1993 Avoiding The Sophomore Slump

But at first race McLaren and Ayrton Senna were the opponents Benetton had to worry about. Already at the first race in Kyalami Michael was in dispute with Senna. Michael was faster but did not manage to get past, they touched, Senna could continue to drive, Michael did not finish the race.

Waiting for the 2nd victory

At the second race of the season in Brazil Michael managed to drive onto the podium. He did not finish the European GP but in Imola and Barcelona he was among the top3 again. In Monaco, where he will win a lot of races in the future, Michael failed because of a washer. He was in the lead when his B193B slowly came to a halt in the tunnel. So much for a second GP-victory, at least for now.

In the middle of the season Michael really got going. He became second in Canada, Great Britain, Germany and Belgium and third in France. Towards the end of the season he did not finish the races several times: in Hungary he had problems with the fuel pressure, in Italy it was the engine and in Japan and Australia an accident and the engine were responsible. But Michael’s highlight of the season was already before that: after becoming second five times he had almost stopped believing in it but in Portugal he won for the second time.

Fighting his way up

“I spun five times during the two days of the free practice. Something was not quite right about the car“, he analysed. “The gearbox was not working properly, the car oversteered. It was terrible.” But also a horrible weekend can end with a victory, especially if you work as hard as Michael. Michael and the engineers were working late that night and studied the telemetric data. Even when he was already lying in his bed, Michael could not stop thinking about the numbers.

At the race he fought hard to get in front. Alain Prost in his Williams was faster but Michael managed to keep him behind. “Only on the straight I tried to take up as much room as possible – it was about the victory.” And Michael won. In the end he led Prost by 0,9 seconds. Michael finished the season in fourth, one position down compared to last year. But everything will be different in 1994: new rules, a ban on electronics and not only that.

Courtesy by motorsport-magazin.com