There had been no Canadian GP in 1987 because of a dispute over the sponsorship of the race. In the period new pits had been built at the bottom end of the track and some of the corners had been reprofiled. Qualifying was marked by another huge accident, this time for Derek Warwick in the Arrows-Megatron. He was shaken up but otherwise unhurt.

As usual Ayrton Senna was on pole in his McLaren-Honda ahead of his team mate Alain Prost. Gerhard Berger was third in his Ferrari, a second behind Senna. Fourth on the grid was the second Ferrari of Michele Alboreto. Sandro Nannini was fifth in his Benetton ahead of Nelson Piquet's Lotus. Thierry Boutsen's Benetton and Eddie Cheever in his Arrows-BMW. The top 10 was completed by Nigel Mansell's Williams-Judd and Philippe Streiff's AGS.

Prost made the best start and took the lead. Senna was behind him ahead of Berger, Alboreto and the two Benettons. It took Senna until lap 19 to get ahead but once he was there he stayed there while behind them Boutsen worked his way past both Ferraris. Both Berger and Alboreto went out with mechanical trouble and with Nannini also running into technical trouble fourth place went to Piquet with Ivan Capelli fifth in his March and Jonathan Palmer sixth in his Tyrrell.