Further down the grid, the Spirit team with its Honda turbo engine made an impressive debut as Stefan Johansson qualified 14th, ahead of both McLarens and just one place behind reigning World Champion Keke Rosberg in the Williams.

In the race morning warmup, Elio de Angelis showed he and his Lotus-Renault turbo would be one to watch, posting the fastest time of the session.

At the start of the race, Tambay moved ahead of Arnoux, while de Angelis quickly went from hero to zero retiring on just the second lap with turbo failure heading into Becketts.

While they would ultimately win through Prost plus would gain 4th place with Nigel Mansell's stirring drive in front of the home crowd, early on things were turning a bit sour for Renault.

At the chequered flag, Prost was 19 seconds ahead of Piquet with Tambay, Mansell, Arnoux and Niki Lauda completing the top six.