The European part of the Formula One season opened at Imola on May 3, and the well-appointed and interesting Autodromo Dino Ferrari saw Nigel Mansell win almost unchallenged in the absence of his team-mate, and after the World Champion refired.
A full field of 27 entries was ready to go, which meant qualifying was going to have to eliminate one of the hopefuls. As it turned out, however, it was one of the stars that was eliminated, through no fault of his own, so the slowest of the new boys was able to take part.
Ayrton Senna (Lotus 99T Honda) leads Alain Prost (McLaren MP4/3 TAG Porsche) and Gerhard Berger (Ferrari 187) at the start.
