1993: Senna stars at Donington

As in Brazil, a wet race was what he got. All the way through this time. And, after qualifying only fourth, he drove a quite mesmeric opening lap, dispensing first with Michael Schumacher, then Karl Wendlinger, then Damon Hill then Alain Prost, to lead over the line.

It was an afternoon of extraordinary weather, with endless small showers, the occasional momentary cloudburst. And while the Williams drivers never got the dry conditions in which to as their cars' superiority, their cause was scarcely aided by a run of tyre stops which proved uncannily out of sync with what the weather gods had in mind. Prost, indeed, was to come in no fewer than seven times.

Still, in all their tribulation, Hill and Prost finished second and third, with Johnny Herbert fourth for Lotus, Riccardo Patrese salvaging something for Benetton after Schumacher had spun, and Fabrizio Barbazza taking a most unexpected point in the Minardi.

Senna apart, if the European Grand Prix had a real hero, it was surely his countryman, Rubens Barrichello, who was magnificent in the Jordan-Hart, fourth on the opening lap, and third within five of the finish. Then the fuel pressure died, and with it the points Rubens and his team so much deserved.

There was nothing for Ferrari at Donington, nor for the luckless Derek Warwick, who had the latest Footwork into the points in the late stages. And Michael Andretti's nightmare, sadly, for the moment continues. After qualifying sixth, yet again he failed to appear at the end of the opening lap, this time after tangling with Karl Wendlinger, the man largely responsible for his exit at Interlagos.

Unpalatable as Senna's behaviour may sometimes be, there is no doubting his authentic genius as a racing driver. Prior to last Sunday, Tazio Nuvolari was the last man to win a Grand Prix here; it is appropriate that beneath his name Ayrton's should sit.



The glamorous world of Formula 1 had trekked from Johannesburg in South Africa to Sao Paulo in Brazil and last week, slightly bemused, it arrived in Leicestershire.

Yes, welcome to the England where the hotel rooms have do-it-yourself instant coffee and Corby trouser-presses; where there are fish-and-chip shops on the corners.

Although it's ringed by huge cooling towers on the horizon, Castle Donington is actually rather a nice small town. Once this area was deep in the heart of British industry in the Midlands, but the stresses of recession have caused cardiac-arrest. The town is now dotted with empty industrial units and boarded-up businesses.

But it is still a small town. An example: late on Friday night the phone at the hotel rang. It was an old girlfriend from the real world outside F1. She was, she said, just down the road for the weekend. How about having dinner?

But how did she find me? It had been some years and we'd both moved house, and...'Oh,' she said gleefully, 'it was easy. I heard there was an F1 thingy on at Donington and figured you'd to be around somewhere. I rang up one hotel and they said: "No, he'll be at the Such-and-Such Hotel".' Small town.

It might be hard for us partisan British to accept, but much of the F1 circus doesn't like coming to England's green and pleasant land. To the average homme in the rue or the uomo on the Milano omnibus England is a place where it always rains. The girls are pale and lumpy - like most of the food - and they drink warm beer!

'What's the local speciality?' we asked in a restaurant on Thursday night. 'Pork Pies,' came the bluff reply.

The nicest thing about Donington and on this - in a most un-European display of unity everyone agreed - was that you could wander around without fear of being robbed, knifed, shot or bombed. After dangerous downtown Johannesburg and evil Sao Paulo, the most dangerous thing in and around Donington was probably the steak and kidney pie.

In general, however, the F1 visitors came with the pre-conceived notion that they were not going to have a good time. Yes, the Donington Collection is a wonderful museum, but there were many and varied fears over the safety of the track and the un-F1 facilities.

There is no question that things were rudimentary. The pits were far too small and so the F1 teams had put up their awnings and the cars were being worked on under canvas. It was from another era, but actually rather nice to remember more friendly days. It was, lest we forget, a last-minute race, brought in to replace the Asian Grand Prix at Autopolis in Japan.

And there was a good human interest story: Tom Wheatcroft who had fought for 22 years to get Grand Prix racing back to Donington. Tom had to pay through the nose for his dream, but he did it anyway. The safety work done since December was impressive: Redgate run-off had doubled and there were bigger gravel traps everywhere.

