1993 Australian Grand Prix

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1993 Australian Grand Prix
Race 16 of 16 in the 1993 Formula One World Championship
Adelaide (long route).svg
Race details
Date 7 November 1993
Official name LVIII Australian Grand Prix
Location Adelaide Street Circuit
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Course Temporary street circuit
Course length 3.780 km (2.362 mi)
Distance 79 laps, 298.620 km (186.598 mi)
Scheduled distance 81 laps, 306.180 km (191.322 mi)
Weather Sunny
Pole position
Driver
  • Brazil Ayrton Senna
McLaren-Ford
Time 1:13.371
Fastest lap
Driver United Kingdom Damon Hill Williams-Renault
Time 1:15.381 on lap 64
Podium
First
  • Brazil Ayrton Senna
McLaren-Ford
Second
  • France Alain Prost
Williams-Renault
Third
  • United Kingdom Damon Hill
Williams-Renault
Lap leaders

The 1993 Australian Grand Prix (formally the LVIII Australian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at Adelaide on 7 November 1993. It was the sixteenth and final race of the 1993 Formula One World Championship.

The 79-lap race was won by Ayrton Senna, driving a McLaren-Ford. In his last race with McLaren before joining Williams for 1994, Senna took pole position and led from start to finish, except during the pit stops. Alain Prost, in his final Grand Prix before retirement, finished second in his Williams-Renault, with teammate Damon Hill third.

This was the last race for cars with active suspension, which was to be banned from 1994 along with other driver aids. Riccardo Patrese and Derek Warwick also retired from F1 after this race, Patrese having competed in a then-record 256 Grands Prix. Senna's victory would turn out to be the 41st and last victory in his Formula One career, and the last time he would finish on the podium, score points, or even finish a race. It was also the last win for a Brazilian driver until Rubens Barrichello in 2000.

This event was also the last race for cars using electronic driver aids; with the FIA banning their use for the next seven seasons, starting in 1994. These systems would not be used in Formula One again for another seven years, until the FIA eventually reintroduced and permitted the use of three electronic driver aid systems, namely fully-automatic gearboxes, launch control, and traction control, at the 2001 Spanish Grand Prix, due to the FIA being unable to police the ban, and whether or not teams were secretly cheating by using these systems illegally to gain a competitive advantage, which is what led to their eventual reintroduction.

Report[]

Qualifying[]

Senna took his first pole position since the 1992 Canadian Grand Prix, in the process breaking a run of 24 straight poles for Williams and preventing that team from achieving a clean sweep for the season. Prost was alongside on the front row, with Damon Hill in the second Williams and Michael Schumacher in the Benetton on the second row, and Mika Häkkinen in the second McLaren and Gerhard Berger in the Ferrari on the third. Berger had his Saturday qualifying times removed after doing 18 laps, above the limit of 12. The top ten was completed by Jean Alesi in the second Ferrari, Martin Brundle in the Ligier, Patrese in the second Benetton, and Aguri Suzuki in the Footwork.

Despite being the fastest qualifier in his Ford V8-powered McLaren, Senna was some 15 km/h (9 mph) slower on the 890m-long Brabham Straight than the Renault V10-powered Williams of Hill.

Race[]

It took three attempts to get the race underway. On the first attempt, Brundle's Ligier was left on the grid at the start of the formation lap, before Ukyo Katayama stalled his Tyrrell and the start was aborted. On the second attempt, Eddie Irvine missed his grid slot and stalled his Jordan. Again, the start was aborted. Katayama and Irvine were sent to the back of the grid for the third, successful, attempt.

The top four retained their positions into the first corner, while Häkkinen made a bad start and fell behind Berger.

While Senna pulled out a small lead, the two Williams cars and Schumacher stayed together. Schumacher pitted early on lap 15 and rejoined in fourth but his engine failed on lap 20. Senna pitted on lap 24, allowing Prost to lead until his own stop five laps later, while Häkkinen's race went from bad to worse as he had a slow stop, allowing Alesi and Brundle to get ahead of him, before his brakes failed on lap 29.

Senna pitted for the second time on lap 55, by which time the Williamses had already made their second stops, and this enabled the Brazilian to retain a healthy lead. Meanwhile, Alesi got ahead of team-mate Berger while Patrese got ahead of Brundle. On lap 61, Hill tried to catch Prost by surprise for second place. Prost, however, moved over to block, causing Hill to back off and spin, losing time but no places.

Alain Prost during the race in Adelaide on 7 November 1993.

Senna duly won from Prost by nine seconds, with Hill a further 24 seconds back. Alesi and Berger were fourth and fifth, one lap down, while Patrese was set to finish sixth in his 256th and last race, only for his fuel pressure to drop on the last lap and thus hand Brundle the last point.

Prost thus signed off on his F1 career with his fourth Drivers' Championship and 99 points. Senna's win enabled him to secure second place in the standings with 73 points, just ahead of Hill on 69. Schumacher was fourth with 52, with a big gap to team-mate Patrese in fifth with 20, followed by Alesi (16), Brundle (13), Berger (12), Johnny Herbert (11) and Mark Blundell (10). In the Constructors' Championship, Williams finished with 168 points - four more than their tally from 1992, and double the tally of McLaren (84). Benetton were a close third with 72, while Ferrari (28) edged out Ligier (23) for fourth.

