The Belgian Grand Prix meeting was dominated by a huge accident on Friday morning when Alex Zanardi hit the wall in Eau Rouge corner almost head-on at 150mph in his Lotus. The fact that he survived the impact was remarkable even though he would be out of action for some weeks afterwards because of deceleration-related problems. When you are travelling at high speed and suddenly stop, as in an accident, the brain can be damaged.

Qualifying was a familiar story with Alain Prost ahead of his Williams-Renault team mate Damon Hill with Michael Schumacher (Benetton) third and Jean Alési fourth in his Ferrari. Ayrton Senna (McLaren) was a disconsolate fifth ahead of Footwork drivers Aguri Suzuki and Derek Warwick. The top 10 was completed by Riccardo Patrese (Benetton), J.J. Lehto (Sauber) and Johnny Herbert (Lotus).

In the race Prost finally made a normal start (in contrast to his previous races) and led Hill. Benetton had a new automatic starting device but this malfunctioned on both cars and so the track was crowded behind them. Senna dived straight ahead of Schumacher, pushed Alési out of the way and was up with Hill as they went into the hairpin for the first time. By the time the field set off downhill towards Eau Rouge Senna was second. Hill retook him on the second lap and before long he came under pressure from Schumacher who had charged back after his poor start. Alési stopped on lap four, telling Ferrari the car was too dangerous to drive.

Prost led Hill with Senna and Schumacher fighting for third and then came Suzuki and Herbert. During the pit stops Schumacher overtook Senna, going onto the grass to do so.

During the second pit stops Prost was delayed by team confusion and traffic and Hill went ahead. Schumacher was able to steal second as Prost emerged from the pits. Schumacher tried to close the gap to Hill but it was hopeless. Prost was happy to collect points for third place with Senna fourth, Herbert fifth and Patrese sixth.