The field was the same as it had been in Phoenix a fortnight earlier, except that Alex Caffi was back in action for Footwork having missed the race in Arizona because of a shoulder problem. The Pirelli runners were not quite as competitive as they had been in Phoenix and pole position went to Ayrton Senna's McLaren-Honda ahead of his team mate Gerhard Berger. The two Williams-Renaults of Thierry Boutsen and Riccardo Patrese shared the second row while the Ferraris of Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost were on row three. Jean Alési (Tyrrell) was the fastest Pirelli runner in seventh, just ahead of Pierluigi Martini's Minardi, Andrea de Cesaris's Dallara and the Ligier of Philippe Alliot.

At the start Senna took the lead from Berger with Boutsen third and Prost fourth. Berger pushed too hard in the early laps and so dropped back behind Boutsen but the Belgian could do nothing about Senna. At the tyre stops Boutsen had a long stop because he ran into one of the tyres which had been laid out for him. This meant that the nose of the car had to be changed. Senna seemed to be en route to a victory when he collided with backmarker Satoru Nakajima (Tyrrell) and had to pit for repairs. This put Prost into the lead with Berger second and Senna third. Mansell was fourth with Boutsen fifth and Nelson Piquet (Benetton) sixth.