Senna and Honda Marlboro McLaren wrote themselves another slice of F1 history in Phoenix with a faultless performance which netted the Brazilian his 27th Grand Prix victory and, in the process, brought him level with Jackie Stewart's tally.
To the consternation of its rivals, the new MP4/6 maintained the Woking team's already enviable record of success first time out, regardless of how late its new cars might be. Anyone who had hoped that the delay in the new car's introduction, or the fact that Senna had barely driven since Adelaide, might affect the combination's level of competitiveness, had their preciously held illusions shattered. An effective, pretty car, Senna's magic and a perfect pit stop proved utterly unbeatable. He started from the 53rd pole of his career and simply walked away with the event, winning by 16 secs from archrival Alain Prost who found his Ferrari reliable but a poor match for the car that might well take Senna to a third world title and McLaren to its fourth on the trot.
Senna it was who edged ahead at the start, while Nigel Mansell and Riccardo Patrese, who had qualified their new Williams FW14s on the second row behind the two principal protagonists, fanned left, right, left across the track in an unsuccessful effort to oust Prost. The Frenchman's young team-mate Jean Alesi, the star of Friday qualifying in his first race meeting for Ferrari, grabbed fifth spot ahead of Gerhard Berger and tucked right in behind the Italian's Williams. Going down Washington Street towards the right/left complex at the end of the straight Jean neatly outbraked Riccardo to move up to fourth.
