In the fortnight after the Ferrari 1-2 at Zandvoort, Williams ran its Honda-engined FW09 for the first time in testing at Donington Park while in testing Nelson Piquet's Brabham-BMW showed a new turn of speed due to a different fuel formula. McLaren arrived with two of the TAG-engined MP4/1E chassis but otherwise the field was standard. The new pace of the Brabhams was seen in qualifying as Riccardo Patrese took pole position, beating the two Ferraris of Patrick Tambay and René Arnoux. Nelson Piquet was fourth in his Brabham ahead of title rival Alain Prost (Renault). The top 10 was completed by Andrea de Cesaris (Alfa Romeo), Elio de Angelis (Lotus-Renault), Manfred Winkelhock (ATS-BMW) and Mauro Baldi's Alfa Romeo.

At the start Piquet got away well and was right behind Patrese at the end of the first lap. On the third lap Patrese's engine blew and so Nelson went ahead and he stayed there for the rest of the afternoon (without having a pit stop). Arnoux chased him all afternoon but still finished 10 seconds behind and Cheever did much the same in third place. Prost's title hopes took a dive as he retired with turbo failure while running fourth and so the position went to Tambay with de Angelis fifth and Warwick sixth.