Mansell's black-flag breach and ban

On this day in 1989, Nigel Mansell made sure F1 fans had their money's worth of drama at the Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril.

'Il Leone' had qualified his Ferrari third and overhauled teammate Gerhard Berger at the front to build himself a commanding 20-second lead when he pitted after 40 laps.

Mansell's rush saw the Brit overshoot his pit crew by a car's length and reverse into his space, a forbidden maneuver that brought out the black flag when he rejoined the proceedings.

But the Scuderia charger roared past the waving official three times, his view perhaps hindered by the fact that he was hooked to the back of Ayrton Senna's McLaren on the main straight.

It all ended in tatters however as Mansell went all-in at the first corner, lunging at the Brazilian and taking both out of the race!

The stewards lowered the boom on our Nige who was fined $50,000 for ignoring the black flag and banned for the following race.

Mansell briefly threatened to call it a day if the ban wasn't overturned, but ultimately the daram subsided and the Brit returned to action.