Ayrton Senna at Donington 1993 first lap split with on camera
The first and last Grand Prix held at Donington will go down in history as one of Ayrton Senna's most memorable feats. If qualifying had confirmed the dominance of Williams, which once again occupied the front row, the race, which took place on a wet track, highlighted the Brazilian's driving skills. At the start Prost and Hill maintained the top positions, while Schumacher closed Senna on the outside and both were overtaken by Wendlinger. During the first lap, however, the Brazilian overtook Schumacher already at the exit of the first corner, Wendlinger, Hill and Prost, taking the lead at the penultimate corner of the first lap. Further back, Andretti and Wendlinger came into contact and were forced to retire, while Barrichello even moved up to fourth position behind the Williams duo.
Senna immediately gained a large advantage over his pursuers; the race became a continuous succession of downpours lasting a few minutes each, which forced the drivers to make a large number of tire changes. Senna did not let himself be surprised by the changing weather conditions and won the second consecutive race ahead of Hill, Prost (even lapped by the Brazilian), Herbert (fourth for the second consecutive time), Patrese and Barbazza, who scored the first point of his career; Barrichello was instead betrayed by his Jordan (brake failure) five laps from the end while he was in the podium area in 3rd place, a position he thus ceded to Prost, who had previously lost second place as he was slowed down by the seven pit stops , above the average of the other drivers, and from a problem with the clutch when restarting from a pit stop. At this point Senna had accumulated a twelve-point lead over the Frenchman, his closest pursuer