1993 European Grand Prix

It was the third race of the 1993 FIA Formula One World Championship. The race was contested over 76 laps and was won by Ayrton Senna for the McLaren team, ahead of second-placed Damon Hill and third-placed Alain Prost, both driving for the Williams team.

1993 European Grand Prix
Race 3 of 16 in the 1993 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	11 April 1993
Official name	Sega European Grand Prix
Location	Donington Park, Leicestershire, United Kingdom
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.023 km (2.500 miles)
Distance	76 laps, 305.748 km (189.983 miles)
Weather	Very cold, rain with dry spells
Pole position
Driver	Alain Prost	Williams-Renault
Time	1:10.458
Fastest lap
Driver	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Ford
Time	1:18.029 (lap record) on lap 57
Podium
First	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Ford
Second	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault
Third	Alain Prost	Williams-Renault
Lap leaders

Senna's drive to victory is regarded as one of his finest, and his first lap exploits are particularly lauded, in which he passed four drivers – Michael Schumacher, Karl Wendlinger, Damon Hill and Alain Prost – to take the lead in a single lap in damp conditions. The race was the first held under the European Grand Prix title since 1985, and to date is the only Formula One Grand Prix to have been held at the Donington Park circuit.

Background

After plans to hold an Asian Grand Prix at the Nippon Autopolis in Japan failed to materialise, the first European Grand Prix for eight years was run as the third race of the 1993 season. Donington Park was awarded the race, having unsuccessfully bid to host the British Grand Prix. Video game company Sega sponsored the race and the logo could be seen throughout the Grand Prix and on the podium. Sega also had naming rights to the Grand Prix.

Ivan Capelli had agreed to part ways with the Jordan team after failing to qualify at the previous round in Brazil. He was replaced by veteran Belgian driver Thierry Boutsen.

Race

 

The Williams cars were 1–2 in qualifying with Prost on pole ahead of Hill, Schumacher, Senna, Wendlinger and Michael Andretti. At the start, it was damp and Schumacher blocked Senna and both lost time and Wendlinger took third. Having dropped to fifth, Senna quickly passed Schumacher at the third corner. He then went after Wendlinger, passing him through the Craner Curves with Schumacher and Andretti trying to follow through. Schumacher went through but Andretti hit Wendlinger and both were out, meaning Andretti was still yet to complete a racing lap in his Formula One career. Senna went after Hill now and took second at McLean's Corner. Now Prost was the target and the lead was taken at the penultimate corner – the Melbourne Hairpin. Going into the second lap, Senna led Prost, Hill, Rubens Barrichello (who had started 12th), Jean Alesi, Schumacher and JJ Lehto.

The track began to dry and everyone pitted for dry tyres. Lehto was fifth, having started from the pit lane, but he retired with handling problems on lap 14. Gerhard Berger took the place but he too retired with suspension problems six laps later. The rain returned and the leaders now pitted for wets. Mark Blundell was forced off by Senna whilst battling Fittipaldi at the Esses and then spun off backwards into the gravel trap whilst attempting to rejoin the track. Schumacher stayed out and was leading but spun out on lap 23 as a result of being on the wrong tyres. The track began to dry and everyone pitted once again with Senna having a problem and losing 20 seconds. Prost now led Senna, Hill, Barrichello, Derek Warwick and Johnny Herbert.

It began to rain and the two Williams stopped for wets while Senna stayed out. It was the correct decision because it began to dry again. The Williams stopped yet again for dries. Prost stalled in the pits in his stop and when he rejoined, he was a lap behind and down in fourth. Barrichello was now second but it rained and then stopped again. He went to the pits twice and by now Hill was in second, albeit a lap down. Barrichello, third, had trouble with his fuel pressure and retired, giving the place to Prost. Senna set the fastest lap on lap 57, on a lap when he drove into the pit lane but aborted the pit stop, showing that there actually was a shortcut through the pit lane. This is due to the Grand Prix configuration of Donington, which has the pit entry before the final hairpin corner onto the start/finish straight.

Senna won from Hill and Prost, having made four pit stops in the wet-dry conditions compared to Prost's seven. Williams technical director Patrick Head explained: "Our active car maintained very low ride heights, just a few millimetres above the ground, and gained aerodynamic performance by this, but when the water was deeper than the ride height of the car, our drivers were 'surfing'". Herbert finished fourth for Lotus, stopping only once, while all the other finishing drivers stopped in the pits several times. Riccardo Patrese and Fabrizio Barbazza completed the top six. By the end, Senna had lapped the entire field except for Hill, who finished over a minute behind.

At the end of the race, Senna was led onto a podium and given a trophy that depicted Sega's mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog, holding a trophy with the Sega logo underneath. A widely circulated image shows Senna holding the trophy. After this marketing photo op, he was given the official award, a trophy that does not depict either Sonic the Hedgehog or the Sega logo. McLaren is still in possession of the Sega trophy; for a long time, it was thought to have been lost until McLaren's official Twitter account revealed it is in one of their storerooms. On 12 June 2020, McLaren put the trophy in a trophy case in McLaren Technology Center.

