Ayrton Senna's pole position at Monza was one of his greatest achievements, after a stirring battle with rival Alain Prost in the Ferrari. In the end the McLaren-Honda driver was 0.4sec faster but the effort drained him completely. Gerhard Berger, his McLaren team mate, had to settle for third on this occasion while Nigel Mansell was fourth for Ferrari. Next came the incredible Jean Alési, (Tyrrell), the two Williams-Renaults (Thierry Boutsen ahead of Riccardo Patrese), the two Benettons (Sandro Nannini quicker than Nelson Piquet again) and Maurício Gugelmin in the Leyton House.

At the start Senna pulled clear of Berger at the front, but it was Alési who grabbed the spotlight. He passed Mansell going into the first chicane. Around the Curva Grande he squeezed up behind Prost. He jinked from side to side, leaving Alain searching his mirrors and went through as they braked for the second chicane.

At the end of the lap, however, Derek Warwick went off at the Parabolica, turning his Lotus upside-down. The race was red-flagged and stopped. Warwick emerged from the wreck, ran back to the pits for his spare car and was soon back on the grid.

At the restart Senna got the drop again and, once again, Alési overtook Mansell as they braked for the first chicane. Out into the Curva Grande Jean was sizing up Prost again and pulled off a second brilliant manoeuvre. Alési was third again. It didn't last long. Jean spun out on the fifth lap. By that point Senna and Berger were long gone. Berger began to fade as his brakes went off and Prost moved on to his tail and on lap 21 he was ahead. The rest of the race was really no more than a procession. No matter what Prost did, Senna could match it.

Boutsen disappeared when his suspension failed. Then the Benetton team fell over itself when Nannini came in to change tyres. As he was sitting in his pit, Piquet arrived behind him with a puncture. By the time it was all sorted out both cars were out of the reckoning.

Behind Senna and Prost, Berger hobbled along in third with Mansell, fighting with a faulty throttle return spring, ahead of Patrese and Satoru Nakajima.