So I've been rewatching the 85 F1 season (F1 makes great sleeping material) and I had forgotten how late Mansell came on. He had been full time in F1 since '81 but joined Williams in '85, their second year with the Honda engine, which was in the lowly Spirit for a year prior to switching to Williams. This is all to say, the whole "Honda has the best F1 turbo engine by miles and Williams has it in the back" thing took a bit to gel. It did, and Mansell did, winning his first race at Brands Hatch of all places, then winning the next race and probably could have won the last race in Australia had the car not given up.
This, of course, was like zapping the balls of the sleeping British public, deprived of an F1 star despite massively increased broadcasting coverage since James Hunt's retirement and the growth of the sport as a whole. They went from 0 to Mansell Mania in about, oh, 4 and a bit months. Full on hyping him as the next British World Champion having just won a couple of races.
Why am I telling you all of this? To give some context as to why this beautiful piece of footage aired in the BBC pre race coverage for the first round of the '86 season.
Also, go watch the Cathode Ray Dude video on how video mixers work, then come back and watch this again. THIS is the kind of shit, the real shit, all of those transition features were for.
If you were curious, he did become the Next British World Champion, but not for another six years.