Onyx returned to the top of the Friday morning time sheets as Stefan Johansson was fastest by half a second. His new team-mate was Finnish driver JJ Lehto, who had replaced Bertrand Gachot since the last race, after Gachot openly criticised the team and was fired. In his first Formula One event, Lehto just missed out on pre-qualification after a suspension failure during the session, leaving him fifth. The Larrousse-Lola cars both pre-qualified again, with Philippe Alliot second and Michele Alboreto fourth. The other driver to go through to the main qualifying sessions was Roberto Moreno in third place in the Coloni.
