The 1993 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Silverstone on 11 July 1993. It was the ninth race of the 1993 Formula One World Championship.
The 59-lap race was won from pole position by Alain Prost, driving a Williams-Renault. It was Prost's sixth victory of the season and the 50th of his Formula One career, making him the first driver in Formula One history to achieve this milestone. Michael Schumacher finished second in a Benetton-Ford, with teammate Riccardo Patrese third.
This was the second race of 1993 to be held in Britain, after the European Grand Prix at Donington Park three months earlier. The next time Britain would host two races in a single season would be in , when Silverstone hosted both the British Grand Prix and the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix.
Report With Nigel Mansell now racing Indycars in America, British racing fans had taken Damon Hill to their hearts. Williams took 1–2 in qualifying with Prost on pole ahead of Hill, Schumacher, Ayrton Senna, Patrese and Martin Brundle.
At the start, Hill took the lead from Prost, who was also passed by Senna. Michael Andretti in the other McLaren spun off at Copse on the first lap, while Hill pulled away at the front, and Senna held up both Prost and Schumacher. Prost finally passed Senna on lap 7 but Hill was already five seconds up the road. On lap 13, Schumacher passed Senna for third and pulled away as the order settled down.
Gradually Prost closed up on Hill, narrowing the gap to three seconds after the mid-race pit stops. On lap 33 Luca Badoer retired with electrical problems and few laps later the Safety Car was brought out to clear his Lola, reducing the gap between Hill and Prost to nothing. The Safety Car came in on lap 40, before Hill's engine blew two laps later. Brundle's gearbox failed on lap 54 when he was fourth. Finally, on the last lap, Senna's car ran out of fuel. Prost took his 50th Grand Prix win ahead of Schumacher, Patrese, Johnny Herbert, Senna (who was classified fifth) and Derek Warwick.
Complimenting the Lotus team on Herbert's fourth-place finish, Murray Walker closed his broadcast with the words "Lotus are back!". As it turned out, the team only scored points once more, before closing its doors at the end of the following year.
Classification
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 2 Alain Prost Williams-Renault 1:34.483 1:19.006 2 0 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:36.297 1:19.134 +0.128 3 5 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:37.264 1:20.401 +1.395 4 8 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Ford 1:37.050 1:21.986 +2.980 5 6 Riccardo Patrese Benetton-Ford 1:38.371 1:22.364 +3.358 6 25 Martin Brundle Ligier-Renault 1:38.384 1:22.421 +3.415 7 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 1:41.037 1:22.487 +3.481 8 9 Derek Warwick Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:39.433 1:22.834 +3.828 9 26 Mark Blundell Ligier-Renault 9:32.793 1:22.885 +3.879 10 10 Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:40.537 1:23.077 +4.071 11 7 Michael Andretti McLaren-Ford 1:38.283 1:23.114 +4.108 12 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:37.899 1:23.203 +4.197 13 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:37.976 1:23.257 +4.251 14 11 Alessandro Zanardi Lotus-Ford 1:41.908 1:23.533 +4.527 15 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 1:40.869 1:23.635 +4.629 16 30 JJ Lehto Sauber 1:39.821 1:24.071 +5.065 17 20 Érik Comas Larrousse-Lamborghini 1:41.926 1:24.139 +5.133 18 29 Karl Wendlinger Sauber 1:41.940 1:24.525 +5.519 19 23 Christian Fittipaldi Minardi-Ford 1:41.726 1:24.664 +5.658 20 24 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:40.851 1:24.718 +5.712 21 4 Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:40.624 1:25.254 +6.248 22 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:43.173 1:25.343 +6.337 23 15 Thierry Boutsen Jordan-Hart 1:42.957 1:25.363 +6.357 24 19 Philippe Alliot Larrousse-Lamborghini 1:41.985 1:25.397 +6.391 25 22 Luca Badoer Lola-Ferrari 1:41.838 1:26.239 +7.233 21 Michele Alboreto Lola-Ferrari 1:42.844 1:26.520 +7.514 Sources:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 2 Alain Prost Williams-Renault 59 1:25:38.189 1 10 2 5 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 59 + 7.660 3 6 3 6 Riccardo Patrese Benetton-Ford 59 + 1:17.482 5 4 4 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 59 + 1:18.407 7 3 5 8 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Ford 58 Out of fuel 4 2 6 9 Derek Warwick Footwork-Mugen-Honda 58 + 1 Lap 8 1 7 26 Mark Blundell Ligier-Renault 58 + 1 Lap 9 8 30 JJ Lehto Sauber 58 + 1 Lap 16 9 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 58 + 1 Lap 12 10 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 58 + 1 Lap 15 11 19 Philippe Alliot Larrousse-Lamborghini 57 + 2 Laps 24 12 23 Christian Fittipaldi Minardi-Ford 56 Gearbox 19 13 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 55 + 4 Laps 22 14 25 Martin Brundle Ligier-Renault 53 Gearbox 6 4 Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Yamaha 43 + 16 Laps 21 0 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 41 Engine 2 11 Alessandro Zanardi Lotus-Ford 41 Suspension 14 15 Thierry Boutsen Jordan-Hart 41 Wheel bearing 23 22 Luca Badoer Lola-Ferrari 32 Electrical 25 24 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 31 Physical 20 29 Karl Wendlinger Sauber 24 Spun off 18 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 10 Suspension 13 10 Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 8 Spun off 10 7 Michael Andretti McLaren-Ford 0 Spun off 11 20 Érik Comas Larrousse-Lamborghini 0 Halfshaft 17
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Alain Prost 67 2 Ayrton Senna 47 1 3 Michael Schumacher 30 1 4 Damon Hill 28 5 Martin Brundle 9Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 95 2 McLaren-Ford 50 3 Benetton-Ford 39 4 Ligier-Renault 15 1 5 Lotus-Ford 10Source:
References