There were no changes to the entry for the Monaco Grand Prix and although the Williams-Renaults had been dominant all-season, Ayrton Senna was the master of Monaco and was expected to win a record sixth victory there. Things began badly when Senna crashed heavily on Thursday when his car went out of control after hitting a bump at Ste Devote. This left senna with a bruised thumb but his time remained quickest. There was another accident on Saturday when his McLaren's active suspension system was playing up. In the end Alain Prost was on pole in his Williams with Michael Schumacher second for Benetton (the car having traction-control for the first time). Senna was third with Damon Hill (Williams) fourth ahead of an inspired Jean Alési (Ferrari), Riccardo Patrese (Benetton), Gerhard Berger (Ferrari), Karl Wendlinger (Sauber) and Michael Andretti (McLaren).

Senna was not expecting to win because of his poor grid position and his sore thumb but he made a good start and stayed third behind Prost and Schumacher. Then came word that Prost had jumped the start and was to be given a 10-sec stop-go penalty. He stopped at the end of the 12th lap. To make matters worse he then stalled the car as he tried to rejoin and so ended up at the back of the field.

This left Schumacher with a comfortable lead over Senna and the rest. On lap 33, however, Schumacher went out with an hydraulic failure and so Senna was leading with a 15 second advantage over Hill. Senna stayed ahead for the rest of the race leading Hill home. He had survived an attack by Berger (which had put the Ferrari out) and so Alési was third ahead of the recovering Prost and survivors Christian Fittipaldi (Minardi) and Martin Brundle (Ligier-Renault).