Race report At the start, with both Ferraris on the front row (Mansell on pole,
Alain Prost second), Mansell got too much wheelspin and slid across the track towards Prost, who had to avoid being shunted into the pitwall. All of this allowed the
McLarens of
Ayrton Senna and
Gerhard Berger to slip past Mansell and Prost to make it a McLaren 1–2 with Senna leading into the first corner. After all the mid race tyre stops, it was Senna who emerged as the race leader, followed by Mansell, Berger, and Prost. A few laps later Mansell had caught Senna and passed him into turn one (Senna letting him through, unlike the year before when they collided). On lap 52, race leader
Nigel Mansell was attempting to lap the
Ligier JS33B of
Philippe Alliot when the Frenchman stuck to the racing line by driving inches in front of Mansell into the inside of "Curva 2" corner. However, the right rear wheel of his car hit the left front of Mansell's Ferrari and Alliot was sent spinning into the
Armco barrier. Mansell came out unscathed from this incident, and eventually won the race which was stopped early due to an accident between Suzuki and Caffi. Ferrari announced that
Jean Alesi would partner
Alain Prost for 1991. Alesi was reported to have already signed a contract with Williams, but changed his mind when Ferrari showed an interest, feeling that this would give him a better chance of winning a championship. By winning this race, Mansell tied
Stirling Moss' longstanding record of most F1 Grand Prix wins without a Drivers' Championship, at 16. Mansell would then extend it to 29 across the next two years, until finally clinching the title at the
1992 Hungarian Grand Prix, at which point Moss would have that record handed back to him.
Race classification ==Championship standings after the race==