Mansell Fired as McLaren’s Driver

Former Formula One and Indy car champion Nigel Mansell was fired by McLaren on Tuesday, nine days after he parked his car on the 18th lap of the Spanish Grand Prix, saying it was “virtually impossible to drive.”

Less than four months after signing him to a contract reportedly worth $8-10 million, the team ran out of patience after a series of misadventures and disappointing performances by Mansell, 41, who drove in four races.

Mark Blundell will replace him in Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix.

Tennis

Goran Ivanisevic beat Alberto Berasategui, 1-6, 6-3, 7-5, then teamed with Sasa Hirszon to beat Berasategui and Carlos Costa, 7-5, 6-3, in doubles as Croatia beat Spain, 2-1, at the World Team Cup in Duesseldorf, Germany.

Mats Wilander defeated unseeded Jeremy Bates, 6-0, 3-6, 7-5, in the first round of the Bologna ATP tournament in Italy.

Jurisprudence

Bartholomew Torpey, 35, was arraigned on a charge of criminally negligent homicide and East End Pools and Courts Inc. on manslaughter in the death of tennis star Vitas Gerulaitis on Long Island.

Chris Gatling of the Golden State Warriors has agreed to a $90,000 settlement with Dianne Sheehan, who sued him after she broke her tailbone in a bar fight last year.

Joe King, a 300-pound offensive lineman whose career at Alabama was derailed by suspensions and substance abuse, was sought for allegedly robbing a Tuscaloosa bank.

Chicago Bull star Scottie Pippen was ordered to pay $10,000 to former girlfriend Sonya Roby, who has filed a paternity suit claiming he is the father of her daughter.

Steeler wide receiver Yancey Thigpen and a female companion were robbed at gunpoint and had their car stolen in Pittsburgh, police said. Neither was hurt.

Basketball

New York Knick Coach Pat Riley said lack of harmony, not talent, caused his team’s second-round playoff demise: “Internally, we broke down. It went on all season.”

NBA referee Jake O’Donnell, who ejected Houston’s Clyde Drexler from a playoff game two weeks ago, may not work any more games this season, according to the Houston Chronicle. The NBA rescinded all fines against Drexler.

Gary Stewart has resigned as coach at La Verne to coach at Cal State Hayward.

Miscellany

International adult phone sex numbers are among the 17,000 calls made by Tennessee athletes on the long-distance access code of an athletic department employee.

Ajax Amsterdam will play AC Milan today in the European Champions’ Cup soccer final in Vienna.

The International Amateur Athletic Federation Council has recommended a reduction from a four-year suspension to “a minimum of two years” for track athletes who test positive for major banned drugs for the first time.

The Green Bay Packers have signed cornerback Craig Newsome, their first-round draft pick.

Top-seeded Bernhard Langer beat Sandy Lyle, 3 and 2, in Madrid to reach the semifinals of the European leg of the World Championship of Golf.