1993 Belgian Grand Prix

1993 Belgian Grand Prix
Race 12 of 16 in the 1993 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	29 August 1993
Official name	LI Grand Prix de Belgique
Location	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Francorchamps, Wallonia, Belgium [1]
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	6.940 km (4.312 miles)
Distance	44 laps, 305.341 km (189.730 miles)
Weather	Sunny and clear
Pole position
Driver	Alain Prost	Williams-Renault
Time	1:47.571
Fastest lap
Driver	Alain Prost	Williams-Renault
Time	1:51.095 on lap 41
Podium
First	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault
Second	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford
Third	Alain Prost	Williams-Renault
Lap leaders

The 1993 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Spa-Francorchamps on 29 August 1993. It was the twelfth race of the 1993 Formula One World Championship.

The 44-lap race was won by Briton Damon Hill, driving a Williams-Renault. Hill's French teammate, Alain Prost, took pole position and led the first 30 laps, before he suffered a slow pit stop and dropped to third behind Hill and German Michael Schumacher in the Benetton-Ford. Hill went on to win by 3.6 seconds from Schumacher with Prost a further 11 seconds back; the 1–3 finish secured Williams their second consecutive Constructors' Championship.

Lotus driver Alessandro Zanardi was withdrawn from the meeting following a huge crash in Friday practice, which ultimately ended his season. ^[2] In the race itself, his team-mate Johnny Herbert scored the final points ever for Team Lotus with his 5th position. Local driver Thierry Boutsen retired from Formula One following the race (after his race ended on the first lap with a gearbox failure).

Qualifying report

Once again, Alain Prost took pole position in his Williams-Renault with teammate Damon Hill alongside him on the front row of the grid, the two separated on this occasion by nearly nine-tenths of a second. On the second row were Michael Schumacher in the Benetton and Jean Alesi in the Ferrari, and on the third row were Ayrton Senna in the McLaren and Aguri Suzuki in the Footwork. Completing the top ten were Derek Warwick in the second Footwork, Riccardo Patrese in the second Benetton, JJ Lehto in the Sauber and Johnny Herbert in the Lotus.

Qualifying classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	2	Alain Prost	Williams-Renault	1:48.794	1:47.571	—
2	0	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	1:48.716	1:48.466	+0.895
3	5	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	1:50.305	1:49.075	+1.504
4	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	1:52.159	1:49.825	+2.254
5	8	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Ford	1:51.385	1:49.934	+2.363
6	10	Aguri Suzuki	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	1:51.904	1:50.329	+2.758
7	9	Derek Warwick	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	1:52.730	1:50.628	+3.057
8	6	Riccardo Patrese	Benetton-Ford	1:51.925	1:51.017	+3.446
9	30	JJ Lehto	Sauber	1:52.210	1:51.048	+3.477
10	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Ford	1:52.369	1:51.139	+3.568
11	25	Martin Brundle	Ligier-Renault	1:53.323	1:51.350	+3.779
12	29	Karl Wendlinger	Sauber	1:53.139	1:51.440	+3.869
13	14	Rubens Barrichello	Jordan-Hart	1:53.235	1:51.711	+4.140
14	7	Michael Andretti	McLaren-Ford	1:53.554	1:51.833	+4.262
15	26	Mark Blundell	Ligier-Renault	1:53.030	1:51.916	+4.345
16	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	1:52.689	1:52.080	+4.509
17	4	Andrea de Cesaris	Tyrrell-Yamaha	1:53.559	1:52.647	+5.076
18	19	Philippe Alliot	Larrousse-Lamborghini	1:56.822	1:52.907	+5.336
19	20	Érik Comas	Larrousse-Lamborghini	1:56.072	1:53.186	+5.615
20	15	Thierry Boutsen	Jordan-Hart	1:55.382	1:53.465	+5.894
21	24	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	1:54.968	1:53.526	+5.955
22	23	Christian Fittipaldi	Minardi-Ford	1:56.947	1:53.942	+6.371
23	3	Ukyo Katayama	Tyrrell-Yamaha	1:55.271	1:54.551	+6.980
24	22	Luca Badoer	Lola-Ferrari	1:57.599	1:54.978	+7.407
25	21	Michele Alboreto	Lola-Ferrari	1:57.852	1:55.965	+8.394
NC	11	Alessandro Zanardi	Lotus-Ford	—	—	—
Sources: [3] [4] [5]

Race report

At the start, Senna got ahead of both Schumacher and Alesi with Alesi also getting by Schumacher. The order at the end of lap 1 was: Prost, Senna, Hill, Alesi, Schumacher and Suzuki.

