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.
The 72-lap race was won by home favourite Alain Prost, driving a Williams-Renault, after he started from second position. Prost's British 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. It was also the last Grand Prix for Fabrizio Barbazza.
This was the first race to feature BBC commentary from Jonathan Palmer, replacing James Hunt after his death following the Canadian Grand Prix. Palmer would partner Murray Walker until the conclusion of the 1996 season when the television rights went to ITV for 1997.
Qualifying report With local hero Alain Prost taking pole position 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 Damon Hill who took his first Formula One pole, 0.142 seconds 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, Michael 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. For the fourth time in five races, Michele Alboreto came last in his Lola and thus failed to qualify.
Qualifying classification Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 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 21 Michele Alboreto Lola-Ferrari 1:22.106 1:20.130 +5.748 Sources:
Race report At the start, the top five 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.
By winning the race, Prost became the first Formula One driver to reach 100 career podiums.
Race classification Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 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 27 Jean Alesi Ferrari 47 Engine 6 22 Luca Badoer Lola-Ferrari 28 Suspension 22 29 Karl Wendlinger Sauber 25 Gearbox 11 30 JJ Lehto Sauber 22 Gearbox 18 26 Mark Blundell Ligier-Renault 20 Spun off 4 12 Johnny Herbert Lotus-Ford 16 Spun off 19 24 Fabrizio Barbazza Minardi-Ford 16 Gearbox 24 3 Ukyo Katayama Tyrrell-Yamaha 12 Gearbox 21 11 Alessandro Zanardi Lotus-Ford 9 Suspension 17
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings PosDriverPoints 1 Alain Prost 57 2 Ayrton Senna 45 3 Damon Hill 28 4 Michael Schumacher 24 5 Martin Brundle 9Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 85 2 McLaren-Ford 48 3 Benetton-Ford 29 4 Ligier-Renault 15 5 Ferrari 9Source:
References