There was a two-month gap between the South African and Brazilian GPs because of the cancellation of the Argentine GP as a result of rampant inflation. When the field reassembled there were a variety of new cars, notably the new Williams FW08, Lotus 91, the Alfa Romeo N182, a new Ensign N182 and a new Theodore. Didier Pironi emerged unscathed from a huge crash at Paul Ricard which left his Ferrari in a spectator area.

Brabham took the curious decision to go back to Cosworth engines rather than racing the BMW turbos and there were rumors of problems between the team and the engine maker.

There was a full field of 31 cars and it was no surprise when Alain Prost put his turbocharged Renault on the pole ahead of Gilles Villeneuve's Ferrari and Rosberg in an old Williams. Then came René Arnoux (Renault), Niki Lauda (McLaren), Carlos Reutemann (Williams) and Nelson Piquet (Brabham). The top 10 was completed by Riccardo Patrese's Brabham and Andrea de Cesaris's Alfa Romeo.

Villeneuve took the lead at the start with Prost and Arnoux following and Rosberg fourth ahead of Patrese, Pironi and Piquet. Patrese soon moved ahead of Rosberg and he was followed by Piquet, while Prost also dropped behind Patrese. On lap nine Piquet overtook Patrese. The order remained unchanged at the front until lap 17 when Piquet and Rosberg both breezed ahead of Arnoux (Keke also passing Patrese at the same time).

Prost's drift backwards continued as he fell behind Lauda. Soon afterwards the Austrian was punted off by Reutemann and so Prost was back in fifth.

Villeneuve continued to lead while Piquet and Rosberg fought over second with Patrese running behind them in fourth, followed by Prost and John Watson (McLaren). This remained unchanged until lap 30 when Villeneuve spun off. Within a matter of laps Patrese had also had a spin and the car came into the pits. Riccardo had blacked out because of the battering he was getting in the car. The order remained largely unchanged after that with Piquet leading home Rosberg, Prost, Watson and Mansell. Manfred Winkelhock looked to be on course for sixth place but in the closing laps Michele Alboreto grabbed the place for Tyrrell.

There were protests after the race and ultimately both Piquet and Rosberg were disqualified for illegal water tanks. This meant that Prost was declared to be the winner with Watson second, Mansell third and Alboreto fourth. Winkelhock was bumped to fifth and Pironi picked up a point for sixth.