Berger returns to Maranello

Gerhard Berger, after three season at McLaren (from 1990 to 1992), was persuaded by his friend and team mate Ayrton Senna – who told him that Honda would leave Formula One at the end of the 1992 season, leaving McLaren without a works engine for the 1993 season – to accept the offer of Ferrari and return to Maranello.

Picture-above: Gerhard Berger seems perplexed in the cockpit of his Ferrari F93A, at the 1993 British Grand Prix. Both Ferraris of Alesi and Berger qualified in 12th and 13th position only, some 4 seconds (!) off Alain Prost’s Williams-Renault on pole. None of them would score points in the race.

Unfortunately for Berger and teammate Alesi, the active ride suspension developed by Ferrari made the car unpredictable to drive, and the F93A failed to score a single victory and spent the majority of the season competing for the lower points, while the two Williams-Renaults of Prost and Hill and the McLaren of Senna were fighting for victories.

Gerhard Berger had a number of spectacular crashes during this 1993 season, and could only manage a third position at the Hungarian Grand Prix as best result (picture below, battling with Schumacher in his Benetton), and finish eighth in the final standings.