1993 Japanese F1 Grand Prix Race Report & Results
Event: Japanese Grand Prix
Track: Suzuka Circuit
Weather: hot at start, mid-race downpour
Ayrton Senna won his 40th F1 World Championship race at the 1993 Japanese F1 GP today. The McLaren driver started from second and won on the Suzuka circuit for the second time. It was also his fourth win of the season and the 103rd win for the McLaren F1 team.
Senna to Williams, McLaren to Peugeot
Suzuka arrived with the 1994 grid taking shape. On 11 October, Williams-Renault-Elf had announced Ayrton Senna and Damon Hill for next season, ending two years of Senna's relentless pursuit of the Didcot seat. Frank Williams: "I've waited ten years for the services of Ayrton Senna. It became clear he is the only driver truly capable of replacing Alain." The contract was worth a reported $20 million a year for two seasons, with Williams paying half of Prost's 1994 salary to honour the world champion's existing contract. Eight days earlier, on 8 October, Ron Dennis and Mansour Ojjeh had signed a four-season deal with Peugeot to power McLaren from 1994. Williams-Renault would face McLaren-Peugeot. The two great French manufacturers, against each other, behind the two greatest British constructors.
Senna arrived in Japan having not spoken to Dennis since the Brazilian had leaked the salary dispute through the press. He embraced Dennis warmly in the paddock for the cameras. The Sunday morning briefing brought the news that Honda's Nobuhiko Kawamoto had at last confirmed what the paddock had known for a year: Honda had been loaning engine specialists to Ferrari since 1992 to help develop the V12. And in the Jordan garage, a 28-year-old Northern Irish F3000 driver named Eddie Irvine was making his Formula 1 debut on a circuit he knew rather better than most.
Prost's 33rd and last pole
Prost took his 33rd career pole at 1m37.154s, equalling Jim Clark's all-time mark. He casually noted at the press conference that it would be his last competitive lap. Senna was second by 197 thousandths, Häkkinen third by 42 thousandths from his team-mate, Schumacher fourth. Irvine qualified eighth in the Jordan-Hart on his Suzuka home race. Ukyo Katayama, in his new Yamaha V12 Tyrrell, was a sensational thirteenth. Williams secured its 24th consecutive pole position.
Senna jumps the start, rain arrives, Hill is lapped
Prost's clutch slipped on launch. Senna jumped him off the line and led into the first corner, with Häkkinen third and Berger fourth. The Jordan of Irvine, on a Suzuka rocket-launcher of a start, was sixth by Turn 2 ahead of Hill. On lap 11 Schumacher tried to follow Hill past Berger in the run down to 130R; he misjudged it and clipped the Williams's right rear. The Benetton's front-left wishbone broke. Schumacher was out. By lap 19 Senna and Prost had pitted for fresh tyres (Senna's 5.3-second stop dropping him just two seconds behind Prost), the rain was visibly looming, and Williams was leaving Prost out to gamble on the weather. They lost the gamble. By lap 21 Suzuka was a river and Senna had passed Prost on the run to Spoon.
The grooved-tyre stops then split the field. Prost's stop on lap 22 was painfully long. Hill, who had pitted for slicks just one lap earlier, had to immediately come back in for wet tyres at huge cost. Senna emerged with a clear lead. By lap 31 the gap to Prost was 30 seconds and to Häkkinen 45 seconds; Hill was lapped. Wendlinger executed two beautiful 360-degree spins at Degner; Patrese spun on lap 47 with an oil-leak left rear and pulverised his Benetton into the tyre wall, climbing out concussed. Lamy, on lap 51 at the same exit, slammed into the barrier in his Lotus; a small fire was extinguished before he was extracted.
The Irvine question
Through this drowning chaos, on lap 35, Eddie Irvine made his name. Senna, attempting to lap Hill, was alongside the Williams when Irvine, already a lap down himself, dummied past Senna on the inside of the chicane. The Brazilian, klaxoning behind him, was incredulous. Hill regained the position, then Irvine took it back from Hill at Turn 1, then Hill repassed at the next corner. Senna, locked behind this private duel, lost five seconds before Irvine ran wide at Degner and let him through. Behind, Prost closed back to fifteen seconds; the lead never threatened. Senna crossed the line for his 40th career victory, 30 seconds clear of Prost, with Häkkinen taking his first podium third for McLaren on his second Grand Prix start.
