1993 Brazilian Grand Prix

  1993 Brazilian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 2 of 16 in the 1993 Formula One season
Date	28 March 1993
Location	Interlagos, Brazil
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.309 km (2.676 mi)
Distance	71 laps, 305.939 km (190.854 mi)
Pole position
Driver	Alain Prost	Williams-Renault
Time	1:15.866
Fastest lap
Driver	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford
Time	1:20.024 on lap 61
Podium
First	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Ford
Second	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault
Third	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford

The 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Interlagos on 28 March 1993. It was the second round of the 1993 Formula One season. Ayrton Senna won his first race of the season, with Damon Hill taking second place.^[1]

Report

Qualifying

Brazil was Senna's home race but he was able to do nothing to prevent the Williamses being 1-2 in qualifying with Prost on pole ahead of Hill. Senna was third ahead of Schumacher, Andretti and Patrese.

Race

At the start, Senna got ahead of Hill but Andretti was slow and was hit by Berger with both crashing hard in the tyre barrier in turn 1. Both of them along with Brundle and Fabrizio Barbazza's Minardi were out. The order was: Prost, Senna, Hill, a fast starting Jean Alesi, Schumacher, and Lehto.

Schumacher passed Alesi on lap 2, but his team-mate Patrese only lasted until the fourth lap when his suspension failed. While Prost built up a substantial lead, Senna was under pressure from Hill who took second on lap 11. On lap 25, Senna was issued a stop-go penalty for lapping a backmarker under yellow flags and dropped behind Schumacher. There was a rainstorm, and many drivers pitted for wet tyres, including Senna, Schumacher and Hill, while Prost stayed out on slick tyres. Several drivers spun, with both Ukyo Katayama and Aguri Suzuki crashing on the start-finish straight on lap 27, the Footwork partially blocking the circuit and bringing out the safety car - the first time this had been seen in Formula 1. Fittipaldi spun at the first corner on lap 30 with his car stopped in the middle of the track. With the rain coming down harder, Prost lost control and, unable to avoid Fittipaldi's car, crashed into him, taking them both out of the race. As the wreckage was cleared, the new safety car controlled the field, Hill led Senna, Schumacher (who had lost time during his pit stop because his car fell off the jack), Alesi, Johnny Herbert, and Lehto. They were followed by Alessandro Zanardi, Philippe Alliot, Mark Blundell, Derek Warwick, rookie Luca Badoer, Karl Wendlinger, Andrea de Cesaris, Érik Comas, and Michele Alboreto.

It began to dry and everyone stopped for dry tyres. Johnny Herbert had pitted for slicks right when the safety car pulled back into the pits, and he was to move up to third place due to this early change back to slicks.

Just after the tire stops Senna passed Hill for the lead and pulled away. Behind, Schumacher and Alesi had stop-go penalties for passing under yellow flags, Schumacher dropping to fifth and Alesi going down to ninth. Schumacher passed Blundell and then Herbert to take third. Senna won from Hill, Schumacher, Herbert, Blundell and Alessandro Zanardi.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	2	Alain Prost	Williams-Renault	1:16.809	1:15.866	—
2	0	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	1:17.856	1:16.859	+0.993
3	8	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Ford	1:18.639	1:17.697	+1.831
4	5	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	1:19.061	1:17.821	+1.955
5	7	Michael Andretti	McLaren-Ford	1:20.093	1:18.635	+2.769
6	6	Riccardo Patrese	Benetton-Ford	1:20.388	1:19.049	+3.183
7	30	JJ Lehto	Sauber	1:20.571	1:19.207	+3.341
8	29	Karl Wendlinger	Sauber	1:19.230	1:19.270	+3.364
9	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	1:19.260	1:19.549	+3.394
10	26	Mark Blundell	Ligier-Renault	1:20.281	1:19.296	+3.430
11	19	Philippe Alliot	Larrousse-Lamborghini	1:20.057	1:19.340	+3.474
12	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Ford	1:19.830	1:19.435	+3.569
13	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	1:19.561	1:19.735	+3.695
14	14	Rubens Barrichello	Jordan-Hart	1:20.999	1:19.593	+3.727
15	11	Alessandro Zanardi	Lotus-Ford	1:20.891	1:19.804	+3.938
16	25	Martin Brundle	Ligier-Renault	1:20.390	1:19.835	+3.969
17	20	Érik Comas	Larrousse-Lamborghini	1:20.061	1:19.868	+4.002
18	9	Derek Warwick	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	1:21.532	1:20.064	+4.198
19	10	Aguri Suzuki	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	1:22.297	1:20.232	+4.366
20	23	Christian Fittipaldi	Minardi-Ford	1:21.547	1:20.716	+4.850
21	22	Luca Badoer	Lola-Ferrari	1:22.938	1:20.908	+5.042
22	3	Ukyo Katayama	Tyrrell-Yamaha	1:21.923	1:20.991	+5.125
23	4	Andrea de Cesaris	Tyrrell-Yamaha	1:21.224	1:21.368	+5.358
24	24	Fabrizio Barbazza	Minardi-Ford	1:22.112	1:21.228	+5.362
25	21	Michele Alboreto	Lola-Ferrari	1:21.752	1:21.488	+5.622
DNQ	15	Ivan Capelli	Jordan-Hart	1:23.674	1:21.789	+5.923

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	8	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Ford	71	1:51:15.485	3	10
2	0	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	71	+16.625	2	6
3	5	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	71	+45.436	4	4
4	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Ford	71	+46.557	12	3
5	26	Mark Blundell	Ligier-Renault	71	+52.127	10	2
6	11	Alessandro Zanardi	Lotus-Ford	70	+1 Lap	15	1
7	19	Philippe Alliot	Larrousse-Lamborghini	70	+1 Lap	11
8	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	70	+1 Lap	9
9	9	Derek Warwick	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	69	+2 Laps	18
10	20	Érik Comas	Larrousse-Lamborghini	69	+2 Laps	17
11	21	Michele Alboreto	Lola-Ferrari	68	+3 Laps	25
12	22	Luca Badoer	Lola-Ferrari	68	+3 Laps	21
Ret	29	Karl Wendlinger	Sauber	61	Engine	8
Ret	30	JJ Lehto	Sauber	52	Electrical	7
Ret	4	Andrea de Cesaris	Tyrrell-Yamaha	48	Fuel system	23
Ret	2	Alain Prost	Williams-Renault	29	Collision/Spun off	1
Ret	23	Christian Fittipaldi	Minardi-Ford	28	Collision/Spun off	20
Ret	10	Aguri Suzuki	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	27	Spun off	19
Ret	3	Ukyo Katayama	Tyrrell-Yamaha	26	Spun off	22
Ret	14	Rubens Barrichello	Jordan-Hart	13	Gearbox	14
Ret	6	Riccardo Patrese	Benetton-Ford	3	Suspension	6
Ret	7	Michael Andretti	McLaren-Ford	0	Collision	5
Ret	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	0	Collision	13
Ret	25	Martin Brundle	Ligier-Renault	0	Collision	16
Ret	24	Fabrizio Barbazza	Minardi-Ford	0	Collision	24
DNQ	15	Ivan Capelli	Jordan-Hart	0	Did not qualify	26
Source:[2]

Notes

• Lap leaders: Alain Prost (1-29), Damon Hill (30-41), Ayrton Senna (42-71)
• First podium: Damon Hill
• Last race: Ivan Capelli
• First and only point: Alessandro Zanardi
• Only retirement of the season for Alain Prost
• Luca Badoer started this race from the back of the grid.
• This race saw the first modern-day use of the safety car in Formula One, after Aguri Suzuki and Ukyo Katayama crashed on start/finish line in a separate incidents. Few moments later, race leader Alain Prost hit the spinning car of Christian Fittipaldi, leaving the track strewn with wreckage. Prost's team-mate Damon Hill therefore lost a big lead, and was passed by Ayrton Senna shortly after the restart. The race still saw Damon's first points and podium.
• This was the first time that the car #0 finished in the points and on the podium.
• The race saw Alessandro Zanardi's only Formula One World Championship point.
• This was the last time a Brazilian driver would win the Brazilian Grand Prix until Felipe Massa would win it in 2006 for Ferrari. Rubens Barrichello would be competitive in this race multiple times throughout his career but never won this race despite his six years with the Italian team.
• This was the 100th Grand Prix win for the McLaren F1 team.
• This was the last time that Ivan Capelli tried to qualify a Formula 1 car, he failed to do it in the Jordan 193 with Hart engine, and was replaced by Thierry Boutsen of Belgium from the following race on.
• This was the first time in 1993, that both the Lola-Ferraris made the field, which contained a normal non-qualifier, with Badoer starting in 21st, and finishing 12th, and last, and Alboreto, starting last, 25th, and finishing 11th.

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Ayrton Senna 16 2 Alain Prost 10 3 Damon Hill 6 4 Mark Blundell 6 5 Michael Schumacher 4

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 16 2 McLaren-Ford 16 3 Ligier-Renault 6 4 Benetton-Ford 4 5 Lotus-Ford 4

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

1. "Slick Senna shows the way home". The Independent. March 29, 1993.
2. "1993 Brazilian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 2 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.

• Henry, Alan (1993). AUTOCOURSE 1993-94. Hazleton Publishing. ISBN 1-874557-15-2.