23 replies to this topic

[skinnylizard]

Just a quick question. Did Alain Prost get any testing in the 1993 Williams prior to SA 1993? or did he jump into the car right away and pole/win.

would help if i knew distance, laps , times anything that would help ascertain how much time he spent in the car before hitting the grid in South Africa.

thanx and welcome to twin window as your new moderator

[man]

I don't have any resources with me at the moment, but as a matter of fact, Prost did drive both the 1992 and 1993 Williams prior to the first race in South Africa.

[Twin Window]

I don't know this, but given that Noige upped anchor and went Stateside as soon as the season had ended and Prost had been idle for the whole of '92, logic would suggest that he did a lot of post/pre-season testing. And that would surely have included driving the FW14B.

As an aside, do you remember all the stories circulating during the lead-up to Kyalami suggesting that Prost wasn't going to be granted his Superlicense? Around that time I interviewed Frank Williams and although I can't remember what he said on that particular subject, I do recall that his only proviso was that I didn't broach the topic of... Mansell!

[Nikos Spagnol]

Prost would not be given a Superlicense?

****, if even Taki Inoue got one of these, why on the hell would Prost not?

Those FIA people must be out of their minds...

[Rediscoveryx]

Prost was, contrary to public belief, never favoured much by the FIA (Balestre on the other hand... But this wasn't Balestre's decision).

I believe it was on a technicality - the Williams team had nominated Prost as their driver one day late or something like that and, thus, he wouldn't get a superlicense...

I'm fairly certain that Prost did a lot of winter testing in 92/93 and didn't just get into the car and score a dominant pole/win. I don't have any sources, but I'm very certain.

[Levike]

Originally posted by Rediscoveryx
Prost was, contrary to public belief, never favoured much by the FIA (Balestre on the other hand... But this wasn't Balestre's decision).

I believe it was on a technicality - the Williams team had nominated Prost as their driver one day late or something like that and, thus, he wouldn't get a superlicense...

I'm fairly certain that Prost did a lot of winter testing in 92/93 and didn't just get into the car and score a dominant pole/win. I don't have any sources, but I'm very certain.

FIA wants just underline his own and Formula 1's importance with these actions over the years.
Just like if they and their prime serie would be the second coming.


Levi

[Viktor]

Originally posted by Rediscoveryx
I believe it was on a technicality - the Williams team had nominated Prost as their driver one day late or something like that and, thus, he wouldn't get a superlicense...

Did't Williams lose Häkkinen for there 1993 season in the same way, thay handed in there application for F1 one day to late and in the voting thay hade to give up Häkkinen to be alowed to race.

/Viktor

[Nikos Spagnol]

Wasn't Hakkinnen McLaren's test driver (and later Andretti's replacement) in 1993?

Actually, IIRC, Hakkinen was supposed to drive the #8 car if Senna hadn't negotiated a new contract (which Senna did only some days before the start of the season).

[AndreasF1]

Senna didnt have a firm contract with McLaren until later in the year. He came to the first races of the season by getting paid on a race per race bases. He didn't want to commit to the team had the McLaren been a dog, but he was leading the WDC after 5 races so everything changed. There was race IIRC Imola where the team didn't even know until friday morning that he was going to race. He showed up 5 minutes before official practice and stuffed into the wall.

[AAA-Eagle]

Originally posted by Viktor

Did't Williams lose Häkkinen for there 1993 season in the same way, thay handed in there application for F1 one day to late and in the voting thay hade to give up Häkkinen to be alowed to race.

/Viktor

Yes they did! After that failure (the same as with Ligier), Hakkinen had to became a McLaren test driver.

[Monstrobolaxa]

Another thing about Williams...they were on the verge of not competing in 1993 because they also entered their Team papers 3 hours after the deadline for teams wanting to compete in the 1993 championship.

I do have some preseason testing info on 1993....but I'll only have it with me in 2 weeks (it's at my mother place) I can get you the times but I don't think I have the number of laps done.

[John B]

Originally posted by AndreasF1
Senna didnt have a firm contract with McLaren until later in the year. He came to the first races of the season by getting paid on a race per race bases. He didn't want to commit to the team had the McLaren been a dog, but he was leading the WDC after 5 races so everything changed. There was race IIRC Imola where the team didn't even know until friday morning that he was going to race. He showed up 5 minutes before official practice and stuffed into the wall.

