1993 French Grand Prix

The 1993 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Magny-Cours on 4 July 1993. It was the eighth race of the 1993 Formula One World Championship.

1993 French Grand Prix
Race 8 of 16 in the 1993 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date 4 July 1993
Official name Rhône-Poulenc Grand Prix de France
Location Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours
Magny-Cours, France
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 4.250 km (2.651 mi)
Distance 72 laps, 306.000 km (190.892 mi)
Pole position
Driver
Williams-Renault
Time 1:14.382
Fastest lap
Driver Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford
Time 1:19.256 on lap 47
Podium
First
Williams-Renault
Second
Williams-Renault
Third
Benetton-Ford

The 72-lap race was won by home favourite Alain Prost, driving a Williams-Renault, after he started from second position. Prost's English teammate Damon Hill finished second, having started from pole position and led the first 26 laps, with German Michael Schumacher third in a Benetton-Ford. With Prost's Brazilian rival Ayrton Senna finishing fourth in his McLaren-Ford, Prost extended his lead in the Drivers' Championship to 12 points.

The race marked Prost's 100th Formula One podium, making him the first driver to achieve the milestone.[1] It was also the last Grand Prix for Fabrizio Barbazza.[2]

Report

Qualifying

With local hero Prost taking pole in all of the previous seven races, there was a massive turnout for qualifying where the Williams were usually dominant. The Williams did take 1–2 in qualifying, but it was Hill who took his first Formula One pole ahead of Prost. The Ligier team, in its home race, filled the second row with Martin Brundle ahead of Mark Blundell, and thus completed a 1-2-3-4 for Renault-powered cars. Ayrton Senna in the McLaren and Jean Alesi in the Ferrari were on the third row, Schumacher in the Benetton and Rubens Barrichello in the Jordan made up the fourth, and the Larrousse team, also contesting its home race, took up the fifth with Érik Comas ahead of Philippe Alliot.

Race

At the start, the top 5 stayed the same while Schumacher got ahead of Alesi. Hill led from Prost, Brundle, Blundell, Senna and Schumacher.

The Williams pulled away while Brundle pulled away from Blundell who was holding up Senna and Schumacher. However, this ended when Blundell was pushed off the road and into retirement on lap 21 as he attempted to lap de Cesaris. It was time for the mid-race stops during which Prost got ahead of Hill and Senna and Schumacher closed up on Brundle.

During the second stops, Prost stayed ahead - just by two-tenths while Senna and Schumacher got ahead of Brundle. Schumacher passed Senna when the two were going through traffic and pulled away. Prost won with Hill right behind to make it a Williams 1-2 ahead of Schumacher, Senna, Brundle and Andretti.

Thus, at the halfway stage of the season, Prost led the World Championship with 57 points. Senna was a further 12 points behind in second with 45, Hill was third with 28, Schumacher was fourth with 24, Brundle fifth with 9, Blundell sixth with 6, Herbert seventh with 6 and Lehto eighth with 5. There were no real battles in the Constructors Championship with Williams comfortably leading with 85 points with McLaren 37 points behind in second with 48. Benetton were third with 29 and Ligier were fourth with 15.

Following the death of former world champion James Hunt, former British driver Jonathan Palmer moved from Pit Lane reporter and took Hunt's place in the BBC commentary booth for the race. Palmer would continue to partner Murray Walker in the booth until the end of the 1996 season.

By winning the race, Prost became the first Formula One driver to reach 100 career podiums.

