Spanish GP 1993

MAY 9, 1993

Spanish GP, 1993

There were no changes in the driver line-up and after qualifying there was the usual situation of Alain Prost and Damon Hill first and second in their Williams-Renaults. Ayrton Senna was third and McLaren had given up trying to get Benetton to agree to allow Mclaren access to the best Ford V8 engines. Benetton was Ford's factory team and thus had access to the best while McLaren had to content itself with customer engines. McLaren had therefore decided to develop its own versions of the units, using TAG Electronics. Michael Schumacher's Benetton was fourth fastest ahead of his team mate Riccardo Patrese while Karl Wendlinger was fifth for Sauber ahead of Michael Andretti's McLaren, Jean Alesi's Ferrari, JJ Lehto's Sauber and the Lotus of Johnny Herbert.

Herbert's Lotus failed to get away at the start of the parade lap and had to start from the back of the field. It lasted only two laps because of wiring problems in the active suspension which caused the car to jump up and down. There were wiring problems with the lights signaling the start of the race as well as the green light never showed and a flashing orange light came on instead. This should have indicated an aborted start but the field took off anyway. Hill beat Prost away with Senna, Schumacher, Patrese, Andretti, Alesi, Lehto, Berger and Philippe Alliot (Larrousse-Lamborghini) chasing. The two Williams pulled away and on lap 11 Prost took the lead.

Prost then stayed ahead until his car began to handle oddly and he came under pressure from Hill again but his race was saved when Damon's engine blew on lap 41. This left Senna second but a long way behind with Schumacher third. He had looked vaguely threatening for Senna but had gone off and bounced over a sandtrap and so had to settle for third, ahead of Patrese, Andretti (scoring his first F1 points) and Berger.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
Alain Prost Williams-Renault  65 1h32m27.685s  
Ayrton Senna McLaren-Cosworth  65 1h32m44.558s  
Michael Schumacher Benetton-Cosworth  65 1h32m54.810s  
Riccardo Patrese Benetton-Cosworth  64  
Michael Andretti McLaren-Cosworth  64  
28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari  63  11 
26 Mark Blundell Ligier-Renault  63  12 
23 Christian Fittipaldi Minardi-Cosworth  63  20 
20 Erik Comas Larrousse-Lamborghini  63  14 
10 10 Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen Honda  63  19 
11 15 Ivan Capelli Jordan-Hart  62  21 
12 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart  62  17 
13 Derek Warwick Footwork-Mugen Honda  62  16 
14r 11 Alessando Zanardi Lotus-Cosworth  60  15 
30 JJ Lehto Sauber-Ilmor  53 Engine 
22 Luca Badoer Lola-Ferrari  43 Clutch 22 
29 Karl Wendlinger Sauber-Ilmor  42 Fuel Pressure 
dq Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Yamaha  42 Push Start After Engine Cut Out 24 
Damon Hill Williams-Renault  41 Engine 
27 Jean Alesi Ferrari  40 Engine 
24 Fabrizio Barbazza Minardi-Cosworth  37 Accident 25 
19 Philippe Alliot Larrousse-Lamborghini  26 Gearbox 13 
25 Martin Brundle Ligier-Renault  11 Accident 18 
Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha  11 Accident 23 
12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Cosworth  Suspension 10 
nq 21 Michele Alboreto Lola-Ferrari    26