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Race
 By
Sunday the rain had cleared, and the track was largely dried by the
sun before the morning warm-up. However, the race didn't get off to
the best start as Fabi stalled and de Angelis struggled to get into
gear, causing trouble on the narrow start straight. Alboreto and Berger
both suffered damage in the confusion, and the red flag was shown. After
some discussion, it was decided that the race would restart from fresh,
with de Angelis, Alboreto and Berger all taking their spares - as did
Prost, unhappy with the universal joint on his race car. Less lucky
was Ghinzani, who had over-revved his Hart on the first start, and had
no car to continue in.
 On
the second start, Mansell got away badly, allowing both Rosberg and
Lauda past. Indeed, the Finn was strongly challenging Prost by the first
corner, and the pair began to leave Lauda behind almost immediately.
The World Champion himself had a comfortable gap back to Piquet, de
Angelis, Mansell, Tambay, Fabi and Senna. Rosberg's challenge only lasted
until the fourth lap, when falling oil pressure caused him to head into
the pits for an early retirement.
 A
queue was beginning to form behind Piquet's 3rd-placed Brabham, though
the close proximity allowed Fabi to get past Tambay - the Renault would
soon drop into the pits to have a puncture replaced. Further back, de
Cesaris totalled his Ligier in comprehensive fashion, rolling the thing
four times after losing control at the Texaco Shikane and ploughing
into an earth bank. Thankfully, he was unhurt.
 One
of the big questions about Lauda's retirement is how much he would co-operate
to help Prost win the title. The Austrian had been evasive, beyond saying
he was going to try and win his final home Grand Prix. Setting fastest
lap, he began to eat into Prost's five second lead. Further back, Mansell
got past de Angelis, while Senna was on the move, passing Fabi to reach
the top six. He would be past his team-mate by mid-distance, at which
point the front runners started dropping out - Mansell out with a blown,
Piquet out with a broken exhaust, Fabi out with electrical problems.
 Prost
then dived into the pits with his lead down to two seconds, unhappy
with his tyre wear. The McLarens' dominance was such that he re-emerged
comfortably ahead of Senna, now in third thanks to some good moves and
the attrition. Behind him came de Angelis, Alboreto, Johansson, Surer,
Warwick and Laffite, though the British driver's Renault would soon
stop with a sick engine. However, the main attention was on the McLarens
as Prost began gaining big chunks of time on Lauda. Hands were rubbed
as the prospect of the duel which failed to materialise on the track
in 1984 were raised, but it was not to be - at the start of lap 40,
Lauda trickled along the straight and pulled it just after the pitlane
exit with a broken turbo charger shaft. Immediately the huge partisan
crowd lost interest - Prost had a large advantage over Senna, and the
Lotus driver was troubled by a vibration, and in no position to push.
Behind him, Alboreto was asserting his status in the Ferrari team in
no uncertain terms by repeatedly blocking Johansson's attempts to pass.
 By
the end there was very little happening, and Prost took victory to obliterate
Alboreto's championship in one swoop. Having spent most of the season
retiring and most of this race expecting his Lotus to break, Senna was
happy enough to finish in 2nd, while Ferrari's reliability gave Alboreto
and Johansson the next two places. However, the attrition once again
hid the fact that the Italian cars hadn't been on the pace - had the
likes of Lauda, Rosberg, Mansell, Piquet and Fabi finished, neither
would have scored. Behind them came the delayed de Angelis and then
Surer, with Bellof running out of fuel in his attempts to catch the
Brabham for the final point. Completing the finishers were Boutsen (with
no boost pressure by the end) and Rothengatter (in a very sick-sounding
Osella), while Tambay's charge back to 7th went unrewarded thanks to
a broken engine.
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