The race is defined by a first-corner collision between World Championship rivals Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost. Senna had qualified on pole position but was dissatisfied with its placement on the dirty right side of the track. He and Gerhard Berger approached the Japanese stewards to request that pole be moved to the cleaner left side. The stewards initially agreed, but a last-minute injunction from FISA president Jean-Marie Balestre reversed the decision. The FIA had also warned that crossing the yellow line at the pit exit to gain a better position at the first corner would not be permitted, further angering Senna.
At the start, Prost took the lead. Senna attempted to take the inside line into the first corner; the two made contact and both retired on the spot. With one race remaining, Prost could no longer overhaul Senna's points tally, securing Senna his second Drivers' Championship. The collision was described by commentator Murray Walker as "absolutely predictable" and mirrored the incident at the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix, where a similar collision had secured Prost's third title.
After the collision, Berger's McLaren MP4/5B led, followed by Nigel Mansell's Ferrari 641. On lap 2, Berger spun off at the first corner on sand deposited by the Senna-Prost accident, handing the lead to Mansell.
Mansell led from the two Benetton B190s of Nelson Piquet and Roberto Moreno. Anticipating that Benetton would run without a pit stop, Mansell built a gap before pitting for tyres at the end of lap 26. After a quick stop, he rejoined with heavy wheelspin and a driveshaft failed; the Ferrari retired at the end of the pit lane.
Piquet inherited the lead and held it to the chequered flag. Moreno followed closely in second, giving Benetton Formula their first one-two finish. Aguri Suzuki completed a non-stop race in his Lola LC90 powered by a Lamborghini V12, finishing third — the first Japanese driver to reach the podium at a Formula One race. Riccardo Patrese and Thierry Boutsen in the two Williams FW13B-Renaults finished fourth and fifth. Satoru Nakajima took sixth in a Tyrrell 019, the second Japanese driver in the points. Both Suzuki and Moreno achieved their only career podiums in Formula One.
With Ferrari scoring no points following Mansell's retirement, McLaren clinched their sixth Constructors' Championship and their third in succession.
Before the race, Brabham announced a switch to Yamaha engines for 1991. Footwork announced a Porsche engine deal for 1991 and retained drivers Alex Caffi and Michele Alboreto. The Life Racing Engines and EuroBrun teams withdrew from the sport ahead of the event. EuroBrun's Moreno joined Benetton as a replacement for Alessandro Nannini, who had been unable to attend following a helicopter crash one week after the Spanish Grand Prix — an incident that ended his Formula One career. Jean Alesi did not start after a neck injury in Friday practice, making this the third consecutive race with only 25 starters. Mansell announced he would join Williams-Renault for 1991 after assurances from Frank Williams, Patrick Head, and Renault that they would provide a car capable of winning the championship and that he would be the team's undisputed number one. On Saturday, Honda founder Soichiro Honda met Senna in the McLaren pit.
With EuroBrun and Life withdrawn, only 30 cars remained and no pre-qualifying session was required. The four drivers previously obliged to pre-qualify — Yannick Dalmas and Gabriele Tarquini (both AGS), Olivier Grouillard (Osella), and Bertrand Gachot (Coloni) — became the four who failed to qualify. Gachot crashed heavily during the Friday session. Moreno, fresh from EuroBrun, qualified in ninth position.
After the race, Prost described Senna's move as disgusting and said he almost retired from the sport immediately following the incident. Senna stated it was not how he wanted it, but how it had to be.
After winning his third championship in 1991, Senna admitted the move was deliberate and a payback for 1989. The pair subsequently won one further championship each — Senna in 1991, Prost in 1993 — and reconciled on the podium at the 1993 Australian Grand Prix.
In a BBC discussion with Murray Walker in 1991, 1976 World Champion James Hunt defended Senna, arguing that Balestre had unfairly apportioned blame to Senna in both the 1989 and 1990 incidents and that Prost had not left Senna sufficient room in either case.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.