimately end his chances, after the Briton lost control at the fast esses following the start/finish straight.
The accident left him with severe bruising to his backbone, which re-triggered an old injury and forced Mansell to miss the final round in Australia.
Even though Piquet retired from the race, he would go on to clinch the title by 12 points from Mansell, while Senna would finish third just four points off and ahead of Alain Prost.