The 1993 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Hockenheim on 25 July 1993. It was the tenth race of the 1993 Formula One World Championship.
The 45-lap race was won by Frenchman Alain Prost, driving a Williams-Renault, after he started from pole position. Prost's British teammate Damon Hill led for most of the race, only to be denied his first F1 win by a tyre failure on the penultimate lap. Prost duly took his seventh win of the season, and his 51st and final Grand Prix victory overall, with local driver Michael Schumacher second in a Benetton-Ford and another Briton, Mark Blundell, third in a Ligier-Renault.
Qualifying changes From this race all 26 cars would be permitted to qualify and start the race.
Report
The two Williams were 1st and 2nd in qualifying with Prost on pole ahead of Hill, Schumacher, Senna, Blundell and Brundle. Prost had a poor start and was passed by Hill, Schumacher and Senna. Prost reclaimed third from Senna on the run down to the first chicane, which they entered side by side. Exiting the chicane, Senna spun and had to wait for the entire field to pass by before he could rejoin. Fourth placed Brundle then spun as well at the second chicane forcing Prost to take evasive action and bypass part of the track. Both would serve 10-second stop-and-go penalties for this later in the race. At the end of the first lap, Hill led Schumacher, Prost, Brundle, Blundell, Patrese, Berger and Alesi.
Prost was on a charge, passing Schumacher on lap 6. He closed up on Hill three laps later. Behind, on the next lap, Berger tried to pass Suzuki and they collided, with Suzuki spinning off. Yellow flags were waved and Hill slowed down a little on the next lap. Prost took his chance and passed Hill to lead. He then served his controversial stop-go penalty (which he called a scandal in the press conference later that day) on the next lap and dropped to sixth behind Patrese.
Schumacher was the first of the leaders to pit for tyres, resuming in fourth place, behind Prost and Blundell and just in front of teammate Patrese. He then passed Blundell for third in the first chicane on the next lap, Brundle having dropped back to midfield due to serving his stop-go penalty on lap 12. Senna had worked his way up to seventh but was unable to pass Berger's Ferrari, eventually choosing to pit for tyres, as did first Patrese and Blundell, leaving the order midway through the race: Hill, Prost, Schumacher, Berger, Blundell, Patrese and Senna, neither Williams choosing to come in for tyres in this race. Blundell on new tyres was able to pass Berger for fourth only for the Austrian to repass him on the next straight with some fierce slipstreaming. Blundell eventually passed Berger for good coming into the stadium section, with Patrese and Senna both closing rapidly on the Austrian. Senna gained fifth place, passing both Patrese and Berger on the following lap, with Patrese also able to slipstream past the Ferrari, which was suffering increasingly on its aging tyres. Schumacher then stopped for a third set of tyres dropping him further behind the two Williams cars while still half a minute clear of Blundell in fourth position, who preserved a slight gap to Senna's McLaren in fifth.
In the closing laps Prost closed on Hill, while Schumacher set a string of fastest lap times to close to within 17s of Prost. Senna - still unable to pass Blundell - came in for an unscheduled tyre stop on lap 41, rejoining safely in front of Patrese. Hill's lead was reduced to 8 seconds by the penultimate lap but appeared to be cruising to victory until, coming out of the Ostkurve, his left rear tyre deflated, Hill having to retire his car before reaching the pits. Instead of Hill taking his first victory, Prost took what was to be his 51st and final win in front of a typically delighted Schumacher followed by Blundell, Senna, Patrese and Berger.
Classification
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 2 Alain Prost Williams-Renault 1:39.046 1:38.748 2 0 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:40.211 1:38.905 +0.157 3 5 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:39.640 1:39.580 +0.832 4 8 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Ford 1:40.642 1:39.616 +0.868 5 26 Mark Blundell Ligier-Renault 1:40.279 1:40.135 +1.387 6 25 Martin Brundle Ligier-Renault 1:40.916 1:40.855 +2.107 7 6 Riccardo Patrese Benetton-Ford 1:41.101 1:41.292 +2.353 8 10 Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:41.138 1:41.220 +2.390 9 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:41.290 1:41.242 +2.494 10 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:41.304 1:41.726 +2.556 11 9 Derek Warwick Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:42.977 1:41.449 +2.701 12 7 Michael Andretti McLaren-Ford 1:41.531 1:42.468 +2.783 13 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 1:41.564 1:42.970 +2.816 14 29 Karl Wendlinger Sauber 1:41.922 1:41.642 +2.894 15 11 Alessandro Zanardi Lotus-Ford 1:41.858 1:43.561 +3.110 16 20 Érik Comas Larrousse-Lamborghini 1:42.086 1:41.945 +3.197 17 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 1:42.152 1:42.025 +3.277 18 30 JJ Lehto Sauber 1:42.845 1:42.032 +3.284 19 4 Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:43.471 1:42.203 +3.455 20 23 Christian Fittipaldi Minardi-Ford 1:42.658 1:44.058 +3.910 21 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:46.709 1:42.682 +3.934 22 24 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:42.786 1:43.353 +4.038 23 19 Philippe Alliot Larrousse-Lamborghini 1:42.912 1:42.910 +4.162 24 15 Thierry Boutsen Jordan-Hart 1:43.476 1:43.007 +4.259 25 22 Luca Badoer Lola-Ferrari 1:43.345 1:44.641 +4.597 26 21 Michele Alboreto Lola-Ferrari 1:44.198 1:44.166 +5.418 Sources:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 2 Alain Prost Williams-Renault 45 1:18:40.885 1 10 2 5 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 45 + 16.664 3 6 3 26 Mark Blundell Ligier-Renault 45 + 59.349 5 4 4 8 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Ford 45 + 1:08.229 4 3 5 6 Riccardo Patrese Benetton-Ford 45 + 1:31.516 7 2 6 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 45 + 1:34.754 9 1 7 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 45 + 1:35.841 10 8 25 Martin Brundle Ligier-Renault 44 + 1 lap 6 9 29 Karl Wendlinger Sauber 44 + 1 lap 14 10 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 44 + 1 lap 13 11 23 Christian Fittipaldi Minardi-Ford 44 + 1 lap 20 12 19 Philippe Alliot Larrousse-Lamborghini 44 + 1 lap 23 13 15 Thierry Boutsen Jordan-Hart 44 + 1 lap 24 14 24 Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 44 + 1 lap 22 15 0 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 43 Tyre 2 16 21 Michele Alboreto Lola-Ferrari 43 + 2 laps 26 17 9 Derek Warwick Footwork-Mugen-Honda 42 + 3 laps 11 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 34 Wheel bearing 17 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 28 Halfshaft 21 30 JJ Lehto Sauber 22 Spun off 18 11 Alessandro Zanardi Lotus-Ford 19 Spun off 15 10 Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 9 Collision 8 7 Michael Andretti McLaren-Ford 4 Collision 12 22 Luca Badoer Lola-Ferrari 4 Suspension 25 4 Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Yamaha 1 Gearbox 19 20 Érik Comas Larrousse-Lamborghini 0 Gearbox 16
Alain Prost and Martin Brundle both received a ten-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Alain Prost 77 2 Ayrton Senna 50 3 Michael Schumacher 36 4 Damon Hill 28 1 5 Riccardo Patrese 11Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 105 2 McLaren-Ford 53 3 Benetton-Ford 47 4 Ligier-Renault 19 1 5 Ferrari 10Source:
References
External links