Williams had planned to debut their Honda turbo-powered FW09 at this race, but instead decided to wait until the season finale in South Africa.

[2] At the start, Riccardo Patrese took the lead from Elio de Angelis, followed by Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet and Eddie Cheever.

There were no further changes among the front-runners until the pit stops, during which both Brabhams hit trouble: Patrese was delayed by a misfitted rear wheel, while Piquet was held up by a malfunctioning wheel-nut gun.

[7] Piquet nonetheless retained his lead over Prost, while an unscheduled second stop for Cheever (due to a loose helmet visor which was taped by his pit crew) left Tambay in third and Mansell fourth, with Andrea de Cesaris up to fifth in the Alfa Romeo and Derek Warwick sixth in the Toleman.

Shortly afterwards, Warwick had a bizarre accident when his cockpit fire extinguisher leaked, giving him burns to his right hand and leg, though he held on to fifth place.

With one race to go, Prost still led the Drivers' Championship but by only two points over Piquet, while Arnoux's failure to score left him needing to win in South Africa to have any chance of the title.