The 1990 San Marino Grand Prix (formally the 10<sup>o</sup> Gran Premio di San Marino) was a Formula One motor race held on 13 May 1990 at Imola. It was the third race of the 1990 Formula One World Championship and the first race in the European continent. The race was held over 61 laps of the circuit for a race distance of .
The race was won by Italian driver Riccardo Patrese, driving a Williams-Renault. It was Patrese's third Grand Prix victory, and his first since the 1983 South African Grand Prix. Patrese holds the record for the longest waiting period between two Grand Prix wins, at 6 years, 6 months and 28 days. The record of most Grands Prix between wins was also broken and would be retained by Patrese until the 2018 United States Grand Prix when Kimi Räikkönen took the record. Austrian driver Gerhard Berger finished second in a McLaren-Honda, with Patrese's compatriot Alessandro Nannini third in a Benetton-Ford.
Background
In the run-up to the first European race of the 1990 World Championship, there were a few changes to the grid. Brabham replaced Swiss driver Gregor Foitek with Australian driver David Brabham, the youngest son of team founder Sir Jack Brabham. Foitek moved over to the troubled Onyx team (part-run by his father Karl), replacing Stefan Johansson, who was unhappy at the way the team was being run. David Brabham's older brother Gary had quit the Life team, describing it as "totally disorganised and unprofessional", and had been replaced by Italian veteran Bruno Giacomelli, who had last raced in F1 in . Meanwhile, Emanuele Pirro returned to the Dallara team, having missed the first two races of the season due to hepatitis. Several teams unveiled new cars, with the Tyrrell 019 – designed by Harvey Postlethwaite – drawing much attention as the first F1 car to sport a "high-nose" design with downward-extending supports for the front wing.
Qualifying
Pre-qualifying report
The Friday morning pre-qualifying session took shape very soon into the one-hour session, after both AGS cars dropped out almost immediately. The team had brought their new JH25 car to this race, but Yannick Dalmas was withdrawn due to a hand injury he suffered in a testing accident, and Gabriele Tarquini's car failed on its first lap with a fuel pressure issue. This left seven cars in the session, three of which were uncompetitive.
The Larrousse-Lola team also brought a new car to the Grand Prix, the LC90. As at the previous race in Brazil, they finished first and second, with Éric Bernard nearly a second faster than his team-mate Aguri Suzuki. The updated Osella FA1ME of Olivier Grouillard was third fastest, a fraction ahead of Roberto Moreno in the EuroBrun.
Apart from the AGS cars, the other runners who failed to pre-qualify included Bertrand Gachot in the Coloni, which, despite revised aerodynamics and a 23 kg weight reduction, was still seven seconds away from Bernard's time.
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Championship standings after the race
;Drivers' Championship standings
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-
!Pos
!Driver
!Points
|-
| 1
| Ayrton Senna
| align="right"| 13
|-
| 2
| Alain Prost
| align="right"| 12
|-
| 3
| Gerhard Berger
| align="right"| 12
|-
| 4
| Riccardo Patrese
| align="right"| 9
|-
| 5
| Jean Alesi
| align="right"| 7
|-
!colspan=4|Source:
|}
;Constructors' Championship standings
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"
|-
! Pos
! Constructor
! Points
|-
| 1
| McLaren-Honda
| align="right"|25
|-
| 2
| Williams-Renault
| align="right"|15
|-
| 3
| Ferrari
| align="right"|15
|-
| 4
| Benetton-Ford
| align="right"|10
|-
| 5
| Tyrrell-Ford
| align="right"|8
|-
!colspan=4|Source: