November 13, 1988 Adelaide Street Circuit | Lap distance 3.780 km
| Pos | Points | No | Driver | Car | Engine | Tyres | Laps | Race Time | Delay | Qualifying | Fastest Lap | |||
| 1 | 9 | 11 | Alain Prost (FRA) | McLaren MP4-4 | Honda RA168-E | Goodyear | 82 | 1:53'14.676 | 2 | 1'17.880 | 1 | 1'21.216 | (59) | |
| 2 | 6 | 12 | Ayrton Senna (BRA) | McLaren MP4-4 | Honda RA168-E | Goodyear | 82 | 1:53'51.463 | +36.787 | 1 | 1'17.748 | 4 | 1'21.668 | (39) |
| 3 | 4 | 1 | Nelson Piquet (BRA) | Team Lotus 100T | Honda RA168-E | Goodyear | 82 | 1:54'02.222 | +47.546 | 5 | 1'19.535 | 2 | 1'21.502 | (62) |
| 4 | 3 | 6 | Riccardo Patrese (ITA) | Williams FW12 | Judd CV | Goodyear | 82 | 1:54'34.764 | +1'20.088 | 6 | 1'19.925 | 9 | 1'21.948 | (62) |
| 5 | 2 | 20 | Thierry Boutsen (BEL) | Benetton B188 | Ford Cosworth DFR | Goodyear | 81 | 1:53'34.216 | +1 lap | 10 | 1'20.486 | 7 | 1'21.793 | (77) |
| 6 | 1 | 16 | Ivan Capelli (ITA) | March 881 | Judd CV | Goodyear | 81 | 1:54'28.002 | +1 lap | 9 | 1'20.459 | 3 | 1'21.526 | (69) |
| 7 | 23 | Pierluigi Martini (ITA) | Minardi M188 | Ford Cosworth DFZ | Goodyear | 80 | 1:53'20.251 | +2 laps | 14 | 1'21.133 | 14 | 1'22.888 | (53) | |
| 8 | 22 | Andrea de Cesaris (ITA) | Rial ARC-01 | Ford Cosworth DFZ | Goodyear | 77 | 1:47'58.220 | +5 laps | 15 | 1'21.164 | 5 | 1'21.677 | (77) | |
| 9 | 26 | Stefan Johansson (SWE) | Ligier JS31 | Judd CV | Goodyear | 76 | 1:47'05.230 | +6 laps | 22 | 1'21.988 | 11 | 1'22.433 | (73) | |
| 10 | 30 | Philippe Alliot (FRA) | Lola LC88 | Ford Cosworth DFZ | Goodyear | 75 | 1:46'27.175 | +7 laps | 24 | 1'22.211 | 13 | 1'22.506 | (62) | |
| 11 | 14 | Philippe Streiff (FRA) | AGS JH23 | Ford Cosworth DFZ | Goodyear | 73 | 1:42'44.603 | +9 laps | 16 | 1'21.262 | 10 | 1'22.288 | (56) | |
| Retirement | ||||||||||||||
| fuel system | 9 | Piercarlo Ghinzani (ITA) | Zakspeed 881B | Zakspeed 881 | Goodyear | 69 | 1:44'42.411 | 26 | 1'22.348 | 25 | 1'26.100 | (8) | ||
| spun off | 5 | Nigel Mansell (GBR) | Williams FW12 | Judd CV | Goodyear | 65 | 1:30'32.789 | 3 | 1'19.427 | 6 | 1'21.713 | (55) | ||
| spun off | 19 | Alessandro Nannini (ITA) | Benetton B188 | Ford Cosworth DFR | Goodyear | 63 | 1:29'20.560 | 8 | 1'20.182 | 12 | 1'22.467 | (61) | ||
| halfshaft | 33 | Stefano Modena (ITA) | Euro Brun ER-188 | Ford Cosworth DFZ | Goodyear | 63 | 1:29'53.984 | 20 | 1'21.856 | 15 | 1'22.935 | (40) | ||
| engine | 17 | Derek Warwick (GBR) | Arrows A10B | Megatron | Goodyear | 52 | 1:17'44.081 | 7 | 1'20.086 | 21 | 1'24.064 | (10) | ||
| engine | 18 | Eddie Cheever (USA) | Arrows A10 | Megatron | Goodyear | 51 | 1:12'43.430 | 18 | 1'21.393 | 18 | 1'23.529 | (41) | ||
| collision | 15 | Mauricio Gugelmin (BRA) | March 881 | Judd CV | Goodyear | 46 | 1:05'24.152 | 19 | 1'21.554 | 19 | 1'23.727 | (31) | ||
| collision | 2 | Satoru Nakajima (JPN) | Team Lotus 100T | Honda RA168-E | Goodyear | 45 | 1:05'24.552 | 13 | 1'20.852 | 17 | 1'23.500 | (12) | ||
| engine | 24 | Luis Perez-Sala (ESP) | Minardi M188 | Ford Cosworth DFZ | Goodyear | 41 | 58'30.977 | 21 | 1'21.893 | 16 | 1'23.195 | (40) | ||
| clutch | 36 | Alex Caffi (ITA) | Dallara BMS-188 | Ford Cosworth DFZ | Goodyear | 32 | 45'30.021 | 11 | 1'20.781 | 20 | 1'23.847 | (10) | ||
| collision | 28 | Gerhard Berger (AUT) | Ferrari F1/87-88C | Ferrari 156/88 | Goodyear | 25 | 34'37.984 | 4 | 1'19.517 | 8 | 1'21.900 | (21) | ||
| collision | 25 | René Arnoux (FRA) | Ligier JS31 | Judd CV | Goodyear | 24 | 34'36.346 | 23 | 1'22.028 | 24 | 1'25.095 | (5) | ||
| transmission | 3 | Jonathan Palmer (GBR) | Tyrrell 017 | Ford Cosworth DFZ | Goodyear | 16 | 23'04.422 | 17 | 1'21.307 | 22 | 1'24.726 | (15) | ||
| halfshaft | 32 | Oscar Larrauri (ARG) | Euro Brun ER-188 | Ford Cosworth DFZ | Goodyear | 12 | 17'31.115 | 25 | 1'22.213 | 23 | 1'24.777 | (11) | ||
| collision | 27 | Michele Alboreto (ITA) | Ferrari F1/87-88C | Ferrari 156/88 | Goodyear | 0 | 12 | 1'20.844 | ||||||
| Not qualified | ||||||||||||||
| -- | 31 | Gabriele Tarquini (ITA) | Coloni FC-188 | Ford Cosworth DFZ | Goodyear | 1'22.393 | ||||||||
| -- | 4 | Julian Bailey (GBR) | Tyrrell 017 | Ford Cosworth DFZ | Goodyear | 1'22.529 | ||||||||
| -- | 29 | Pierre-Henri Raphanel (FRA) | Lola LC88 | Ford Cosworth DFZ | Goodyear | 1'22.733 | ||||||||
| -- | 10 | Bernd Schneider (GER) | Zakspeed 881B | Zakspeed 881 | Goodyear | 1'23.025 | ||||||||
| Not pre-qualified | ||||||||||||||
| -- | 21 | Nicola Larini (ITA) | Osella FA1L | Osella 890T | Goodyear | 1'28.440 | ||||||||
