It was the fifth time the race was held at the Hungaroring, with previous winners having been Nelson Piquet (twice), Ayrton Senna and Nigel Mansell. In qualifying, out of the blue, Thierry Boutsen claimed pole position, the Williams charger outpacing his team mate Riccardo by just 0.036s. Boutsen held his own up front when the lights went out and led the race from start to finish, albeit by a narrow margin from his pursuers. During the race, Senna suffered a puncture and also collided with Benetton's Alessandro Nannini, but he kept going. Senna recovered to second place ahead of Piquet and piled the pressure on Boutsen.