1993 Formula 1 – Season Review

A tremendous review of the entire 1993 F1 season, covering each race in detail,
and much more! Originally produced at the end of the 1993 season. Alain Prost
returns to F1 after taking 1992 off, and he would dominate the season in his
Williams machine while holding off his nemesis Ayrton Senna.

The Williams Team was back in full force for 1993, and just like the previous year, Renault engines, and the superior
Williams chassis, were poised to repeat their dominating 1992 season. Frank Williams was anxious to replace secondary
driver Riccardo Patrese with either Alain Prost or Ayrton Senna, both 3-time World Champions, and Senna was anxious
to drive the Williams car. Alain Prost had taken 1992 off to regain his passion for the sport (he would do commentary
for French TV for F1 races) and was set to return in 1993, if he had a good car, and a good teammate. Frank Williams
jumped at the opportunity to have Prost as his prime driver, but Prost had personality conflicts with Nigel Mansell,
which stemmed back to their 1991 season when they were Ferrari teammates. Prost would only drive for Frank Williams
if he were the prime driver, which left Nigel Mansell out in the cold. Still holding his 1992 World Championship trophy,
Nigel Mansell parted ways with Frank Williams, decided to leave F1, and race the IndyCar Series in America. This
decision left the door open for Frank Williams to hire Ayrton Senna. But Prost had another clause in his contract stating
that he would only drive for Williams under the condition that Ayrton Senna would not be his teammate. Frank Williams
honored Prost’s request, and filled his other Williams seat with test driver Damon Hill. Meanwhile, Ayrton Senna was
having second thoughts about driving for McLaren in 1993 when the team decided to abandon their Honda engines in
favor of new Ford powerplants. Senna knew that the Honda engines were having reliability issues and were down on
power compared to the Renaults, but trying a new Ford engine was not something he wanted to experiment with when he
would be facing Alain Prost and the reliable Williams/Renault combination, so Senna signed a race-by-race agreement
with McLaren in case things didn’t work out. Meanwhile, Senna’s 1992 McLaren teammate, Gerhard Berger, decided to
go back to Ferrari, so his seat was filled by IndyCar racer Michael Andretti. This arrangement did not work out, as
Andretti had just one podium appearance in his first 13 races, and was subsequently replaced by Mika Hakkinen. Martin
Brundle had moved from the Benetton to Ligier, and ex-McLaren driver Riccardo Patrese became Michael
Schumacher’s new Benetton teammate. Over at the Jordan team, Rubens Barrichello was the new rookie on the scene.

One of the most exiting moments of the 1993 season (and one of many highlights of Ayrton Senna’s career) came in the
third race of the season at Donnington Park in Great Britain. Qualifying went to the super fast Williams Team, with Prost
and Hill easily outpacing the rest of the field by over a full second, with Senna qualifying fourth. On the start, Senna
somehow managed to work his way past the field and went from fourth to first on the opening lap. He then went on to
beat second place Damon Hill by over a full minute, with the rest of the field a lap down.

The first ten races of the season were won by Prost or Senna, with Ayrton winning 3, Alain 7. By the time of the
Hungarian Grand Prix, the 11th race of the season, Prost had a 27 point lead over Senna, who had a 12 point lead over
3rd place Damon Hill, followed closely by Schumacher 2 points further back. At this point, Damon Hill would win a
surprising 3 races in a row in his Williams, passing Senna for 2nd place in the standings, and making it a Williams 1-2 for
the Constructor’s Trophy. But Senna would battle back and win the final two races of the season to regain 2nd place in
the standings at year end, but it was of little consolation to the Brazilian as Alain Prost had easily captured his 4th
World Championship. With the prospect of Ayrton Senna now becoming Alain Prost’s teammate at Williams for the 1994
season, Prost decided to retire from Formula 1.

Alain Prost retired with a remarkable record, starting 199 races, winning 51, with 106 podium appearances.