Ayrton Senna’s final triumph in Formula One took place on November 7, 1993, at the Australian GP. Despite the Williams’ dominance and the fact that Alain Prost had already secured his fourth title, winning the last race of 1993, in Adelaide, would be a special treat to Senna. The Brazilian driver was parting ways with McLaren after six successful years and three world titles.
It was also Prost’s final race before retiring form F1 for good. That meant it would be their final duel in the category, leaving a big void for many fans of motor sports for years to come.
Senna was the fastest in the qualifying sessions, and the Brazilian secured his sole pole position that year in an unexpected way. The McLaren driver was experiencing radio issues and didn’t hear that Ron Dennis was ordering him back to the pits, since his car was about to run out of fuel and could stall in the middle of the track at any minute.
While Ron Dennis screamed: “Go slowly back to the pits! You’ll run out of fuel!”, Ayrton seemed to go faster and faster, determined to steal the pole from Alain Prost. On his last chance, the three-time champion crossed the finish line with a time of 1min13s371 – the fastest of the session, 0s436 ahead of the Frenchman. It was Senna’s 62nd pole position in his career.
During the race, Senna stayed ahead of Prost, with Hill and Schumacher not far behind. The German’s Benetton had issues on lap 20 and was forced to retire earlier from the race. As the race went on, Senna’s lead kept increasing.
The only time Senna gave up the lead was when he stopped to change tires on lap 23, taking it back from Prost six laps later. In the end, after 79 laps, Senna finished in first place – his 41st win in 158 GPs up tot hat point. It was his last one and his 35th as a McLaren driver, after scoring 46 poles and 447 points for the British team.
