The contrasting fortunes of 1993's bottom six F1 teams

After a brief swell in numbers in 1989’s Formula 1 season, which resulted in 20 teams stuffed into the entry list, recession and a creep forward in professionalism had ensured that 1993’s grid had shrunk to a far more manageable 13 teams. This ensured that the Friday morning rigmarole of pre-qualifying, necessitated in 1992 by Andrea Moda’s ill-fated stint as a constructor, had been consigned to the history books.

The departure of Andrea Moda, Brabham, and Fondmetal part-way through the previous season, along with March’s disappearance despite factoring on the 1993 entry list, resulted in 26 cars lining up for the Kyalami season opener.

March, which at this point was desperately underfunded after Leyton House financier Akira Akagi was arrested for fraud, had spent 1992 filling up its baby blue livery with a rotating cast of minor sponsors and pay-drivers. It was due to remain in F1 with Jean-Marc Gounon and Jan Lammers; instead, its assets were purchased by businessmen Andrew Fitton and Steve Ward, who wound the team up.

There was a brief period in 1993 where the starting grid limit was truncated at 25 cars, ensuring that one car would fail to qualify between the races in Brazil and the UK, although full 26-car grids were later reinstated. The jeopardy of one car failing to qualify from a manageable grid size seemed superfluous, after all.

Owing to the reduced numbers, only two teams failed to score any points – Scuderia Italia and Tyrrell – while the four teams that generally occupied the lower midfield battled against each other for an eighth-place finish in the championship. Regardless, it was a battle for more than pride, as the prize money on offer could boost a team’s fortunes significantly.

Let’s delve into 1993’s 'other' teams, and how they got on during F1’s last year of full-fat electronic wizardry.

Minardi – Ford

Photo by: Rainer W. Schlegelmilch / Motorsport Images

Minardi enjoyed one of its best-ever seasons in 1993 and Fittipaldi got off to a strong start in Kyalami

Car: Minardi M193
Engine: Ford HB 3.5-litre naturally aspirated V8
Power: 660bhp @ 12,000rpm
Gearbox: Minardi six-speed semi-automatic

Arguably the most effective car relative to the rest of the grid that Minardi ever produced in its 20-year history, the M193 was a tidy design penned by Aldo Costa and Gustav Brunner. The team scored all seven points in the first six rounds – its highest season total (which it matched in 2005 in the farcical US Grand Prix). The Lamborghini V12 had been dropped for an older-spec Ford V8 serviced by TWR and, despite its relative lack of power compared to its lower midfield rivals, its low fuel consumption ensured that the car could be run lighter during the races.

The car was nimble and reliable; Minardi didn’t have the money to pursue an active suspension system, but put together a passive hydraulic system that linked the front and rear axles to reduce pitch. It also had a semi-automatic gearbox for the first time.

Christian Fittipaldi remained at the team and claimed fourth in the Kyalami season opener, a result that Minardi never matched in F1 again, while Fabrizio Barbazza brought funding to the team for the second seat. The Italian was caught up in crashes in the opening two races, but collected consecutive sixth-place finishes at Donington and Imola, while Fittipaldi added to the tally with two points from the Monaco Grand Prix.

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Barbazza’s money dried up and prodigal son Pierluigi Martini made his way back into the fold, although the improving fortunes of the cars around them ensured that no more points were in the offing. Fittipaldi and Martini infamously collided on the final lap at Monza, as the Brazilian touched Martini’s rear right wheel with his front left tyre and spectacularly flipped over. He’d managed to land back onto his wheels, crossing the line with only two wheels left attached.

Footwork – Mugen Honda

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Warwick had disagreed with Jenkins from the very start of the 1993 campaign

Car: Footwork FA13B/FA14
Engine: Mugen Honda MF-351 3.5-litre naturally aspirated V10
Power: 720bhp @ 13,200rpm
Gearbox: Xtrac six-speed semi-automatic

Having stuck with its 1992 car for the opening two races of the campaign, Footwork had to wait before pulling the covers off its new FA14 ahead of the European Grand Prix at Donington. Aguri Suzuki remained at the team at the behest of engine supplier Mugen Honda, while the squad dipped into its back catalogue to find a replacement for Scuderia Italia-bound Michele Alboreto. After two years out of F1, having won Le Mans with Peugeot in that time, Derek Warwick was convinced to back out of a potential switch to IndyCar by team principal Jackie Oliver, and rejoined the outfit he'd raced with in the late 1980s.

Even with the arrival of the FA14, the season was difficult as the financial health of the team had started to decline; a chance at a debut point for the new car at Donington was scuppered as Warwick’s gearbox expired with 10 laps remaining while running sixth. He needed another six races to chalk up the team’s first score of the year, grabbing sixth at the British GP.

