The 1993 South African Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami on 14 March 1993. It was the first race of the 1993 Formula One World Championship.
The 72-lap race was won by Frenchman Alain Prost, driving a Williams-Renault. Prost, returning to Formula One after taking the season off, took pole position and led the last 49 laps, winning by over a minute from Brazilian Ayrton Senna in a McLaren-Ford. Briton Mark Blundell finished third in a Ligier-Renault.
This was the 33rd South African Grand Prix and, as of , the most recent Formula One race held on the continent of Africa. The race also marked the debut of the Swiss Sauber team, who scored their first points courtesy of Finn JJ Lehto's fifth-place finish.
This was the first time since 1974 that the first race of a season did not feature the defending Drivers' Champion in the field (in 1974, Jackie Stewart was missing as he had retired following the death of his teammate and close friend François Cevert in 1973). Defending 1992 champion Nigel Mansell had moved to race in CART for the season. Since there was no defending Drivers' Champion in the field this season, defending Constructors' Champion Williams could not use No. 1 on either of its cars. Therefore, this was the first race since the 1973 United States Grand Prix that number 0 was used.
Report The season started off in Kyalami where Prost, in his first race with Williams, took pole ahead of Senna, Schumacher, Hill, Alesi and Lehto, impressing in Sauber's first Grand Prix. At the start, Prost was poor and Senna and Hill (who was already ahead of Schumacher) got ahead of him. Then, Hill spun in front of Prost and dropped well down the field, Prost being forced to back off and let Schumacher through to second. Senna led Schumacher, Prost, Lehto, Wendlinger and Alesi at the end of lap one.
Prost attacked Schumacher, took second on lap 13 and set off after Senna. Five laps later, he attacked into the first corner but Senna took the inside and defended. However, Senna could not do anything when Prost attacked on lap 25 with the inside line. He took the lead and motored off. Schumacher also passed Senna to take second soon after. Both of them pitted unlike Prost, but Senna was quicker and rejoined ahead.
Schumacher was in no mood to stay third and attacked Senna on lap 40. There was minor contact and Schumacher spun off into retirement. Patrese was third but he too spun off on lap 47, leaving Blundell's Ligier third and Fittipaldi's impressive Minardi in fourth. Prost won from Senna, Blundell, Fittipaldi, Lehto (who was lapped twice in early stages of the race) and Berger (he was out but was classified sixth).
Classification
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 2 Alain Prost Williams-Renault 1:16.804 1:15.696 2 8 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Ford 1:17.152 1:15.784 +0.088 3 5 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 1:17.507 1:17.261 +1.565 4 0 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 1:17.732 1:17.592 +1.896 5 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 1:18.775 1:18.234 +2.538 6 30 JJ Lehto Sauber 1:19.120 1:18.664 +2.968 7 6 Riccardo Patrese Benetton-Ford 1:19.341 1:18.676 +2.980 8 26 Mark Blundell Ligier-Renault 1:19.688 1:18.687 +2.991 9 7 Michael Andretti McLaren-Ford 1:18.903 1:18.786 +3.090 10 29 Karl Wendlinger Sauber 1:20.365 1:18.950 +3.254 11 19 Philippe Alliot Larrousse-Lamborghini 1:19.350 1:19.034 +3.338 12 25 Martin Brundle Ligier-Renault 1:19.138 1:19.457 +3.442 13 23 Christian Fittipaldi Minardi-Ford 1:19.825 1:19.285 +3.589 14 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 1:20.118 1:19.305 +3.609 15 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 1:20.066 1:19.386 +3.690 16 11 Alessandro Zanardi Lotus-Ford 1:20.150 1:19.396 +3.700 17 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 1:20.009 1:19.498 +3.802 18 15 Ivan Capelli Jordan-Hart 1:20.841 1:19.759 +4.063 19 20 Érik Comas Larrousse-Lamborghini 1:21.000 1:20.081 +4.385 20 10 Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:21.342 1:20.237 +4.541 21 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:20.401 1:20.479 +4.705 22 9 Derek Warwick Footwork-Mugen-Honda 1:20.821 1:20.402 +4.706 23 4 Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Yamaha 1:20.721 1:20.660 +4.964 24 24 Fabrizio Barbazza Minardi-Ford 1:20.994 1:21.195 +5.298 25 21 Michele Alboreto Lola-Ferrari 1:22.843 1:21.893 +6.197 26 22 Luca Badoer Lola-Ferrari 1:24.737 — +9.041 Sources:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 2 Alain Prost Williams-Renault 72 1:38:45.082 1 10 2 8 Ayrton Senna McLaren-Ford 72 + 1:19.824 2 6 3 26 Mark Blundell Ligier-Renault 71 + 1 lap 8 4 4 23 Christian Fittipaldi Minardi-Ford 71 + 1 lap 13 3 5 30 JJ Lehto Sauber 70 + 2 laps 6 2 6 28 Gerhard Berger Ferrari 69 Engine 15 1 7 9 Derek Warwick Footwork-Mugen-Honda 69 Spun off 22 25 Martin Brundle Ligier-Renault 57 Spun off 12 21 Michele Alboreto Lola-Ferrari 55 Overheating 25 20 Érik Comas Larrousse-Lamborghini 51 Engine 19 6 Riccardo Patrese Benetton-Ford 46 Spun off 7 5 Michael Schumacher Benetton-Ford 39 Spun off 3 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 38 Fuel system 17 29 Karl Wendlinger Sauber 33 Engine 10 14 Rubens Barrichello Jordan-Hart 31 Gearbox 14 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 30 Suspension 5 19 Philippe Alliot Larrousse-Lamborghini 27 Spun off 11 24 Fabrizio Barbazza Minardi-Ford 21 Collision 24 10 Aguri Suzuki Footwork-Mugen-Honda 21 Collision 20 22 Luca Badoer Lola-Ferrari 20 Gearbox 26 0 Damon Hill Williams-Renault 16 Collision 4 11 Alessandro Zanardi Lotus-Ford 16 Collision 16 7 Michael Andretti McLaren-Ford 4 Collision 9 15 Ivan Capelli Jordan-Hart 2 Spun off 18 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 1 Transmission 21 4 Andrea de Cesaris Tyrrell-Yamaha 0 Transmission 23
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Alain Prost 10 2 Ayrton Senna 6 3 Mark Blundell 4 4 Christian Fittipaldi 3 5 JJ Lehto 2Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 10 2 McLaren-Ford 6 3 Ligier-Renault 4 4 Minardi-Ford 3 5 Sauber 2Source:
References