Alesi retired then with suspension troubles on lap 4, releasing Schumacher. Schumacher then set off after Senna and overtook him on the grass during the first round of pitstops. The first stops did not change anything, with Prost leading from Hill, Schumacher and Senna. Suzuki was a distant fifth until his gearbox failed on lap 15. Prost had a slow second stop, which allowed Hill to take the lead. Schumacher then overtook Prost to claim second. Prost smashed the lap record on lap 41 in his chase of Schumacher, but he found out that he was just a tenth quicker and settled for third. Hill won, wrapping up the Constructors Championship for Williams with Schumacher and Prost close behind. Senna was a lonely fourth, while Herbert and Patrese, who spun after his pitstop, took the final points. Herbert's 2 points for 5th place would turn out to be the last points finish for a Team Lotus driver.

Thus, with three-quarters of the season gone, Prost was a full 28 points ahead and could sense the championship, having 81 points to Senna's 53. Hill was third with 48, Schumacher was fourth with 42, Patrese was fifth with 18, Brundle was sixth with 11, Herbert was seventh with 11 and Blundell was eighth with 10. In the Constructors Championship, Williams were World Champions with 129 points ahead of Benetton who were second with 60, McLaren close behind in third with 56 and Ligier fourth with 21 – their best performance in some years.

Race classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	0	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	44	1:24:32.124	2	10
2	5	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	44	+ 3.668	3	6
3	2	Alain Prost	Williams-Renault	44	+ 14.988	1	4
4	8	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Ford	44	+ 1:39.763	5	3
5	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Ford	43	+ 1 lap	10	2
6	6	Riccardo Patrese	Benetton-Ford	43	+ 1 lap	8	1
7	25	Martin Brundle	Ligier-Renault	43	+ 1 lap	11
8	7	Michael Andretti	McLaren-Ford	43	+ 1 lap	14
9	30	JJ Lehto	Sauber	43	+ 1 lap	9
10	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	42	Collision	16
11	26	Mark Blundell	Ligier-Renault	42	Collision	15
12	19	Philippe Alliot	Larrousse-Lamborghini	42	+ 2 laps	18
13	22	Luca Badoer	Lola-Ferrari	42	+ 2 laps	24
14	21	Michele Alboreto	Lola-Ferrari	41	+ 3 laps	25
15	3	Ukyo Katayama	Tyrrell-Yamaha	40	+ 4 laps	23
Ret	20	Érik Comas	Larrousse-Lamborghini	37	Fuel pump	19
Ret	9	Derek Warwick	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	28	Engine	7
Ret	29	Karl Wendlinger	Sauber	27	Engine	12
Ret	4	Andrea de Cesaris	Tyrrell-Yamaha	24	Engine	17
Ret	23	Christian Fittipaldi	Minardi-Ford	15	Accident	22
Ret	24	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	15	Spun off	21
Ret	10	Aguri Suzuki	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	14	Gearbox	6
Ret	14	Rubens Barrichello	Jordan-Hart	11	Wheel bearing	13
Ret	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	4	Suspension	4
Ret	15	Thierry Boutsen	Jordan-Hart	0	Gearbox	20
DNQ	11	Alessandro Zanardi	Lotus-Ford
Source: [6]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Alain Prost * 81 2 Ayrton Senna * 53 3 Damon Hill * 48 4 Michael Schumacher * 42 5 Riccardo Patrese 18 Source: [7]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 129 1 2 Benetton-Ford 60 1 3 McLaren-Ford 56 4 Ligier-Renault 21 5 Ferrari 14 Source: [7]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
• Bold text indicates the 1993 World Constructors' Champions.
• Competitors in bold and marked with an asterisk still had a mathematical chance of becoming World Champion.

References

1. "1993 Belgian GP". Motor Sport . Retrieved 30 May 2022.
2. Newbold, James (9 February 2021). "Top 10 F1 to Indycar converts ranked". Autosport . Retrieved 9 February 2021.
3. "Belgian Grand Prix – Qualifying 1". Formula1.com. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
4. "Belgian Grand Prix – Qualifying 2". Formula1.com. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
5. "1993 Belgian Grand Prix Classification Qualifying". Motorsport Stats. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
6. "1993 Belgian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 2 December 2014. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
7. "Belgium 1993 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 13 March 2019.

• Henry, Alan (1993). AUTOCOURSE 1993–94. Hazleton Publishing. ISBN   1-874557-15-2.

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