Bellof failed to finish in his first two races in Brazil and South Africa, before scoring his first two championship points in successive races at Zolder and Imola. A retirement followed at Dijon, before Bellof achieved a podium finish in the rain-shortened . Despite starting down in 20th and last place, Bellof remained away from the barriers that caught out many of his rivals, and was catching the race-leading pairing of Alain Prost and Senna when the race was curtailed after 31 laps due to inclement weather conditions. At the end of the race, Bellof had been 21 seconds in arrears of Prost and 13.7 behind Senna. Retirements followed in Canada and in Detroit, where Brundle claimed the team's best result of the season with second position as Bellof stuck his Tyrrell in the pit wall.