For the most part in 1988, qualifying and race times had generally been faster than those set in , showing the advances in development despite the leading turbo powered cars having approximately less than they had the previous year. In Adelaide the drop in power meant a big difference to the top speeds on the 900-metre-long Brabham Straight and times were slower as a result. In 1987 the faster cars were topping on the straight, while in 1988 those speeds were down to or less. Senna's 1988 pole time was 0.481 slower than Berger's time in 1987 while Berger himself, driving an updated version of his 1987 Ferrari, was 2.25 seconds slower than his 1987 pole time of 1:17.267.