The 1987 Belgian Grand Prix — on this day, 17 May — at Spa-Francorchamps produced one of the most infamous moments in F1 history when Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna clashed on track before settling their differences in a physical confrontation.
The incident unfolded on the opening lap of the restarted race. Senna, in the Lotus, had grabbed the lead from pole-sitter Mansell’s Williams at the start.
Chasing hard through the opening lap, Mansell attempted an audacious move around the outside of Senna at the Campus Chicane.
The two made contact mid-corner. Senna was eliminated on the spot, whilst Mansell limped on with damage before retiring on lap 17. What happened next etched the moment into F1 folklore.
Furious, Mansell stormed down the pit lane to the Lotus garage to confront the Brazilian face-to-face.
“I went over to him, grabbed him by the overalls and pushed him up against the wall,” Mansell recalled.
“He wore loose overalls in those days, and I pulled the zip up beyond his chin to just below his nose. ‘Next time you do that,’ I said, ‘you’re going to have to do a much better job’.”
The physical altercation marked an early flashpoint in what would become an intense rivalry between two alpha drivers unwilling to yield.
Mansell, still wounded from losing the 1986 championship in agonising fashion, was in no mood to accept what he perceived as dangerous driving.
Senna, meanwhile, had built a reputation for uncompromising racecraft that left minimal margin for error.
Remarkably, no official sanctions followed the pit-lane scuffle, a product of a more informal era when drivers were largely left to sort out their differences.
Alain Prost won the race for McLaren, with team-mate Stefan Johansson second. Andrea de Cesaris completed the podium for Brabham.
