1993 French Grand Prix

The 1993 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Magny-Cours on July 4, 1993. It was the eighth round of the 1993 Formula One season.

Qualifying

With local hero Prost taking pole in all 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 ahead of the Ligiers but it was Hill who took his first Formula One pole ahead of Prost, Brundle, Blundell, Senna and Alesi.

Race

At the start, the top 5 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, under pressure from Senna spun off on lap 21 into retirement. 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.

Following the death of former world champion James Hunt, British driver Jonathan Palmer took his place in the BBC commentary booth for the 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
Ret	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	47	Engine	6
Ret	22	Luca Badoer	Lola-Ferrari	28	Suspension	22
Ret	29	Karl Wendlinger	Sauber	25	Gearbox	11
Ret	30	Jyrki Järvilehto	Sauber	22	Gearbox	18
Ret	26	Mark Blundell	Ligier-Renault	20	Spun off	4
Ret	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Ford	16	Spun off	19
Ret	24	Fabrizio Barbazza	Minardi-Ford	16	Gearbox	24
Ret	3	Ukyo Katayama	Tyrrell-Yamaha	12	Gearbox	21
Ret	11	Alessandro Zanardi	Lotus-Ford	9	Suspension	17
DNQ	21	Michele Alboreto	Lola-Ferrari

Notes

• Pole position: Damon Hill - 1:14.382
• Fastest lap: Michael Schumacher - 1:19.256 on lap 47

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Alain Prost	57
2	Ayrton Senna	45
3	Damon Hill	28
4	Michael Schumacher	24
5	Martin Brundle	9

Constructors' Championship standings

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Williams-Renault	85
2	McLaren-Ford	48
3	Benetton-Ford	29
4	Ligier-Renault	15
5	Ferrari	9

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

References

• "The Official Formula 1 website". Retrieved 2007-09-01.
• Henry, Alan (1993). AUTOCOURSE 1993-94. Hazleton Publishing. ISBN 1-874557-15-2.
• Menard, Pierre (2006). The Great Encyclopedia of Formula 1. Chronosports. ISBN 978-2847071238.