Happy birthday, Nigel!

Nigel Mansell, one of British motorsports most iconic heroes, celebrates his 63rd birthday today, August 8.

Mansell had a Formula One career that stretched over 16 years, making his début in the 1980 Austrian Grand Prix with Lotus and taking his final bow at the 1995 Spanish Grand Prix in a short-lived return from retirement with McLaren.

But his most enduring affiliation was with the Williams team. Their partnership began in 1985 and the following two seasons Mansell was twice runner-up in the world championship.

Mansell made a brief switch to drive for Ferrari for two seasons but returned to Williams in 1991 when he was once again second in the championship. It was the next season that proved so magical for him, starting with five back-to-back Grand Prix victories. There would be four more over the course of the remainder of the season, and he ended 1992 as world champion at last.

Mansell has also raced in BTCC, IndyCar (including the Indianapolis 500 which saw him finish in third place in 1993) and the 24 Hours at Le Mans, but it's Formula One that he will forever be associated with.

Here he is in a picture from 2002 when he met up with fellow world champion Michael Schumacher at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, a fitting location for an encounter between two legends of the sport.

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.