Warwick also clashed with designer Alan Jenkins, stating that “Jenkins was just against everything I said. If I said red, he'd want blue. If I wanted one millimetre, he wanted to put two millimetres the other way”, and their relationship plunged to new depths amid the FA14’s first tests. Jenkins blamed Warwick for a heavy installation lap crash during a Silverstone test, but the culprit emerged as a plastic driveshaft spacer had deformed. “Never once did he apologise,” Warwick recalled.

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The Briton had managed fourth at the Hungaroring, while Suzuki was in a run of seven straight retirements – all but two of his own making as gearbox issues made up the other two failures to see the finish. A poor season left Footwork president Wataru Ohashi to withdraw his funding of the team, although it remained under the company’s name until it was bought by Tom Walkinshaw during 1996. Both drivers left the team at the end of the season while Mugen Honda transferred its supply of engines to Lotus, marking an off-season of considerable change.

Larrousse - Lamborghini

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Comas followed up points from Alliot at Imola with a sixth at Monza

Car: Larrousse LH93
Engine: Lamborghini 3512 3.5-litre naturally aspirated V12
Power: 710bhp @ 13,800rpm
Gearbox: Lamborghini six-speed semi-automatic

If Scuderia Italia earned the award for ‘Most ’90s livery’ with its red-yellow-white effort in 1993, Larrousse surely comes a close second with its shell-suit-like blue-yellow-red-green paintwork. Having bought out the Venturi design office, which had penned its 1992 car, Larrousse was registered as a constructor for the first time with its neat Robin Herd and Michel Tetu-penned LH93. The Venturi LC92 had very much factored as the basis for the new car, albeit with a shorter wheelbase to allow more latitude to improve the aerodynamics.

With Ukyo Katayama off to Tyrrell and Bertrand Gachot helping Pacific with its incoming F1 entry, Larrousse hired Ligier cast-off Erik Comas to partner Philippe Alliot, who had been out of F1 for two years while racing for Peugeot in the World Sportscar Championship. Alliot’s signing and Larrousse’s dedication to building its own car fuelled rumours that it was angling for a Peugeot engine deal for 1994.

Funds were tight, and thus Larrousse elected to forego any thoughts it had on introducing active suspension. Nonetheless, the car was strong enough to fight in the midfield and the Lamborghini V12 was powerful – if a little heavy. Alliot was 11th on the grid for the opening two races at Kyalami and Interlagos to demonstrate the LH93’s pace, but it was in an attritional Imola contest where he bagged two points. Italy proved to be a happy hunting ground for the French squad as Comas picked up sixth at Monza later in the year having avoided a heavy first-lap pile-up.

Despite small successes on the track, the team had cashflow problems throughout the year. Alliot was ousted for the final two races as Japanese F3000 veteran Toshio Suzuki paid for the seat. Larrousse secured sponsorship from Danone through the Kronenbourg Brewery for 1994 and got as far as the 1995 entry list but, having elected to skip the opening races, the team eventually came to an end.

Jordan - Hart

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Barrichello effectively became the Jordan team leader as a 20-year-old rookie

Car: Jordan 193
Engine: Hart 1035 3.5-litre naturally aspirated V10
Power: 700bhp @ 13,000rpm
Gearbox: Xtrac six-speed semi-automatic

After it dazzled in its debut 1991 season with the quick and nimble 191, Jordan’s difficult second album yielded just one point thanks to the gutless – but ultimately free - Yamaha V12s in the back. Brian Hart was contracted to do the engines for 1993; although his underfunded project put together a relatively simple and straightforward V10, it lacked power and its interface with the gearbox was often problematic. Clutch issues were frequent throughout 1993, and the semi-automatic shifting was unhelpfully prone to sticking.

Needing to find funded drivers to smooth over the losses of 1992, Eddie Jordan plucked 1991 British F3 champion Rubens Barrichello out of F3000 as he’d brought a wealth of Brazilian sponsors to the table. The team also took a punt on Ivan Capelli after his nightmarish year at Ferrari but, after failing to qualify in Brazil, the Italian proved to be damaged goods and was replaced with Thierry Boutsen.

The rotating cast of drivers in the second car meant that 20-year-old Barrichello had to step up and lead the team in his debut year, as Boutsen later called it a day and the likes of Marco Apicella, Emanuele Naspetti, and Eddie Irvine took over the second car for the last few races. Jordan was seldom in contention for points, although Barrichello was running third in the European Grand Prix at Donington before fuel pressure issues eventually scuppered his chances of joining his mentor Ayrton Senna on the podium. Michael Andretti then passed Barrichello for sixth with two laps remaining in the French GP.

