1993 Belgian Grand Prix

  1993 Belgian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 12 of 16 in the 1993 Formula One season
Date	August 29, 1993
Official name	LI Grand Prix de Belgique
Location	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Spa, Belgium
Course	Permanent racing facility 6.940 km (4.312 mi)
Distance	44 laps, 305.341 km (189.730 mi)
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

The 1993 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Spa-Francorchamps on August 29, 1993. It was the twelfth round of the 1993 Formula One season. Damon Hill scored a second successive victory. Alain Prost was leading the race and looked set to win, but a miscommunication during his second pitstop cost him time and he dropped behind Hill and Michael Schumacher. Williams' 1-3 finish clinched the Constructors' Championship for them.

Lotus driver Alex Zanardi was withdrawn from the meeting following a huge crash in Friday practice, which ultimately ended his season. 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. Boutsen suffered an early end to his Formula One career when he retired on the first lap.

Report

Qualifying

In Belgium, the grid was similar to Hungary with Williamses 1-2 in qualifying, Prost taking pole ahead of Hill, Schumacher, Alesi, Senna and Suzuki.

Race

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.

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 a surprising fourth with 21 - their best performance in some years.

Classification

Qualifying

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
26	11	Alessandro Zanardi	Lotus-Ford	—	—	—

Race

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	Crash	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
DNS	11	Alessandro Zanardi	Lotus-Ford		Injury	26

Standings after the race

• Bold Text indicates World Champions.

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

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

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

References

• "The Official Formula 1 website". Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-01. 
• Henry, Alan (1993). AUTOCOURSE 1993-94. Hazleton Publishing. ISBN 1-874557-15-2.