The punch
The podium was glacial. Senna ignored Prost completely, embraced Häkkinen warmly, took his trophy, and stalked off. Behind the curtains, with his engineer Giorgio Ascanelli following at a distance, he walked into the Jordan motorhome. Irvine was sitting at a table with a glass in his hand. The conversation, transcribed by Adam Cooper for Auto Hebdo, escalated from civility to insult in under a minute. Senna: "You're an unbelievable idiot, you put me in danger!" Irvine, calm: "I've been racing for years, that's racing." Senna: "You know who you're talking to?" Irvine: "Sure, the winner of the race. But I had a lap less. You were too slow in the wet." Senna: "How did I lap you, then?" Irvine: "Maybe when I was in the pits, I don't remember." Senna: "You're not bright enough to remember, are you? Wait until Adelaide, I'll remember!" Irvine (sarcastically): "Sure, see you there!"
At which point Senna turned, then swung his right fist into Irvine's face. Ascanelli grabbed him before he could throw a second; the Jordan mechanics restrained Irvine. Senna, slightly cooled, stalked off to the stewards' office to demand Irvine receive an official warning. Race director Roland Bruynseraede listened, then asked dryly: "Will we have to keep the drivers in parc fermé like their cars?" Irvine spent his post-race in the BBC tent, fielding questions about how it felt to be punched by a triple world champion. "I admire him," he said, "I even modelled my helmet on his." He was, at that point, the most famous F1 debutant in two decades.
Senna boarded a plane to Papeete that evening. Hill closed the championship gap to second; Schumacher's title hopes for runner-up were over. McLaren passed Benetton for second in the constructors'. One race remained, Adelaide, and Senna had publicly promised it would not pass without payback. The 1993 season had two weeks left, and in the dirty rain of Suzuka it had already shown the world the man who would dominate the next quarter-century of F1, throwing punches, taking the lead, and walking out of a paddock at dawn.
Event: Japanese Grand Prix
Track: Suzuka Circuit
Classification 1993 Japanese F1 GP
| Pos | # | Driver | Team | Time | Laps | Grid | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 |  Ayrton Senna |  McLaren | 1:40:27.912 | 53 | 2 | 10 |
| 2 | 2 |  Alain Prost | Williams | 1:40:39.347 | 53 | 1 | 6 |
| 3 | 7 |  Mika Häkkinen | McLaren | 1:40:54.041 | 53 | 3 | 4 |
| 4 | 0 | Damon Hill | Williams | 1:41:51.450 | 53 | 6 | 3 |
| 5 | 14 | Rubens Barrichello |  Jordan | 1:42:03.013 | 53 | 12 | 2 |
| 6 | 15 | Eddie Irvine | Jordan | 1:42:14.333 | 53 | 8 | 1 |
| 7 | 26 | Mark Blundell | Ligier | +1 lap | 52 | 17 | 0 |
| 8 | 30 | Jyrki Järvilehto |  Sauber | +1 lap | 52 | 11 | 0 |
| 9 | 25 | Martin Brundle | Ligier | Collision | 51 | 15 | 0 |
| 10 | 24 |  Pierluigi Martini | Minardi | +2 laps | 51 | 22 | 0 |
| 11 | 12 | Johnny Herbert | Team Lotus | +2 laps | 51 | 19 | 0 |
| 12 | 19 |  Toshio Suzuki | Larrousse | +2 laps | 51 | 23 | 0 |
| 13 | 11 |  Pedro Lamy | Team Lotus | Spun off | 49 | 20 | 0 |
| 14 | 9 | Derek Warwick | Footwork | Collision | 48 | 7 | 0 |
| DNF | 6 | Riccardo Patrese | Benetton | Spun off | 45 | 10 | 0 |
| DNF | 28 |  Gerhard Berger | Ferrari | Engine | 40 | 5 | 0 |
| DNF | 10 | Aguri Suzuki | Footwork | Spun off | 28 | 9 | 0 |
| DNF | 23 | Jean-Marc Gounon | Minardi | Withdrew | 26 | 13 | 0 |
| DNF | 3 | Ukyo Katayama | Tyrrell | Engine | 26 | 24 | 0 |
| DNF | 29 | Karl Wendlinger | Sauber | Engine | 25 | 16 | 0 |
| DNF | 20 | Érik Comas | Larrousse | Engine | 17 | 21 | 0 |
| DNF | 5 |  Michael Schumacher | Benetton | Collision | 10 | 4 | 0 |
| DNF | 27 | Jean Alesi | Ferrari | Engine | 7 | 14 | 0 |
| DNF | 4 | Andrea de Cesaris | Tyrrell | Collision | 0 | 18 | 0 |
Fastest lap: 1:41.176 min by Alain Prost (Williams FW15C) in lap 53
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