• Rewind to 1987

Magical Mansell masters Piquet at Silverstone

Nigel Mansell pulls away from Nelson Piquet after passing him on lap 59 of 65 © Sutton Images

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The relationship between McLaren team-mates Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button has been the subject of much debate this season, with former world champion Damon Hill recently suggesting that it is only a matter of time before the friendly rivalry begins to "boil over."

Hamilton heads the drivers' standings by six points from his team-mate heading into this weekend's British Grand Prix at Silverstone after claiming two wins and a second-place finish in his last three races.

The 25-year-old is no stranger to intra-team rivalry after a tense relationship with Fernando Alonso led to the latter leaving McLaren in 2008, while Button was accused by former team-mate Rubens Barrichello of being the favoured driver at Brawn GP as he swept to victory in last year's drivers' championship.

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has managed the pair well so far and will be well aware of the explosive potential of a fall-out between drivers, having been part of the team during the days of Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. If he needs any advice, a phone call to Frank Williams would be well advised.

The competition between his Williams-Honda pairing of Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet was a highlight of the 1986 and 1987 seasons. In the latter year, the duo were separated by a single point after six races as they headed to the British Grand Prix, which was returning to Silverstone on a permanent basis after a spell at Brands Hatch.

By this stage in their partnership at Williams, it was well known that Mansell and Piquet did not get along. The Brazilian had joined the team in 1986 as a two-time world champion and with lead-driver status guaranteed as part of his lucrative contract.

However, it soon became evident that Mansell was a match for his highly-regarded team-mate as he out-pointed him during their first season together, narrowly missing out on taking the 1986 title by two points after a high-profile tyre blowout at the season-ending Australian Grand Prix.

As Mansell's superiority grew, the relationship between the two men worsened, with Piquet resorting to personal attacks in an unsuccessful attempt to destabilise his rival.

Of course, this simply heightened the Silverstone crowd's dislike of Piquet, who grabbed pole position for the race in Saturday qualifying, and made them all the more keen for Mansell to prevail.

McLaren's Alain Prost took the lead going into the first corner, following a great getaway from fourth on the grid, but the Frenchman was soon swallowed up by the Williams drivers, with pole-sitter Piquet taking up the lead.

Mansell managed to hang on to the Brazilian's coattails as they charged away from the field but began to fall away as he suffered complications with wheel vibration halfway through the race. Williams, who had not planned to call either of their drivers into the pits during the race, were forced to arm Mansell with a new set of rubber.

He rejoined the racetrack 28 seconds behind Piquet with 30 laps remaining. Unperturbed, Mansell set about making a recovery charge that would forever endear him to the watching crowds.

Willed on by the partisan reception, Mansell reeled in Piquet with a series of devastatingly quick lap times. By lap 58 of 65, he was on his team-mate's tail. A lap later Mansell would have the lead.

A far from happy Nelson Piquet joins Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna on the podium © Sutton Images

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Powering down the Hangar Straight in full view of Piquet's mirrors, Mansell double-bluffed the Brazilian out of the lead with a brilliant dummy at 180mph heading into Stowe corner. Piquet squeezed Mansell against the curb but it was too late. The Briton was ahead.

The drama was not finished though. In an era when cars were fitted with a maximum fuel allowance, Mansell was pushing the limit. With two laps remaining, his fuel gauge was showing empty. Mansell's car would run out of fuel - but only after he had crossed the line. As he crawled to a halt, his car was engulfed by the jubilant crowd.

"It was a hell of a race, a hell of a fight and a good dummy," Mansell said in an interview with F1 Racing magazine last year. "I broke the lap record 11 times in the last 15 laps - you don't look at a pit board telling you to slow down because of fuel when you're driving your arse off and trying to win a grand prix. It was a fantastic comeback and the crowd loved it."

The win marked the consummation of a love affair that would last between Mansell and the Silverstone crowd up until his final race at the track in 1992. It also coined the phrase 'Mansell mania'. Mansell would not win the race again until 1992 but, amazingly, the Worcestershire-born driver set the fastest lap at every British Grand Prix in the five races he competed in during the five-year period between the two wins.

Piquet would go onto win the title that season by 12 points as Mansell failed to score any points in the final two races of the season due to a combination of mechanical problems and a nasty back injury suffered at the Japanese Grand Prix.

He would, though, go onto win the drivers' crown with Williams in 1992 after a spell driving for Ferrari, before winning the CART World Series a year later in USA, becoming the first driver to win the CART title in his first season as well as making him the only person in history to hold both titles simultaneously. His win at the 1987 British Grand Prix will, though, always be the standout moment of his glittering career.

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