Brazilian GP 1993

Brazilian GP, 1993

The March F1 team had withdrawn from the World Championship, the latest victim of the recession, but otherwise the field was unchanged in Brazil and the Williams-Renaults were dominant again with Alain Prost on pole ahead of Damon Hill. Ayrton Senna (McLaren-Ford) was third with Michael Schumacher (Benetton-Ford) fourth while Michael Andretti did a good job to put his McLaren in fifth place on the grid. Then came the second Benetton of Riccardo Patrese, JJ Lehto's Sauber, Jean Alesi's Ferrari, Karl Wendlinger's Sauber and Mark Blundell's Ligier-Renault.

Prost made a good start to lead Senna and Hill into the first corner but behind them there were problems in the midfield with Andretti and Berger colliding. The McLaren flew over the Ferrari, narrowly missing Berger's head, and both cars then hit the wall hard. Out at the front Prost quickly built up a lead while Hill pressured Senna until the Brazilian could hold him back no longer on lap 11. Schumacher was fourth. The order would remain unchanged until Senna was given a 10-second stop-go penalty for overtaking under yellow flags (which prohibit such maneuvers in dangerous situations). He rejoined fourth just in time for a huge rain storm. Aguri Suzuki lost control of his Footwork on the pit straight and crashed heavily. He was followed moments later by Ukyo Katayama's Tyrrell. During the stops Schumacher was delayed when his car fell off its jack while Prost midheard a radio call and stayed out too long. He arrived on the scene of another accident, involving Christian Fittipaldi, and slid into the wrecked Minardi. The new F1 Safety Car was sent out. The Safety Car's job is to hold the F1 cars up and lead them round the track at a slow pace until the circuit is cleared. By this time Hill was leading. At the restart Alesi (who had already overtaken several cars behind the Safety Car) was passing others before the start-finish line (which he shouldn't have done).

The track was drying and with the cars on wet tires it was time to pit and switch to dry ones. The man to stop first was Johnny Herbert (Lotus) and he gained a lot of places as a result. When everyone else had stopped Herbert was third behind Senna and Hill, the Brazilian having taken the lead after the stop. Alesi and Schumacher dropped back with stop-go penalties but Schumacher charged back and by the end had overtaken Blundell and Herbert to grab third. Herbert was fourth with Blundell fifth and Alex Zanardi sixth in the second Lotus.

It was McLaren's 100th victory and a significant one for the team as the Ford management began to wonder if it might not be a better idea to give the best engines available to McLaren rather than to Benetton, ostensibly the factory team.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
1 8 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Cosworth  71 1h51m15.485s  3 
2 0 Damon Hill Williams-Renault  71 1h51m32.110s  2 
3 5 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Cosworth  71 1h52m00.921s  4 
4 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Cosworth  71 1h52m02.042s  12 
5 26 Mark Blundell Ligier-Renault  71 1h52m07.612s  10 
6 11 Alessando Zanardi Lotus-Cosworth  71  15 
7 19 Philippe Alliot Larrousse-Lamborghini  70  11 
8 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari  70  9 
9 9 Derek Warwick Footwork-Mugen Honda  69  18 
10 20 Erik Comas Larrousse-Lamborghini  69  17 
11 21 Michele Alboreto Lola-Ferrari  68  25 
12 22 Luca Badoer Lola-Ferrari  68  21 
r 29 Karl Wendlinger Sauber-Ilmor  61 Engine Overheating 8 
r 30 JJ Lehto Sauber-Ilmor  52 Electrics 7 
r 4 Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Yamaha  48 Electrics 23 
r 2 Alain Prost Williams-Renault  29 Accident 1 
r 23 Christian Fittipaldi Minardi-Cosworth  28 Accident 20 
r 10 Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen Honda  27 Accident 19 
r 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha  26 Accident 22 
r 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart  13 Gearbox Hydraulics 14 
r 6 Riccardo Patrese Benetton-Cosworth  3 Suspension 6 
r 25 Martin Brundle Ligier-Renault  0 Accident 16 
r 24 Fabrizio Barbazza Minardi-Cosworth  0 Accident 24 
r 7 Michael Andretti McLaren-Cosworth  0 Accident 5 
r 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari  0 Accident 13 
nq 15 Ivan Capelli Jordan-Hart    26