Briton Nigel Mansell finished second in his Williams-Renault to clinch the Drivers' Championship with five races still to run, with Austrian Gerhard Berger third in the other McLaren-Honda.

That record would be broken ten years later at the 2002 French Grand Prix when Michael Schumacher clinched the 2002 World Championship six races early.

[2] After the German Grand Prix, the Fondmetal team replaced Andrea Chiesa with Brabham driver Eric van de Poele.

[3] The session proved practically unnecessary as the Andrea Moda team again did not make a serious attempt to run their second car, which was driven by Perry McCarthy.

[3][4] This being the latest in a succession of similar incidents, the Fédération Internationale du Sport Automobile formally warned Andrea Moda to make a proper effort to run both cars at the next Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, or face suspension from the following event.

[3] The other four cars in the session thus all pre-qualified, with the Fondmetals taking the first two places as Gabriele Tarquini outpaced van de Poele by nearly a second.

[5][6][7] This was the chance for Williams to seal both titles and they were dominant, but it was Riccardo Patrese who took pole ahead of teammate Nigel Mansell, Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, Gerhard Berger, and Martin Brundle.

On lap 31, Mansell made a mistake and went wide and rejoined behind Berger, just in the very moment when Walker was talking about the track not providing any overtaking opportunities.

Brundle was forced to spin to avoid a collision and both rejoined without losing places, with Häkkinen staying ahead.

Senna won ahead of new world champion Mansell,[13][14][15] Berger, Häkkinen, Brundle, and Ivan Capelli.