Donington is a super little racing track, although perhaps a bit small for F1 cars. It has silly bits but is generally regarded as challenging by the drivers. It was particularly challenging on Thursday when it was drizzly and horrid. The two Williams-Renaults dominated, without any undue dramas.

Good Friday's weather forecast was as follows: 'Rain, some heavy. Drier later with some heavy showers'. It all sounded pretty dismal.

And so it was. There was nothing good about Friday. It was a miserable bloody day with the sort of weather which makes even Dracula stay home with a nice warm cup of O positive. But out there in the drizzle were thousands of racing fans camped in the mud, happy to wallow in Donington's nostalgia and enjoy the ghosts of Edgar Jessop and other great heroes of yesteryear.

The warmest thing in the F1 paddock was Ron Dennis's smile. The McLaren boss was beaming like a lighthouse as he pondered the predicament into which he and his driver Senna have dumped the Benetton team, by out-performing the Ford works outfit with their customer engines.

The weekend would see the introduction of Benetton's all-singing, all-dancing 1993 challenger - which would, so went the theory, stop the embarrassing run of McLaren success. Judging by the unshaven faces under the Benetton awning, the mechanics had been bearing the brunt of the team's unfulfilled ambitions. They were dead on their feet, having worked more all-nighters than there were nights available to get the new cars ready.

Benetton was the wild card, but the general opinion was that if it was wet Senna would fly in his McLaren, if it was dry no one would see the Williams-Renaults.

Everyone wanted to see how the Benettons would fit into the pattern. Certainly, in terms of straight-line speed the B193Bs were a lot quicker than the other Ford-powered cars - and they weren't running any less wing.

Rain is the great equaliser in F1, of course, and so Bad Friday's left everyone guessing as to the real levels of competitiveness. It was a day when more or less everyone fell off at some point, notable hits being registered by the two Lotus drivers. Herbert did the back of his 107B and Alessandro Zanardi gave the mechanics a bit of rebuild variety by stuffing the front end of his car.

Later on Andrea de Cesaris had the Mummy and Daddy of shunts at McLeans, turning the monocoque of his Tyrrell into a colander with holes where the suspension mountings had been ripped out. It was one dead car, but Andrea was unharmed.

Of the rest there were spins for Andretti (an impressive high-speed double 360 in the Craner Curves), Hill, Schumacher, Wendlinger, Thierry Boutsen and so on. Even Prost went off.

At the end of the morning session Senna was ahead of Schumacher, Prost, Gerhard Berger (the Ferraris were better in the wet), Andretti, Warwick in the new Footwork FA 14 and Herbert.

The nasty conditions continued in the afternoon with the rains coming and going and conditions changing all the time. If you picked a good moment, you could get a good time. Initially there was a battle between Alesi and Schumacher and then Andretti joined the fight. In the next minutes Schumacher made a mess of it and shunted, while Senna blithely took a whole second off Andretti's best. And then Barbazza went third quickest.

The times were up in the mid-1 m24s but gradually they came down. Senna and Prost contrived to get in one another's way and there were various other excitements. By the half-hour mark Senna had just one lap of his 12 available left. His bolt was shot.

So too was Riccardo Patrese's, who had to hurry through his laps to give his car to Schumacher.

When it comes to weather forecasting Ayrton and McLaren are rather more reliable than the London Weather Centre, and on cue the rains increased - as did those departing the tarmac at unusual angles. With 15 minutes to go, a further obstacle was added when Martin Brundle's Ligier ran into the back of Luca Badoer's Lola at Coppice.

'He didn't know I was there because of the spray,' said Martin. 'He suddenly saw me and braked and I hit him.' Martin was very cool in the circumstances because a wheel-over-wheel shunt would probably have had him into the Donington Collection.

There were only a few drivers now with qualifying laps

remaining and with the rains coming and going it was tough. Hill did a good job to take second to Senna, while Schumacher bravely skated to seventh.

