Formula One History 
1986: A drag race to the finish line
#OnThisDay 13th April, the 1986 Spanish Grand Prix delivered a thrilling finish as Ayrton Senna in a Lotus-Renault edged out the Williams-Honda of Nigel Mansell by just 0.014 of a second in a dramatic drag race to the line.
Senna led for much of the race until Mansell overtook him on lap 40. However, a slow puncture forced Mansell to pit, and upon returning to the track, he launched a relentless charge, lapping two seconds faster than Senna. A crucial moment came when Mansell took half a lap to pass the McLaren of Alain Prost, a delay that ultimately cost him victory. Prost would finish third. Mansell jokingly added post-race that the finish was so close they should give them both 7 1/2 points each (the average between the winner’s 9 points and second place’s 6).
“Had the race been 20 yards longer,” remarked Maurice Hamilton in the Guardian, “then Mansell would have won his third grand prix in devastating style.”
