This was the last race for Didier Pironi as he crashed heavily during qualifying sustaining injuries ending his championship hopes.

Didier Pironi set the fastest practice time, but was seriously injured in qualifying for this Grand Prix and never raced in Formula One again.

With the track wet thanks to persistent showers, Pironi was on a quick lap when his Ferrari hit the back of Alain Prost's slow moving Renault at high speed, vaulting over the top of it before landing tail-first and cartwheeling to a stop in eerie similarity to Gilles Villeneuve's fatal accident earlier in the season.

Nelson Piquet led the race, but collided with Eliseo Salazar while lapping him at the new Ostkurve chicane.

Piquet then phoned Salazar, both to apologize for his outburst and to convey the gratitude of BMW executives, several of whom personally attended the race and were thus spared the embarrassment of witnessing their engine failing at their home country Grand Prix.