The key areas where 2023's F1 dominator shades its 1993 counterpart

Two great Formula 1 cars, both including the work of Adrian Newey. One has an average edge in qualifying of 0.207 seconds and has so far managed 19 victories from 20 grands prix (95%), while the other enjoyed a massive advantage of 0.996s and yet ‘only’ won 10 of its 16 races (63%).

The differing records of the 2023 Red Bull RB19 and the 1993 Williams FW15C, in many ways the most sophisticated F1 car of all time, reveal a lot about how things have changed in 30 years. While witnessing Red Bull’s domination despite only starting 1-2 once, it’s hard to imagine how Williams didn’t put up similar numbers with its 12 front-row lockouts.

Reliability is an obvious factor. F1 cars have become incredibly reliable over the past couple of decades. Max Verstappen has yet to retire from a single GP this season, while Alain Prost suffered an engine failure while leading the 1993 Italian GP for Williams. Team-mate Damon Hill suffered even more and the overall finishing rate was much lower than today. Quality control has moved on.

Former McLaren designer and engineer Mark Williams underlines the improvements: “Because you’ve got so many more people now, you can have a focus on reliability. Process has improved. F1 teams now are manufacturing companies, many of them tied to OEMs. You get good business practices filtering in and there’s a lot more crossover of techniques going in from big industry rather than it being a cottage industry.”

That sort of development also helps to explain why teams are usually better – or at least more consistent – at executing races than they used to be. Simulation tools, massive amounts of data and teams of strategists mean that cars usually go to the grid close to their optimum, so swings in the competitive order are smaller and rarer.

As Patrick Head relates in this week's 1993 special issue of Autosport magazine, a simple set-up change could have made the FW15Cs far more driveable at a wet Donington Park in 1993, though whether that would have been enough to defeat McLaren’s inspired Ayrton Senna is very much open to question. The miscommunication at Interlagos that led to Prost staying out on slicks and ultimately crashing is also less likely now.

Similarly, Red Bull is usually among the quickest teams when it comes to pitstops. The same could not be said for Williams in the early 1990s, creating more opportunities for others.

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Unreliability cost Hill several chances to win in 1993, including at Silverstone, although this one went the way of team-mate Prost

The drivers have to be considered when it comes to 1993 Williams vs 2023 Red Bull. Sergio Perez is further away from Verstappen than Damon Hill was from Prost. Hill could have won more races, though his biggest lost chances (engine failure at Silverstone, puncture at Hockenheim) fell to Prost, so didn’t affect the Williams tally.

PLUS: Damon Hill's 10 greatest Formula 1 races 

But, despite the fact that Prost is an all-time legend and Hill went on to take the 1996 title, it’s probably fair to suggest that the Frenchman in his final campaign and the Brit in his rookie season were not as consistently strong as Verstappen, who is probably at the peak of his powers. Senna and Michael Schumacher – the two non-Williams winners of 1993 – had more chances to snatch success than Verstappen has allowed Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and co, particularly in wet conditions.

Schumacher’s victory came in Portugal when, on a different tyre strategy, his Benetton was able to fend off Prost to win by just under a second. But Prost, a man who had lived (and lost races) through a less-reliable era, knew that second place would be enough to take his fourth crown. It’s hard to imagine Verstappen, armed with DRS and a faster car, not launching more of an attack.

Everyone knows so much more now and has the resources to find out more. The scope for ‘random’ results is much lower now

Of course, there are other factors at play. For example, one of the RB19’s great strengths is how it uses the Pirelli tyres across a stint, thereby increasing its advantage in races. Like the Ferrari F2004, its real-world advantage is actually bigger than the qualifying stats suggest. There’s also the aforementioned DRS, which at most circuits makes it much easier for a delayed fast car to recover. Just look at how easily Verstappen cruised past Lando Norris at Silverstone this year compared to Prost’s strenuous (though successful) efforts to pass Senna at the same venue in 1993.

All that said, the Williams was only genuinely beaten for pace in the dry at the Adelaide finale by a fired-up Senna in a much-improved MP4/8. Singapore is currently the only race in which Red Bull has not set the pace in 2023. Red Bull’s ability to make the most of its advantage is what stands out: it has all the bases covered.

The cars of the early 1990s were pushing the boundaries of electronic technology in a way their modern counterparts do not, with active suspension and traction control just the best-known of the wizardry attempted. Such pioneering work is always likely to mean things are not always optimised, or go wrong completely.

PLUS: How F1's most sophisticated car claimed an era-ending sweep

Everyone knows so much more now and has the resources to find out more. The scope for ‘random’ results is much lower now. Perhaps this all helps to explain why many look back on previous eras of supremacy more fondly than the current status quo. Domination now really does mean domination.

Photo by: Erik Junius

Even on days when Red Bull hasn't had the best qualifying position, it has usually managed to recover in 2023