Hill pulled away quickly while Senna held up Prost. Prost passed Senna on lap 8 and set off after Hill. It was time for the stops and Senna got ahead of Prost in these stops. On lap 17, Prost audaciously overtook both Hill and Senna at Tosa in the presence of backmarkers. At the same time, Senna got ahead of Hill. Hill didn't last long, retiring with brake failure on lap 21. Both McLarens soon went out, Andretti from fifth on lap 33 by spinning off and Senna from second on lap 43 with a hydraulic failure. In between, Alesi, who took fifth after Andretti's spin retired with clutch failure. After being held up by Suzuki's Footwork, a large battle took place between Lehto and the two Lotuses of Herbert and Zanardi. Zanardi locked his front brakes into the final chicane, overshooting and ripping an oil line. Rejoining the circuit with the rear of the car on fire, he shortly retired on the approach to Tamburello.