Qualifying

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	2	Alain Prost	Williams-Renault	1:24.467	1:10.458
2	0	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	1:24.014	1:10.762	+0.304
3	5	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	1:26.264	1:12.008	+1.550
4	8	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Ford	1:23.976	1:12.107	+1.649
5	29	Karl Wendlinger	Sauber	1:26.805	1:12.738	+2.280
6	7	Michael Andretti	McLaren-Ford	1:26.859	1:12.739	+2.281
7	30	JJ Lehto	Sauber	1:25.469	1:12.763	+2.305
8	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	1:25.971	1:12.862	+2.404
9	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	1:25.699	1:12.980	+2.522
10	6	Riccardo Patrese	Benetton-Ford	1:27.273	1:12.982	+2.524
11	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Ford	1:27.173	1:13.328	+2.870
12	14	Rubens Barrichello	Jordan-Hart	1:26.557	1:13.514	+3.056
13	11	Alessandro Zanardi	Lotus-Ford	1:28.782	1:13.560	+3.102
14	9	Derek Warwick	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	1:28.096	1:13.664	+3.206
15	19	Philippe Alliot	Larrousse-Lamborghini	1:28.648	1:13.665	+3.207
16	23	Christian Fittipaldi	Minardi-Ford	1:28.065	1:13.666	+3.208
17	20	Érik Comas	Larrousse-Lamborghini	1:29.310	1:13.970	+3.512
18	3	Ukyo Katayama	Tyrrell-Yamaha	1:29.851	1:14.121	+3.663
19	15	Thierry Boutsen	Jordan-Hart	1:28.701	1:14.246	+3.788
20	24	Fabrizio Barbazza	Minardi-Ford	1:27.275	1:14.274	+3.816
21	26	Mark Blundell	Ligier-Renault	1:27.302	1:14.301	+3.843
22	25	Martin Brundle	Ligier-Renault	1:26.788	1:14.306	+3.848
23	10	Aguri Suzuki	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	1:30.107	1:14.927	+4.469
24	21	Michele Alboreto	Lola-Ferrari	1:30.049	1:15.322	+4.864
25	4	Andrea de Cesaris	Tyrrell-Yamaha	1:29.177	1:15.417	+4.959
DNQ	22	Luca Badoer	Lola-Ferrari	1:31.178	1:15.641	+5.183
Sources:

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	8	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Ford	76	1:50:46.570	4	10
2	0	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	76	+ 1:23.199	2	6
3	2	Alain Prost	Williams-Renault	75	+ 1 lap	1	4
4	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Ford	75	+ 1 lap	11	3
5	6	Riccardo Patrese	Benetton-Ford	74	+ 2 laps	10	2
6	24	Fabrizio Barbazza	Minardi-Ford	74	+ 2 laps	20	1
7	23	Christian Fittipaldi	Minardi-Ford	73	+ 3 laps	16
8	11	Alessandro Zanardi	Lotus-Ford	72	+ 4 laps	13
9	20	Érik Comas	Larrousse-Lamborghini	72	+ 4 laps	17
10	14	Rubens Barrichello	Jordan-Hart	70	Fuel pressure	12
11	21	Michele Alboreto	Lola-Ferrari	70	+ 6 laps	24
Ret	9	Derek Warwick	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	66	Gearbox	14
Ret	15	Thierry Boutsen	Jordan-Hart	61	Throttle	19
Ret	4	Andrea de Cesaris	Tyrrell-Yamaha	55	Gearbox	25
Ret	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	36	Gearbox	9
Ret	10	Aguri Suzuki	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	29	Gearbox	23
Ret	19	Philippe Alliot	Larrousse-Lamborghini	27	Collision	15
Ret	5	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	22	Spun off	3
Ret	26	Mark Blundell	Ligier-Renault	20	Spun off	21
Ret	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	19	Suspension	8
Ret	30	JJ Lehto	Sauber	13	Handling	7
Ret	3	Ukyo Katayama	Tyrrell-Yamaha	11	Clutch	18
Ret	25	Martin Brundle	Ligier-Renault	7	Spun off	22
Ret	29	Karl Wendlinger	Sauber	0	Collision	5
Ret	7	Michael Andretti	McLaren-Ford	0	Collision	6
Source:

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1   Ayrton Senna 26 2   Alain Prost 14 3   Damon Hill 12 4   Mark Blundell 6 5   Johnny Herbert 6 Source:

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1   McLaren-Ford 26 2   Williams-Renault 26 3   Lotus-Ford 7 4   Benetton-Ford 6 5   Ligier-Renault 6 Source:

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