Didn't Senna and Andretti both assume that Dennis was going to be able to secure Renault power for McLaren? I remember Senna had no desire to join with Ford power, until he took a test ride and set a fast time which surprised him. There was some interesting timing with the early wet races in 1993 which allowed Senna a couple wins and the championship lead, which probably led to him staying the year.....

[GIGLEUX]

Estoril 29-1-1993 (photo Vandystadt Le livre d'or de la Formule 1 1993)

[stuartbrs]

I thought the whole `93 Senna/McLaren contract thing was cooked up by Ayrton and Ron to get more money out of Marlboro?

And that `93 McLaren was one of the prettiest cars of the early 90`s.

Does anyone else agree that the in-car camera position in the early 90`s looks so much better than the current ones planted on top of the airbox?

[Kvadrat]

This picture was published in Avtomotosport magazine edition covering 1992 Italian and Portuguese Grand Prix, so Prost drove Williams at least during 1992 autumn.



Following two pictures were published in next edition of the magazine after Japan and Australia reports. B&w picture may be just press photo session.



The track is definitely Estoril, and I think this is pre-season testing.

[SEdward]

Didn't Prost have a serious accident at Estoril in pre-season testing for Williams?

Edward

[Milan Fistonic]

The announcement that Prost would drive for Williams in 1992 was made at the Portuguese Grand Prix. It was stated at that time that he would have his first run in the FW14B in Portugal on Tuesday September 29.

The Estoril test session went from Tuesday to Thursday and Prost set the second fastest time (1:14.85) in the Williams on the 1992-spec wide tyres. Damon Hill was fastest (1:14.19) in his Williams running on the narrower 1993-spec tyres.

A week later they were at Paul Ricard where Prost did a 1:03.13 in a new FW15 while Hill did a 1:04.4 in a FW14C - an FW14B converted to 1993 specification.

I'll dig out some more info later.

[Milan Fistonic]

Prost's next test was at Imola on October 27-29.

With the Williams FW15 in 1993-spec with narrow tyres and smaller wings he set the fastest time of 1m 23.10s on Wednesday (28th) and 1m 22.67s on Thursday (29th).

He claimed he was "back to 90% of my limit." He also complained about beng uncomfortable in the car, saying he was sitting too low in the car. He had an "off" at the Acque Minerale chicane.

Nicola Larini managed a 1m 24.91s lap in an active suspension Ferrari F92A and Michael Schumacher did 1m 23.98s in a 1993 specification Benetton-Ford, two tenths slower than his qualifying time for the Grand Prix.

[Milan Fistonic]

On November 11 Prost was at Silverstone setting a target time for Gil de Ferran's first run in a F1 car.

Driving an FW14B on a wet track Prost set a time of 1m 45.0s which de Ferran bettered by half a second as the track dried out during his 28 lap test.

[Milan Fistonic]

A six day test was held at Estoril in early December.

Prost was fastest on Monday (1m 14.47s) and Tuesday (1m 13.77s). Wednesday was wet but Thursday was fine and Hill set the best time of the week (1m 13.61s) while Prost had electronic problems with his FW15.

[Milan Fistonic]

In an extended test at Paul Ricard Hill set the fastest lap on December 17, 18 and 19.

His best lap was 1m 03.60s while Prost was second fastest with 1m 4.13s.

They were both running FW15s without the anti-lock braking system.

[Megatron]

Originally posted by Nikos Spagnol
Wasn't Hakkinnen McLaren's test driver (and later Andretti's replacement) in 1993?

Actually, IIRC, Hakkinen was supposed to drive the #8 car if Senna hadn't negotiated a new contract (which Senna did only some days before the start of the season).

The orignal plan was to have Andretti as team leader (scary thought) and Mika in the 8 if Senna didn't drive or suddenly quit. Thats why Andretti got the lower number I believe.

[EvilPhil]

Well the original plan was that Mika would of been driving the Williams in place of Hills seat... but lotus blocked it as far as i recall... now i an only assume that Ron Dennis decided that the price lotus were asking was fair enough and paid the get outclause where as Williams did not.

[Rediscoveryx]

Thanks for the very detailed info Milan Fistonic!