The only change to the field was the replacement of Fabrizio Barbazza by Pierluigi Martini at Minardi. Barbazza had run out of sponsorship money and so the team had to look elsewhere for cash. Tyrrell had two of the new 021 chassis ready for Andrea de Cesaris and Ukyo Katayama but Benetton's hopes of using the new pneumatic-valve Ford V8 had gone because of delays at Cosworth and so McLaren was in a better position in "Formula Ford" having its own air-valve system for the Ford HB ready and running. The McLaren problem, however, appeared to be high-speed aerodynamics.

This did not become obvious until Saturday as Friday was ruined by rain with the only moment of note being when Mark Blundell had a huge 150mph crash at Abbey. He emerged unscathed. On Saturday it looked as though Damon Hill was going to get pole but in the last minute Alain Prost stole it and the two Williams lined up ahead of Michael Schumacher's Benetton, Ayrton Senna's McLaren, Riccardo Patrese's Benetton, and Martin Brundle's Ligier. The top 10 was completed by Johnny Herbert (Lotus), Derek Warwick (Footwork), Mark Blundell (Ligier) and Aguri Suzuki (Footwork). Michael Andretti (McLaren) was 10th ahead of the two dismal Ferraris of Jean Alési and Gerhard Berger.

At the start Hill took the lead but it was Senna who made the big impression as he burst off the line and overtook Schumacher and Prost to grab second place. Hill began to build a big lead as Senna battled to keep Prost behind him. On lap seven Prost finally went ahead and a few laps later Senna dropped behind Schumacher as well. The two Williams drivers swapped fastest laps while further back down the field Berger parked his Ferrari, explaining to the team that it was too dangerous to drive. Gradually Prost closed on Hill and the task was completed when a Safety Car was sent out after Luca Badoer (Scuderia Italia) crashed his evil-handling Lola-Ferrari at Woodcote. When the track becomes too dangerous to drive on, the Safety Car comes out and leads the F1 cars round at a slow pace until the track is cleared.

The race restarted four laps later but on lap 42 Hill's engine blew and Prost was left in the lead. He cruised home to win his 50th Grand Prix victory ahead of Schumacher. Senna was third but his McLaren broke down on the last lap (he was classified fifth) which meant that third place went to Patrese's Benetton with Herbert fourth. Derek Warwick finished sixth.