With Prost not defending his title, the Williams cars would once again bear the numbers 0 and 2 for 1994. This race was also Derek Warwick's last race.

Post-race[]

During the podium celebrations, Senna invited both Prost and Hill up to the top step, much to the surprise of Prost. The move marked the first easing of tensions in the rivalry between the two men. Senna himself would later call the race 'the end of an era'. As was tradition in Adelaide, a rock concert was held inside the circuit following the race. For 1993 the concert was performed by Tina Turner as part of her What's Love? Tour (the concert was free to anyone with a ticket to the race). At one stage during the concert, Ayrton Senna appeared on stage much to Turner's surprise. As a tribute to the Brazilian (and although she had already performed the song), Turner sang her hit "The Best".[1]

Classification[]

Qualifying[]

Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap
1 8 Brazil Ayrton Senna McLaren-Ford 1:13.371 1:14.779
2 2 France Alain Prost Williams-Renault 1:13.807 1:14.595 +0.436
3 0 United Kingdom Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:14.721 1:13.826 +0.455
4 5 Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:14.098 1:14.494 +0.727
5 7 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Ford 1:14.106 1:14.596 +0.735
6 28 Austria Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:14.194 +0.823
7 27 France Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:15.332 1:15.619 +1.961
8 25 United Kingdom Martin Brundle Ligier-Renault 1:16.022 1:16.710 +2.651
9 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Benetton-Ford 1:16.077 1:21.076 +2.706
10 10 Japan Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:16.079 1:16.567 +2.708
11 29 Austria Karl Wendlinger Sauber 1:16.106 1:17.132 +2.735
12 30 Finland JJ Lehto Sauber 1:16.286 1:17.118 +2.915
13 14 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 1:16.459 1:16.723 +3.088
14 26 United Kingdom Mark Blundell Ligier-Renault 1:16.862 1:16.469 +3.098
15 4 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:17.350 1:16.892 +3.521
16 24 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 1:16.905 1:17.816 +3.534
17 9 United Kingdom Derek Warwick Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:16.919 +3.548
18 3 Japan Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:17.018 1:18.406 +3.647
19 15 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Jordan-Hart 1:19.733 1:17.341 +3.970
20 12 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 1:17.612 1:17.450 +4.079
21 20 France Érik Comas Larrousse-Lamborghini 1:17.750 1:17.815 +4.379
22 23 France Jean-Marc Gounon Minardi-Ford 1:17.754 1:18.035 +4.383
23 11 Portugal Pedro Lamy Lotus-Ford 1:19.628 1:19.369 +5.998
24 19 Japan Toshio Suzuki Larrousse-Lamborghini 1:21.793 1:23.167 +8.422

Race[]

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 8 Brazil Ayrton Senna McLaren-Ford 79 1:43:27.476 1 10
2 2 France Alain Prost Williams-Renault 79 + 9.259 2 6
3 0 United Kingdom Damon Hill Williams-Renault 79 + 33.902 3 4
4 27 France Jean Alesi Ferrari 78 + 1 Lap 7 3
5 28 Austria Gerhard Berger Ferrari 78 + 1 Lap 6 2
6 25 United Kingdom Martin Brundle Ligier-Renault 78 + 1 Lap 8 1
7 10 Japan Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 78 + 1 Lap 10  
8 6 Italy Riccardo Patrese Benetton-Ford 77 Fuel system 9  
9 26 United Kingdom Mark Blundell Ligier-Renault 77 + 2 Laps 14  
10 9 United Kingdom Derek Warwick Footwork-Mugen-Honda 77 + 2 Laps 17  
11 14 Brazil Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 76 + 3 Laps 13  
12 20 France Érik Comas Larrousse-Lamborghini 76 + 3 Laps 21  
13 4 Italy Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Yamaha 75 + 4 Laps 15  
14 19 Japan Toshio Suzuki Larrousse-Lamborghini 74 + 5 Laps 24  
15 29 Austria Karl Wendlinger Sauber 73 Brakes 11  
Ret 30 Finland JJ Lehto Sauber 56 Accident 12  
Ret 23 France Jean-Marc Gounon Minardi-Ford 34 Spun off 22  
Ret 7 Finland Mika Häkkinen McLaren-Ford 28 Brakes 5  
Ret 5 Germany Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 19 Engine 4  
Ret 3 Japan Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 11 Spun Off 18  
Ret 15 United Kingdom Eddie Irvine Jordan-Hart 10 Accident 19  
Ret 12 United Kingdom Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 9 Suspension 20  
Ret 24 Italy Pierluigi Martini Minardi-Ford 5 Gearbox 16  
Ret 11 Portugal Pedro Lamy Lotus-Ford 0 Accident 23  
Source:[2]

Championship standings after the race[]

  • Bold text indicates the World Champions.
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References[]

  1. ^ Ayrton Senna with Tina Turner, 1993
  2. ^ "1993 Australian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 2 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Australia 1993 - Championship • STATS F1". statsf1.com. Retrieved 6 March 2019.


Previous race:
1993 Japanese Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1993 season
Next race:
1994 Brazilian Grand Prix
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1992 Australian Grand Prix
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1994 Australian Grand Prix
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