1993 Formula One World Championship (Alt)

This is a fictional account of an alternative version of the 1993 F1 season. For the real 1993 season, see the 1993 Formula One World Championship

The **1993 FIA Formula One World Championship** was the 47th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1993 Formula One World Championship for Drivers and the 1993 Formula One World Championship for Constructors, which were contested concurrently over a sixteen-race series that commenced on 14 March and ended on 7 November. Alain Prost won his fourth and final Drivers' Championship, and Williams-Renault won their second consecutive Constructors' Championship, the sixth in all for Williams.

## Drivers and constructors

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1993 FIA Formula One World Championship. All teams competed with tyres supplied by Goodyear.

### Notes

1. With the departure of reigning champion Nigel Mansell, car number 1 was not assigned; Damon Hill ran with number 0.
2. Despite being on the entry list, the March team did not contest any races.

### Team changes

**Brabham, Fondmetal and March withdrew.** The worldwide recession of the early 1990s had taken its toll: the Brabham and Fondmetal teams had failed to complete the 1992 season, while March formally withdrew at the beginning of the 1993 season. Thus, there were only 13 teams on the grid at the opening race of 1993, in South Africa.

**Sauber debuts.** The Swiss Sauber team were the only new entry to the grid in 1993, with much-publicized backing from German car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz, who were funding the team's engine supplier, Ilmor. The engines were badged as "Saubers" for their debut season (under the instruction of Mercedes). "Concept by Mercedes-Benz" decals were placed on the car's engine cover.

### Driver changes

* Williams completed the signing of Alain Prost who was returning to the sport after a year out in 1992. Although Nigel Mansell was the reigning World Champion, team owner Frank Williams would not guarantee him the number 1 driver status in the team next to the triple World Champion Prost, so he opted not to remain with the team to defend his title and moved to IndyCar racing in the US. Prost's teammate would be Damon Hill, son of Graham Hill and Williams's test driver in 1992 (Hill also raced for the Brabham team in 1992). The absence of the defending champion meant that Williams could not use the number 1 on their cars, so the number 0 was used instead, by Hill, while Prost used the number 2.
* Uncertainty surrounded the McLaren team, whose driver Ayrton Senna was reluctant to re-sign for 1993 as Honda had withdrawn from the sport and the team were not expected to be competitive with customer Ford engines. McLaren signed Michael Andretti, a successful IndyCar driver and son of 1978 World Champion Mario Andretti, and Mika Häkkinen, who had impressed for Lotus in 1991 and 1992. Senna eventually signed on a race-by-race basis and was partnered by Andretti until the Italian Grand Prix. Häkkinen became the team's test driver and stepped up to take Andretti's place after the American left the team.
* Benetton retained Michael Schumacher, but lost Martin Brundle who was replaced after numerous run-ins and disagreements with team manager Flavio Briatore. Taking the second seat at Benetton was the most experienced driver in Formula One, Italian veteran Riccardo Patrese, who was released by Williams after just over five seasons with the team since 1988, despite having finished runner up to Mansell in the Drivers' Championship in 1992.
* Ferrari retained Jean Alesi, but Ivan Capelli and Nicola Larini had both disappointed in 1992 and so Gerhard Berger returned to the team after three years at McLaren since 1990. Larini returned to his previous role as test driver for the team.
* Lotus retained Johnny Herbert and took on Alessandro Zanardi, who replaced Häkkinen. When Zanardi had a huge crash in the Belgian Grand Prix, he was replaced by Portuguese newcomer Pedro Lamy.
* Tyrrell took on Japan's Ukyo Katayama, who moved from Larrousse, and Perry McCarthy from Venturi.
* Ligier reunited British drivers Martin Brundle and Mark Blundell: the two had previously driven for Brabham in 1991. This was the first and only time in Ligier's history that they did not have a French driver in their line-up (although they had former Larrousse driver Éric Bernard as a test driver).
* Footwork Arrows lost Michele Alboreto and replaced him with British veteran Derek Warwick, returning to the sport after two years away driving sports cars since 1991. Warwick had previously raced for Arrows in 1987–1989. Japanese driver Aguri Suzuki was retained as number two driver.
* The BMS Scuderia Italia team switched from Dallara to Lola chassis and took on five time Grand Prix winner Michele Alboreto (whose last win had been eight years earlier in 1985) and newcomer, Italian Luca Badoer.
* Jordan had lost both Stefano Modena and Maurício Gugelmin who quit Formula One after a frustrating 1992. Young Brazilian Rubens Barrichello made his debut with the team, while five drivers filled the second seat: Ivan Capelli, Thierry Boutsen, Marco Apicella, test driver Emanuele Naspetti and finally Eddie Irvine. The team also switched from using Yamaha V12 engines to the new Hart V10. Hart was making their F1 return with Jordan after last being in Grand Prix racing in 1986 with their 4 cyl 1.5L turbocharged 415T.
* Larrousse lost both Ukyo Katayama and Bertrand Gachot. Therefore, they signed Philippe Alliot (returning to the team after driving for Larrousse in 1987–1989) and Érik Comas, who moved from Ligier. Toshio Suzuki replaced Alliot in Japan and Australia.
* Minardi retained Christian Fittipaldi, and took on Fabrizio Barbazza, who was later replaced by Pierluigi Martini, returning for his third stint with the team after spending 1992 with BMS Scuderia Italia. Martini had unsuccessfully driven for Minardi in the team's debut year (1985), and later in 1988–1991 where at times he had proved a revelation in underpowered cars. Fittipaldi on the other hand was replaced by Jean-Marc Gounon for the final two races of the season.
* Sauber's drivers were Finland's JJ Lehto, who signed from BMS Scuderia Italia, and Austria's Karl Wendlinger, who had impressed with March in 1992.

### Rule changes

Two changes were made to the qualifying system at the second race of the season in Brazil. The first limited all drivers to 12 laps each in both qualifying sessions. The second was a reduction in the number of cars allowed to start for the race from 26 to 25. This came about as a result of there being only 26 cars in total: after it was originally decided that only the fastest 24 would be permitted to start the race, the teams unanimously agreed to raise this number to 25, to ensure that every team could qualify at least one car.

The revision to this second change mainly benefitted BMS Scuderia Italia: after Ivan Capelli's Jordan was the non-qualifier in Brazil, the next seven races saw Michele Alboreto or Luca Badoer come 26th in qualifying and thus fail to make the grid (Alboreto five times and Badoer twice). As a consequence, the teams unanimously agreed to allow all 26 cars to qualify again prior to the German Grand Prix. The 12-lap limit, however, lasted for almost a decade, until the end of the 2002 season.

## Season review

### Points scoring system

Points were awarded to the top six finishers in each race as follows:

### World Constructors' Championship standings

Points are calculated as the sum of the points for the drivers of each team.

### Non-championship event results

The 1993 season also included a single event which did not count towards the World Championship, the Formula One Indoor Trophy at the Bologna Motor Show.