For its first 29 laps the Brazilian GP ran according to the script that had been written the moment that Alain Prost and Damon Hill in their Williams FW15Cs began to decimate their opposition in qualifying. The Frenchman had been on pole – his 22nd – with the Englishman a fraction under one second behind. Ayrton Senna was only third, nearly two seconds off Prost's pace. That said it all.
During those opening laps the South African GP victor simply eased into a lead that he extended at will. And when Hill let Senna take second place off the grid, but then overtook him with insouciant ease on lap 11, the die seemed cast. The Williams duo was away, and Senna was left to fend off the advances of Michael Schumacher in the Benetton. 1993 style, it seemed situation normal.
Then it began to rain.
