The 81-lap race was won from pole position by Ayrton Senna, driving a McLaren-Honda, with Alain Prost second in a Ferrari and Nelson Piquet third in a Benetton-Ford.

The race marked the respective debuts of future double World Champion Mika Häkkinen and the Jordan team.

It was also the first F1 World Championship race in which ten points were awarded for a win rather than nine, as part of a revised scoring system introduced for 1991.

The team retained Italian Emanuele Pirro, and hired Finnish driver JJ Lehto, who had driven for Onyx in 1990.

[2] In pre-qualifying in Phoenix, the Dallaras were easily the fastest cars in the session, with Pirro half a second faster than Lehto.

Missing out in fifth place was de Cesaris in the other Jordan, who made a gear selection error on a faster lap, just ahead of Chaves, who crashed the Coloni during the session.

"[citation needed] The Ferraris of Alain Prost and Jean Alesi were expected to be the strongest team, but their V-12s and 7-speed semi-automatic gearboxes were not well suited to the tight turns and short straights of the street circuit.

[citation needed] On Sunday, Prost began his second season at Ferrari alongside Senna on the front row.

Alesi and Gerhard Berger followed, then Nelson Piquet, Roberto Moreno, Stefano Modena and Emanuele Pirro.

By lap 22, Patrese was close enough to attack his Williams team-mate but overshot onto the escape road, as Mansell swerved to avoid him.

Upon rejoining, Patrese quickly latched onto Alesi and Berger, as the new three-car train now covered fourth through sixth places.

On lap 35, Mansell pulled over when the Williams's new semi-automatic gearbox failed, and on the next time around, Berger's race ended as well.

When the Ferrari crew had problems changing his right rear tire, the Frenchman dropped to seventh behind Modena's Tyrrell-Honda.

Like Mansell, Patrese was having problems with the gearbox in his Williams, and when it selected neutral midway through Turn Seven, it caused him to spin out of second place.

[citation needed] Gearbox troubles dropped Alesi to fifth before he retired less than 10 laps from the finish, leaving third place to Piquet who, like the two Tyrrells following, had never pitted for tires.