Classification

Qualifying
PosNoDriverConstructorQ1Q2Gap
1 0 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:15.051 1:14.382
2 2 Alain Prost Williams-Renault 1:15.725 1:14.524 +0.142
3 25 Martin Brundle Ligier-Renault 1:16.847 1:16.169 +1.787
4 26 Mark Blundell Ligier-Renault 1:16.834 1:16.203 +1.821
5 8 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Ford 1:16.782 1:16.264 +1.882
6 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:16.825 1:16.662 +2.280
7 5 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:16.720 1:16.745 +2.338
8 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 1:17.345 1:17.168 +2.786
9 20 Érik Comas Larrousse-Lamborghini 1:18.180 1:17.170 +2.788
10 19 Philippe Alliot Larrousse-Lamborghini 1:18.230 1:17.190 +2.808
11 29 Karl Wendlinger Sauber 1:17.650 1:17.315 +2.933
12 6 Riccardo Patrese Benetton-Ford 1:17.675 1:17.362 +2.980
13 10 Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:17.441 1:17.518 +3.059
14 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:18.741 1:17.456 +3.074
15 9 Derek Warwick Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:19.180 1:17.598 +3.216
16 7 Michael Andretti McLaren-Ford 1:18.585 1:17.659 +3.277
17 11 Alessandro Zanardi Lotus-Ford 1:18.331 1:17.706 +3.324
18 30 JJ Lehto Sauber 1:19.252 1:17.812 +3.430
19 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 1:17.862 1:18.104 +3.480
20 15 Thierry Boutsen Jordan-Hart 1:18.685 1:17.997 +3.615
21 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:20.553 1:19.143 +4.761
22 22 Luca Badoer Lola-Ferrari 1:21.931 1:19.493 +5.111
23 23 Christian Fittipaldi Minardi-Ford 1:19.968 1:19.519 +5.137
24 24 Fabrizio Barbazza Minardi-Ford 1:21.113 1:19.691 +5.309
25 4 Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:21.024 1:19.856 +5.474
DNQ 21 Michele Alboreto Lola-Ferrari 1:22.106 1:20.130 +5.748

Race
PosNoDriverConstructorLapsTime/RetiredGridPoints
1 2 Alain Prost Williams-Renault 72 1:38:35.241 2 10
2 0 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 72 + 0.342 1 6
3 5 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 72 + 21.209 7 4
4 8 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Ford 72 + 32.405 5 3
5 25 Martin Brundle Ligier-Renault 72 + 33.795 3 2
6 7 Michael Andretti McLaren-Ford 71 + 1 Lap 16 1
7 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 71 + 1 Lap 8  
8 23 Christian Fittipaldi Minardi-Ford 71 + 1 Lap 23  
9 19 Philippe Alliot Larrousse-Lamborghini 70 + 2 Laps 10  
10 6 Riccardo Patrese Benetton-Ford 70 + 2 Laps 12  
11 15 Thierry Boutsen Jordan-Hart 70 + 2 Laps 20  
12 10 Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 70 + 2 Laps 13  
13 9 Derek Warwick Footwork-Mugen-Honda 70 + 2 Laps 15  
14 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 70 + 2 Laps 14  
15 4 Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Yamaha 68 + 4 Laps 25  
16 20 Érik Comas Larrousse-Lamborghini 66 Gearbox 9  
Ret 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 47 Engine 6  
Ret 22 Luca Badoer Lola-Ferrari 28 Suspension 22  
Ret 29 Karl Wendlinger Sauber 25 Gearbox 11  
Ret 30 JJ Lehto Sauber 22 Gearbox 18  
Ret 26 Mark Blundell Ligier-Renault 20 Spun off 4  
Ret 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 16 Spun off 19  
Ret 24 Fabrizio Barbazza Minardi-Ford 16 Gearbox 24  
Ret 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 12 Gearbox 21  
Ret 11 Alessandro Zanardi Lotus-Ford 9 Suspension 17  
Source:[3]

Championship standings after the race
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References
  1. "Statistics Drivers - Podiums - Chronology of the record". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  2. "Fabrizio BARBAZZA - Involvement". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  3. "1993 French Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 2 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  4. "France 1993 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
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1993 Canadian Grand Prix		 FIA Formula One World Championship
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1993 British Grand Prix
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1994 French Grand Prix
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