F1: Formula 1 1993 Season Review

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.Show more

The 1993 season saw the return of the European Grand Prix to the calendar after eight years; the race, held at Donington Park, replaced the Pacific Grand Prix at the Autopolis circuit in Japan after a deal to hold a race there fell through. The Mexican Grand Prix left the calendar for the second time after seven years, due to safety concerns surrounding the very bumpy surface of the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez; it would not return until 2015.

1993 marked the height of the use of electronics technology in Formula One, with perhaps the most advanced and sophisticated F1 cars ever built. The championship-winning Williams car, the FW15C, featured hydraulically and electronically-controlled active suspension, power steering, anti-lock brakes, fly-by-wire controls, traction control, a semi-automatic gearbox that could be switched over to fully-automatic, highly sophisticated onboard telemetry, pneumatic valve springs in the engine, and even a push-to-pass system that, at least in theory, made overtaking easier. Williams also tested a continuously variable transmission, while Benetton-Ford tested a four-wheel steering system late in the season. Nearly all cars in 1993 had an active suspension system, which kept the car's ride height consistent throughout a lap, making the aerodynamics of the car more efficient and effective. All these systems would be banned for 1994, except for the semi-automatic gearbox, on-board telemetry, pneumatic valve springs and power steering.

In addition to winning his fourth Drivers' Championship, Prost achieved his 50th F1 victory at the British Grand Prix, becoming the first driver to reach this milestone. His fierce rival, Ayrton Senna, finished runner-up in the championship after winning five races for McLaren-Ford; these included his home race in Brazil, the European Grand Prix in wet conditions, and, for the fifth year in succession and sixth time in all, the Monaco Grand Prix. Prost's Williams teammate, Damon Hill, took his first F1 victory in Hungary; two further victories gave him third in the championship. As of 2022, this is the last championship for a French Formula One driver.

At the end of the season, Prost retired from Grand Prix racing, bringing an end to an era in which he and Senna had largely dominated the sport, winning a combined 76 races between 1985 and 1993 and seven of the nine championships in that time. Senna would take Prost's place at Williams, only to lose his life three races into the 1994 season.