French driver Jacques Laffite broke both legs during a multi-car pile-up at the start, resulting in the end of his Formula One career.

Laffite, driving a Ligier-Renault, was assisted by Zakspeed driver Jonathan Palmer, a qualified general practitioner before taking up motor racing in the late 1970s.

The pile-up caused the race to be stopped; it was restarted over an hour later, after Laffite had been airlifted to Queen Mary's Hospital in nearby Sidcup.

The race also saw the return to the paddock of Frank Williams for the first time since he was paralysed in a road accident in France four months earlier.

The international motorsports governing body at the time, FISA, had instituted a policy of long-term contracts with circuits, and Brands Hatch was perceived as a poorer facility to Silverstone, with much less room to expand.