At the end of the session, Prost came out and Senna departed the pits. He could not complete a full lap but neither did he get in Prost's way as some feared he might after their earlier adventures. In fact Senna pulled off with a hydraulic failure. 'I'm glad it happened when it did and not earlier when I was at full speed,' he mused.

And so with a few last-minute spinners, the session dragged itself to a miserable close, leaving Senna a tenth ahead of Hill, but not confident he could stay there without rain on Saturday. Prost was third followed by JJ Lehto's Sauber, Berger, Schumacher, the impressive Jordan of Barrichello and Brundle's Ligier.

The paddock cleared quickly as everyone rushed off looking for somewhere warm and dry.

The weathermen had said that Saturday would be better and they must have been tipped off by McLaren because they were right. It was a lovely clear, crisp day with a blue sky and a chill in the air.

Friday's times were, of course, completely meaningless as the front-runners worked their way through the 1m14s into the 1m13s and the 1m12s. Towards the end of the session Prost left everyone speechless with a lap of 1m 10.716. Hill chipped down to 1m11.175s, and Senna beat Schumacher to third in the 'Formula Ford' fight.

The afternoon session was going to be all or bust and the heroes were quick to go out and get laps in the bank. At first it was Lehto leading the way, but then Schumacher carved the mark down to the low 1m12s.

After 15 minutes Senna could do no better than a 1m12.661s and quickly went back in for a think. Then it was Prost's turn and very quickly pole became a dream for all but the Frenchman and his team mate Hill. Alain's best was a 1m10.458s.

Senna tried again but a lml2.385s was not encouraging. Then it was Hill's turn. Damon chipped down to 1m11.315s. Elsewhere on the track Jean Alesi went off, flew briefly and gave himself a thrill by landing on two wheels in the gravel.

Patrese was also in trouble, his Benetton breaking down with gearbox problems. Hill's second run was better and Damon did a good job to post a 1m10.762s lap with about eight minutes to go. As Damon went in, so Alain, Ayrton and Michael Schumacher came out for their final blasts.

The Fordsters put on a thrilling duel, swapping times at they quibbled over third on the grid: Michael took it, then Ayrton snatched it back. Next time round Schumacher won it again and Ayrton could do nothing about it - a slide at the final corner left him a hundredth short. But to put it into perspective, we should not forget that they were battling some 1.5s off Prost's pole time.

Alain's final run was not spectacular: 'I didn't want to make a competition against Damon,' he explained, 'and I knew he was the only one who could catch me. It is important to be on pole and I am pleased to have Damon beside me because our main competition is on the second row.'

Next up were Schumacher and Senna, split by a smidgeon, Michael giving Benetton something to brighten up the horizon: 'We've reached the position we wanted,' the German said, 'ahead of the McLarens. We haven't done much testing and the set-up is nowhere near perfect yet, but we are in good shape all things considered.'

But Dennis put Benetton's speed down to a McLaren mistake: 'We got it wrong,' he said. 'Ayrton should have been able to get into the low 1m11s.'

Row three was a bit of a worry, an accident in search of a corner to happen at, with Karl Wendlinger and Michael Andretti having something of a history after the shunt in Brazil a fortnight ago.

Behind Karl's Sauber one second covered 12 cars so we knew that even if the race up front was dull, we were guaranteed a right old knees-up in the midfield.

It would all depend on the weather of course, and the weathermen were walking around with black clouds over their heads...



It was in April 1973, 20 years ago to the month, that Ronnie Peterson spun away the lead to Jackie Stewart in the International Trophy at Silverstone. He had been caught out by a snow storm.

England's early-season non-championship F1 races, a thing of the far past now, were traditionally beset by lousy weather, because lousy weather is what you get in England at this time of the year. Hence, when they announced a Grand Prix at Donington in early April, it seemed a reasonable bet that Senna, wherever he was, would be rubbing his hands. On the face of it, this was made for him.

Certainly he felt that way last Friday, for the weather was awful, and he was duly fastest. But Saturday gave a glimpse of what spring can be, and in these circumstances Prost and Hill were unapproachable - indeed, Schumacher was able to pip Senna for third on the grid. Ayrton was cheered, however, by forecasts that Sunday would be wet.