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Jordan got off the mark with both cars in Japan, the penultimate round; Japanese F3000 driver Irvine had come in with local knowledge (and cash) to join Barrichello, and took sixth in his maiden F1 race as Barrichello finished one place ahead. This saved the season from being a financial disaster, and allowed the team to make the progression into the upper midfield for 1994.

Scuderia Italia – Ferrari

Photo by: Rainer W. Schlegelmilch / Motorsport Images

The 1993 season was Scuderia Italia's last in F1 and it failed to score a point

Car: Lola T93/30
Engine: Ferrari 040 3.5-litre naturally aspirated V12
Power: 720bhp @ 13,800rpm
Gearbox: Hewland six-speed semi-automatic

Immediately recognisable in its red-and-white Chesterfield livery with yellow flashes, Scuderia Italia endured a dismal final season in F1 as a five-year relationship with chassis constructor Dallara came to an end in 1992. Lola was brought in to develop the new car having previously penned Larrousse’s 1991 machinery, but had missed the mark considerably having delivered a car described as “old-fashioned” and lacking in outright aerodynamic performance.

The team ushered in an all-new driving line-up for 1993; ex-Ferrari racer Michele Alboreto was hired to lead the team alongside reigning F3000 champion Luca Badoer. Alboreto’s assessment of the T93/30 was unfavourable from the start; the Italian remarked that “we’re dead” after his first taste of the car in pre-season at Estoril.

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Aside from Brazil, where Ivan Capelli failed to make the cut, Scuderia Italia locked out the DNQ slot for the remaining races until it was charitably rescinded from Hockenheim onwards. Both Lolas effectively locked out the back row from there on, aside from Monza in which Pedro Lamy positioned his Lotus at the back in his grand prix debut, while Alboreto somehow found 21st on the grid. This laid the foundations for arguably its most competitive performance of the year; Ferrari had offered a pneumatic valve update despite the engine being a year-old design, helping Alboreto climb as high as eighth before his suspension failed on lap 24.

Scuderia Italia bowed out of F1 with two races remaining, and team owner Giuseppe Lucchini took his money to Minardi for 1994. By dint of Badoer’s seventh-placed finish at Imola, the Italian squad was classified ahead of Tyrrell in the constructors’ championship.

Tyrrell - Yamaha

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Tyrrell failed to score in a tough 1993, although things improved the following year

Car: 020C/021
Engine: Yamaha OX10A naturally aspirated V10
Power: 690bhp @ 13,500rpm
Gearbox: Hewland six-speed semi-automatic

Tyrrell’s 020 chassis was already two years old by the start of 1993 (or three, if its similarity to the 019 is too much to consider a wholly new car) but the team squeezed an extra half-season from it as it waited for the 021 to be finished. The squad went through its third engine supplier in as many years; the 020 had been born with a Honda V10 in the back and revised for 1992 with an Ilmor, but the British team secured a deal with Yamaha for 1993. This was effectively a redesigned Judd GV with a new cylinder head.

Ukyo Katayama, who brought much-needed backing from Japan, replaced the hapless Olivier Grouillard to partner veteran Andrea de Cesaris. There were few questions over the competence of the driving line-up, but the machinery used during the season contributed to Tyrrell’s worst F1 season until its final year in 1998.

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If the 020C was already outdated, it was compromised further in the shoehorning of Yamaha’s powerplant into the rear of the car. The team had also invested in new electronics, but this only contributed further to an early surge of unreliability as it pressed on with an old car. But the incoming Mike Coughlan-designed 021 had also proved to be a tricky customer throughout testing and delays pushed it back to a debut at the British Grand Prix. The car was without the monoshock front suspension that had been used to great effect by the 019 and 020, which negated an advantage around low-speed circuits, and both Katayama and de Cesaris found the new chassis to be excessively nervous and lacking downforce.

Tyrrell scored no points in 1993 and Coughlan was given his marching orders as a result, Ken Tyrrell citing a lack of progress with the 021 despite continuing investment over the year. Dr Harvey Postlethwaite returned to the team after leaving Ferrari and reunited with 019 designer Jean-Claude Migeot, who had by then set up Fondmetal Technologies, to handle the aerodynamics. Katayama proved the decision to overhaul the technical department correct when he scored two points in the 1994 season opener at Interlagos.

This week's Autosport magazine on sale 16 November will feature a package of features about 1993 and a free Engineering supplement. For the best motorsport coverage, from F1 to Britain’s club-racing scene, why not get Autosport magazine delivered to your door each week? Subscribe today and never miss your weekly fix of motorsport.

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From the expressions of some of the drivers, it was clearly a relief when the season came to a close