The display that Nigel Mansell and Gerhard Berger put on might not have observed the full code of driving ethics, as they touched on more than one occasion, but it was as if F1 was letting its hair down as they both resolutely refused to accept defeat. In the end it was Mansell who got to the line first after an utterly inspired bit of overtaking round the outside at Peralta with a lap to go, and he duly chased home team-mate Alain Prost for a Ferrari 1-2 that thoroughly upset pre-race predictions of a McLaren-Honda rout.
For the first 60 laps it looked as though Ayrton Senna had things dans le valise, but a slow puncture finally took its toll as he was trying to nurse his MP4/5B home for third place. Berger, too, had had tyre problems, pitting early for fresh Goodyears before tigering back.
It might have been something of a processional race until lap 50, when Prost and Mansell really began to make inroads into Senna's former 17 second lead, but thereafter it proved a real humdinger. The sport needs more like this one.