And it was so. In the warm-up, though, it was Hill who set the fastest time, followed by an impressive Lehto, and the McLarens of Senna and Andretti, their times as good as identical.

The best guess was that there would be a deluge at around lunchtime, with drying conditions through the afternoon. The best guess was awry. At midday it was possible to furl umbrellas; and it never did dry through the afternoon.

'If it's dry tomorrow,' a Goodyear man had said on Saturday evening, 'we don't expect it to be a pitstop race. Most people believe they can make it without a change.'

That would have been a first in the era of the new, narrower, tyres, but in the event it wasn't dry, and the European Grand Prix proved to be more of a pitstop race than anyone could remember. Although it wasn't actually raining at two o'clock, there was no question of going to the grid on anything other than wets.

Poor Lehto, second in the warm-up, had an ignition switch failure on his Sauber, and he had no alternative but to start his race from pitlane in the T-car - which had been set up for the lanky Wendlinger, and did not fit him. To complete the picture, JJ opted to begin on slicks figuring that there was nothing to be lost. Even that decision was wrong.

Traction control was obviously going to be of paramount importance at the green light, those with it likely to step off rather more smartly than those without. In that context, row two looked interesting, for Senna had it, and Schumacher did not.

To put it mildly, these two do not constitute a mutual admiration society, and away from the grid Michael swerved left, trying to block Ayrton. Momentarily, it worked. Into Redgate Prost and Hill were smoothly first and second, with Wendlinger third, Schumacher fourth, Senna fifth, Andretti sixth.

Senna dealt with Schumacher out of the corner, and then, in a move of astonishing confidence and audacity, proceeded to go by Wendlinger through the Craner Curves - on the outside! It took a bit of believing, but into the Old Hairpin Senna was third, and gaining on Hill, whom he duly passed at Coppice.

That left only Prost with whom to deal. Half-way round the lap Alain looked relatively secure in the lead, but his gearbox was playing up, he said, and twice he found himself in neutral rather than the next gear up.

Down to the hairpin at Melbourne, Senna was right up with him, outbraking neatly down the inside. The opening minute had been breathtaking, but somehow you felt the race already over.

For Andretti and Wendlinger, sadly, it was. Michael is of the American school of racing drivers, of course, which means he is prepared to admit his mistakes. And he did so now: 'I tried to take him, but I guess he hadn't seen me - I braked hard, but couldn't avoid him...'

'Overtaking is impossible at the place he tried,' commented Wendlinger. 'Michael apologised for his mistake, but this doesn't change much for me. I'm totally frustrated about what happened.'

The early pattern of the race was set on the opening lap, as expected, for overtaking at Donington is not easily. On the greasy surface, Senna briefly motored away, pulling out a lead of seven seconds after only four laps. After that, it stabilised, then began to reduce a little; the track, clearly, was beginning to dry.

Not quite enough for Brundle, however. After only six laps, Martin was in for slicks, and after nine laps he was facing backwards, stalled. 'It was the right decision, changing to slicks,' he said, 'but maybe I made it a lap or two too early.' Yes.

It was altogether a bad day for Ligier, for not long afterwards Blundell spun into a sandtrap, after an over-ambitious stab at outbraking Fittipaldi's Minardi.

Lap 10 was when Herbert came in for slicks, and he was to stay on them to the finish, which was some feat in light of how conditions would fluctuate through the day. He deserved those three points.

The really startling performance, though, was coming from Barrichello, who had run a convincing fourth from the first lap on, headed only by Senna, Prost and Hill. Behind him were various luminaries, including Alesi, Schumacher, Berger and Patrese. A remarkable ninth at this point was the brave Barbazza, ahead of Alliot, Zanardi and Warwick.

Although the Ferraris had gone far better than expected, neither was to make the finish, each car losing hydraulic fluid, Berger's from the active suspension system, Alesi's from its semi-automatic transmission system.

My car became more and more difficult to drive,' said Gerhard, because there was a fault in the left front actuator. I thought it was better to stop.' Jean was to get as high as second at one point, and was highly disappointed. The car had otherwise, he said, gone extremely well.

