» Arise Nigel Mansell, CBE

Former F1 and IndyCar champion Nigel Mansell collected his Commander of the British Empire (CBE) medal from His Royal Highness Prince Charles at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. Mansell was bestowed the honour during the New Year’s Day Awards in recognition of his services to charity.

Mansell, who won the 1992 Formula 1 and 1993 IndyCar championship crowns, confessed to being “emotional” at the ceremony, which was witnessed by his family.

The upcoming season will mark twenty years since Mansell claimed the Formula 1 World Championship title in the all-conquering Williams Renault FW14B, which was considered to be one of the most technologically advanced of its era. The Adrian Newey-designed car swept to pole position at all but one of the season’s sixteen races, while Mansell and team-mate Riccardo Patrese swept to victory ten times between them.

Interestingly, Mansell believes that today’s Formula 1 cars are too reliant on technology.

“The technology previously was more down to the driver,” he told The Scotsman.

“In years gone by you had to be very strong to drive a Formula 1 car because you had no power steering. If you did it wrong years ago you would blow the engine.

“It’s the (new) technology that’s sometimes made some races less interesting.”