The 1993 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Interlagos on 28 March 1993. It was the second race of the 1993 Formula One World Championship.
The 71-lap race was won by local hero Ayrton Senna, driving a McLaren-Ford, with Briton Damon Hill second in a Williams-Renault and German Michael Schumacher third in a Benetton-Ford. Senna's victory marked McLaren's 100th race win in Formula One. Senna was the last Brazilian driver to win his home race until Felipe Massa in 2006.
Report Qualifying With just 26 cars now in the running after the March team withdrew from the World Championship, FISA decided to reduce the grid to 24 to keep some element of competition in qualifying. However on unanimous appeal by the teams, this was increased to 25 so that every team would have at least one car in the race.
Brazil was Senna's home race but he was able to do nothing to prevent the Williams being 1–2 in qualifying with Prost on pole ahead of Hill. Senna was third ahead of Schumacher, Andretti and Patrese. The sole non-qualifier was Ivan Capelli, who was nearly 6 seconds off pole. After failing to qualify for the race, he left the Jordan team by mutual consent. He did not race in Formula One again.
Race At the start, Senna got ahead of Hill but Andretti hit 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 teammate 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 heavy rain shower, 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 second time this had been seen in Formula 1 following its trial at the 1973 Canadian Grand Prix. 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.
The rain stopped and the safety car went in, and the order stayed as listed. The sun then came out, it began to dry rapidly 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 tyre 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. After the race, several Brazilian fans invaded the circuit in celebration of Senna’s victory (similar to the English fans at the British Grand Prix of the previous year with Nigel Mansell).
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 15 Ivan Capelli Jordan-Hart 1:23.674 1:21.789 +5.923 Sources:
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 29 Karl Wendlinger Sauber 61 Engine 8 30 JJ Lehto Sauber 52 Electrical 7 4 Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Yamaha 48 Fuel system 23 2 Alain Prost Williams-Renault 29 Collision/Spun off 1 23 Christian Fittipaldi Minardi-Ford 28 Collision/Spun off 20 10 Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 27 Accident 19 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 26 Accident 22 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 13 Gearbox 14 6 Riccardo Patrese Benetton-Ford 3 Suspension 6 7 Michael Andretti McLaren-Ford 0 Collision 5 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 0 Collision 13 25 Martin Brundle Ligier-Renault 0 Collision 16 24 Fabrizio Barbazza Minardi-Ford 0 Collision 24
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 1 Ayrton Senna 16 1 2 Alain Prost 10 18 3 Damon Hill 6 1 4 Mark Blundell 6 7 5 Michael Schumacher 4Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 16 2 McLaren-Ford 16 3 Ligier-Renault 6 6 4 Benetton-Ford 4 6 5 Lotus-Ford 4Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References