イヴァン・カペリ
Prost's teammate Niki Lauda was unfit to race due to the wrist injury he had suffered at the previous race in Belgium. His place was taken by former McLaren stalwart John Watson, in his first F1 race since the end of ; the Ulsterman qualified 21st, over five seconds behind Senna. Tyrrell had re-expanded to two cars, with Martin Brundle joined by Italian newcomer Ivan Capelli, who qualified 24th.