The entry was as it had been at Imola and the pole position man was the same as always: Ayrton Senna ahead in his McLaren-Honda. Alain Prost was second for Ferrari while Jean Alési again showed the pace of the Pirelli-shod Tyrrell 018 with third place, ahead of Riccardo Patrese's Williams, Gerhard Berger's McLaren, Thierry Boutsen's Williams, Nigel Mansell's Ferrari, Pierluigi Martini's Minardi, Emanuele Pirro's Dallara and Nelson Piquet's Benetton.

At the start Senna took the lead but on the first lap Berger and Prost collided at Mirabeau and the race was stopped. At the restart Senna made another good start and took the lead with Prost and Alési chasing. Then came Berger, Patrese, Boutsen, Martini and Mansell. Nigel soon overtook Martini but was then stuck behind Boutsen and eventually drove into the back of the Belgian's Williams and had to stop for repairs. In the mid-race Prost went out with an electronic problem leaving Alési in second place with Berger third. Patrese was fourth until his engine failed and so that position went to Boutsen with Alex Caffi fifth and Éric Bernard sixth in his Larrousse Lola-Lamborghini.