Finland's Keke Rosberg (Williams FW10) took the lead from pole-sitter Ayrton Senna (Lotus 97T) on lap eight, avoided the tire and brake problems that plagued the other front-runners and held off the Ferrari 156/85s of Stefan Johansson and Michele Alboreto to win.

Stefan Bellof earned a scintillating fourth place in his Tyrrell 012, scoring the last points for the legendary Cosworth-Ford DFV engine until 1988.

After one lap, Senna and Rosberg were opening a gap to Mansell, Prost, Alboreto, Derek Warwick, Elio de Angelis, Johansson, Piquet and Lauda.

The Tyrrells of Bellof and Martin Brundle, down on power to the turbos but always extremely well suited to the tight Detroit circuit, each moved up six places on the first lap to 12th and 13th.

Warwick had dropped back steadily, eventually retiring with a broken driveshaft, while the McLarens of Prost and Lauda quickly experienced brake problems.

He took fourth when Senna pitted, then passed Alboreto for third and began closing the gap to Mansell, who also was struggling with overheating brakes.

Entering Turn 2, where the surface was beginning to break up and where both Prost and Mansell had crashed, Alboreto stayed right, away from the racing line and the bad patch at the apex.

Senna charged through on the left, got on the marbles, and hit the wall exactly as the others had done, while Alboreto continued, minus the threat to his third place.

Spurred on by the chance for his first win, Johansson hounded the Williams until, with just three laps to go, a brake disc broke up and he began to crawl around the circuit, hoping to make the finish.

Just as he was about to go by, however, Bellof's clutch began slipping, and he had to be content to follow the Ferrari home, scoring the last points for Ford-Cosworth DFV engine in Formula One.