Performance
Williams quickly established themselves as the team to beat, with Prost winning in South Africa by a margin of almost a lap over Senna’s McLaren. The FW15C was so dominant in qualifying that Prost and Hill often qualified 1.5 to 2 seconds in front of Schumacher and Senna, who usually qualified 3rd and 4th. For example, Prost outqualified his teammate by a whole second at Interlagos, who was again a second ahead of the eventual winner Senna. In Brazil Prost retired midway through, a victim of someone else’s accident, and Senna managed to get past Hill to win, with the Englishman registering his first podium and points in F1 in second. The third race of the season at Donington saw Senna’s most dominant performance, with Hill taking second and Prost inheriting third from Barrichello late on, the Frenchman’s race hampered by intermittent gearbox problems in addition to seven pit stops to change tyres in the changeable conditions.
With three races gone Senna lay 12 points ahead of Prost, but it was already becoming clear that even Senna in his prime would struggle to keep ahead of Prost and the superior Williams car, and so it proved with the team going on a run of nine wins in the next ten races. Dominant displays from Prost at San Marino and Spain lifted him above Senna in the standings, but Senna regained the lead with his sixth and final win at Monaco before Prost’s Canada win give him back the lead.
By now Hill was starting to consistently challenge his team-mate. The Englishman was in touch with Prost nose to tail virtually throughout the French Grand Prix, and seemed to be set fair for his debut win in the British Grand Prix before a rare engine failure 18 laps from the end left the home crowd disappointed. In Germany Hill came even closer after a stop-go penalty held Prost up, but this time the Englishman’s rear tyre suffered a puncture on the penultimate lap, with Prost again inheriting the win.
In Hungary Hill finally got his first win, a task made easier after Prost stalled on the warm-up lap and had to start last. Prost fought his way up to fourth before a rear wing failure ended his bid for a points finish, but a retirement for Senna meant there was no ground lost. Hill made up for lost time completing a hat trick of wins in Belgium and Italy. Hill and Prost's 1-3 finishes, respectively, at Spa secured Williams their sixth Constructors’ Championship.
Senna had had a terrible run of fortune but was still in with a mathematical chance of the title as the teams met in Portugal, but Prost’s second place was enough to secure his fourth World Drivers’ Championship, prompting the Frenchman to announce his retirement at the end of the year. In the last two races Prost followed Senna home, which meant Hill dropped to third behind the Brazilian in the final Championship standings.
Read more about this topic: Williams FW15C
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