1993 Portuguese Grand Prix

In between the Italian and Portuguese Grands Prix, Michael Andretti left Formula One to return to the United States, his McLaren seat being taken by Mika Häkkinen. On the Friday before the Portuguese race, Alain Prost announced his retirement from Formula One at the end of the season, with Ayrton Senna set to take his place at Williams alongside Damon Hill.[1]

Once again, the Williams-Renaults filled the front row of the grid, but on this occasion Hill took pole position from Prost by just under 0.2 seconds. Häkkinen was third in the McLaren, surprisingly ahead of teammate Senna by just under 0.05 seconds, with Jean Alesi fifth in the Ferrari and Michael Schumacher sixth in the Benetton. Riccardo Patrese was seventh in the second Benetton and Gerhard Berger eighth in the second Ferrari, with Derek Warwick in the Footwork and Mark Blundell in the Ligier completing the top ten.

Qualifying classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Gap
1	0	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	1:12.290	1:11.494
2	2	Alain Prost	Williams-Renault	1:11.683	1:12.762	+0.189
3	7	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Ford	1:12.956	1:12.443	+0.949
4	8	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Ford	1:12.954	1:12.491	+0.997
5	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	1:13.682	1:13.101	+1.607
6	5	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	1:13.403	1:14.135	+1.909
7	6	Riccardo Patrese	Benetton-Ford	1:14.206	1:13.863	+2.369
8	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	1:14.159	1:13.933	+2.439
9	9	Derek Warwick	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	1:15.200	1:14.388	+2.894
10	26	Mark Blundell	Ligier-Renault	1:14.591	1:14.577	+3.083
11	25	Martin Brundle	Ligier-Renault	1:14.779	1:14.708	+3.214
12	30	JJ Lehto	Sauber	1:14.978	1:14.833	+3.339
13	29	Karl Wendlinger	Sauber	1:15.016	1:15.070	+3.522
14	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Ford	1:15.831	1:15.183	+3.689
15	14	Rubens Barrichello	Jordan-Hart	1:15.479	1:15.433	+3.939
16	10	Aguri Suzuki	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	1:15.968	1:15.491	+3.997
17	4	Andrea de Cesaris	Tyrrell-Yamaha	1:16.072	1:15.904	+4.410
18	11	Pedro Lamy	Lotus-Ford	1:17.198	1:15.920	+4.426
19	24	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	1:15.942	1:16.323	+4.448
20	19	Philippe Alliot	Larrousse-Lamborghini	1:16.777	1:16.144	+4.650
21	3	Ukyo Katayama	Tyrrell-Yamaha	1:16.655	1:16.186	+4.692
22	20	Érik Comas	Larrousse-Lamborghini	1:16.417	1:16.998	+4.923
23	15	Emanuele Naspetti	Jordan-Hart	1:17.845	1:16.566	+5.072
24	23	Christian Fittipaldi	Minardi-Ford	1:16.651	1:16.864	+5.157
25	21	Michele Alboreto	Lola-Ferrari	1:17.778	1:17.118	+5.624
26	22	Luca Badoer	Lola-Ferrari	1:19.064	1:17.739	+6.245

Hill's engine refused to fire on the parade lap and he had to start at the back. At the start, Prost got squeezed out by the McLarens and Alesi, with Alesi getting ahead of the McLarens with Senna ahead of Häkkinen. Alesi led Senna, Häkkinen, Prost, Schumacher and Berger.

The top six stayed together but the Williamses and Schumacher were on a one-stop strategy unlike the McLarens and Ferraris. On lap 20, Senna's engine blew as Alesi, Häkkinen and Schumacher pitted, with Alesi losing out to both. This left Prost leading from Blundell, Hill, Häkkinen, Schumacher and Alesi. Schumacher passed Häkkinen on lap 25 and pulled away. Prost would stop on lap 29 but Schumacher would rejoin ahead. When Hill stopped as well, Schumacher was leading from Prost, Häkkinen, Hill, Alesi and Berger.

On lap 33, Häkkinen crashed into the wall at the last corner. Three laps later, Berger's suspension failed dramatically at the exit of the pitlane, sending him across the start-finish straight, being nearly hit by a Footwork. Blundell crashed from sixth on lap 52 as Prost began to hassle Schumacher. However, second place was enough for Prost to win the championship, so the French driver did not take any risks. Patrese was fifth but he too crashed on lap 64 into the Footwork of Derek Warwick forcing both drivers to retire. Schumacher had a minor off but still just kept his lead. Schumacher won from new World Champion Prost, Hill, Alesi, Wendlinger and Brundle.

With only two more races to go, Prost was the World Champion with 87 points but there was battle for second between Hill, Senna and Schumacher. Hill was second with 62, Senna was third with 53 and Schumacher was fourth with 52. Behind, Patrese was fifth with 20, Alesi was sixth with 13, Brundle was seventh with 12 and Herbert was eighth with 11. In the Constructors Championship, Williams were the World Champions with 149 points but there was a battle for second between Benetton with 72 and McLaren with 60. Ferrari were fourth with 23.

Race classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	71	1:32:46.309	6	10
2	2	Alain Prost	Williams-Renault	71	+ 0.982	2	6
3	0	Damon Hill	Williams-Renault	71	+ 8.206	1	4
4	27	Jean Alesi	Ferrari	71	+ 1:07.605	5	3
5	29	Karl Wendlinger	Sauber	70	+ 1 lap	13	2
6	25	Martin Brundle	Ligier-Renault	70	+ 1 lap	11	1
7	30	JJ Lehto	Sauber	69	+ 2 laps	12
8	24	Pierluigi Martini	Minardi-Ford	69	+ 2 laps	19
9	23	Christian Fittipaldi	Minardi-Ford	69	+ 2 laps	24
10	19	Philippe Alliot	Larrousse-Lamborghini	69	+ 2 laps	20
11	20	Érik Comas	Larrousse-Lamborghini	68	+ 3 laps	22
12	4	Andrea de Cesaris	Tyrrell-Yamaha	68	+ 3 laps	17
13	14	Rubens Barrichello	Jordan-Hart	68	+ 3 laps	15
14	22	Luca Badoer	Lola-Ferrari	68	+ 3 laps	26
15	9	Derek Warwick	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	63	Collision	9
16	6	Riccardo Patrese	Benetton-Ford	63	Collision	7
Ret	11	Pedro Lamy	Lotus-Ford	61	Spun off	18
Ret	12	Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Ford	60	Spun off	14
Ret	26	Mark Blundell	Ligier-Renault	51	Collision	10
Ret	21	Michele Alboreto	Lola-Ferrari	38	Gearbox	25
Ret	28	Gerhard Berger	Ferrari	35	Suspension/accident	8
Ret	7	Mika Häkkinen	McLaren-Ford	32	Accident	3
Ret	10	Aguri Suzuki	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	27	Gearbox	16
Ret	8	Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Ford	19	Engine	4
Ret	3	Ukyo Katayama	Tyrrell-Yamaha	12	Spun off	21
Ret	15	Emanuele Naspetti	Jordan-Hart	8	Engine	23
Source:[2]

• Bold text indicates the World Champions.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Alain Prost 87 2 Damon Hill 62 3 Ayrton Senna 53 4 Michael Schumacher 52 5 Riccardo Patrese 20 Source: [3]

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Williams-Renault 149 2 Benetton-Ford 72 3 McLaren-Ford 60 4 Ferrari 23 5 Ligier-Renault 22 Source: [3]

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

• Henry, Alan (1993). AUTOCOURSE 1993-94. Hazleton Publishing. ISBN 1-874557-15-2.