The important pitstops began on lap 18, when Senna came in for slicks, remaining stationary for 8.3s, and losing the lead to Prost for only a single lap, Alain himself coming in next time round. Hill and Schumacher had stopped at the same time as Senna, and after everything had settled down again, it was Senna in the lead, five seconds clear of Prost, with Hill a couple more behind.

Now it began to rain again. After only three laps on his slicks, Prost was in once more for more wets, and on lap 24 Hill followed suit. Senna came in on lap 28, but did not lose the lead in the process.

The rain stopped almost at once, but gone from the proceedings was Schumacher, who had spun into a sandtrap, and was highly apologetic to his team: 'I'm sure they feel I've let them down, and all I can do is try to make up for it at Imola...'

Now the situation in the pits became almost farcical. Lap 33 saw Prost back in again, for slicks, and next time around Senna and Hill did the same. This time, however, there was a disruption in the flow of smooth stops, a problem with the left rear wheel keeping Senna immobile for 20 seconds. By the time he rejoined, Prost had gone through, and now led by almost seven seconds.

More rain. Unbelievable, perhaps, but true. Williams brought in Prost on lap 38, and Hill on lap 41, each going back out on wets once more. Crucially, though, McLaren did not call in Senna at this point, and soon the policy proved correct, for the Williams-Renaults, on wets, were able to make no impression on the slick-shod McLaren - indeed, little by little, Senna began to extend his lead. The track was drying again...

Lap 48: Prost in again, for the fifth time, this time for slicks. The stop was disastrous, Alain stalling as he tried to leave. The clutch, he said, was 'becoming difficult'.

With the car jammed in gear, it was an eternity before the mechanics were able to free it, then fire up the engine once more. By the time he went back out, the pole position man had been lapped by Senna.

Lap 50: Hill also in for slicks. Now he, too, was a lap back, the only man as yet unlapped the astonishing Barrichello.

'The whole race,' Damon said, 'was like a nightmare. An awful race - the worst you'd ever want to be in, because you had no idea what was going to happen next. It seemed that whatever we did was the wrong thing at the wrong time.'

Nor were the Williams pit crew through for the day. Not by some way. Lap 53 saw Prost in yet again, this time for a new left rear tyre, for he felt sure he had a puncture. And now the situation was this: Senna had at least one lap on everybody, and led Hill, Barrichello, Prost, Herbert and Warwick. All on slicks.

It began to rain again. Truly it did. And hard this time. Barrichello, who had changed to slicks on lap 55, was back a lap later for more wets, and on lap 57 even Senna thought he might like some. Into pitlane he came, but the crew was not ready for him, so he continued on through - and this, given the lap distance saved by Donington's pit entry road, was to prove the fastest lap of the race! Officially, anyway. Most folk saw that as a complete nonsense.

A lap later the rain had eased, and now Senna decided wets weren't necessary, after all. With more than a lap's lead, however, he felt he could back off a little, and Hill, charging along in second place, unlapped himself on lap 63. 'I thought if I could get by Ayrton, it might help protect my second place from Alain,' he said. Given the personalities involved, it was smart thinking.

The rain returned in the closing laps. Really. On lap 66 Senna stopped for wets, and on 68 and 69 Hill and Prost did the same. By now the Williams mechanics were obliged to fit used sets...

There were two lots of heartbreak in the late stages. Warwick had driven a typically valiant race in the Footwork, and looked sure to collect at least one point, but with nine laps left he pulled off with gearbox failure. There were the usual sympathetic cheers, of course, but Derek has been used to those for most of his career.

No one could quite believe it, though, when Barrichello stopped, on lap 71. 'Everything had been great from the beginning - the way the car was working, the pitstops, all my overtaking moves. Then the low fuel pressure light came on, and soon afterwards the engine stopped.' This was more than cruel for the young fellow and his team, but Jordan and Hart are progressing well, you can say that. To say nothing of Barrichello.

Senna, of course, won consummately, with Hill a fine second again, Prost a disappointed third.

On his slowing down lap Ayrton stopped, waving for someone to bring him a Brazilian flag. Eventually someone did, and when he set off again, it slipped from his hand. It was the only thing he did wrong all day.