The South African Grand Prix which had started the 1982 season had been moved to the end of the year, and so the season began in Brazil. At the Jacarepagua Riocentro Autodrome in Rio de Janeiro, defending champion Keke Rosberg took pole position, but lost the lead early on to Nelson Piquet and then caught fire during his pitstop. With the fire extinguished, he fought back from ninth to finish second behind Piquet, but was subsequently disqualified for receiving a push start in the pits. This left an unprecedented situation, as the organisers decided not to award second to Niki Lauda, who finished third, but to leave the position vacant. As such, only five drivers scored points, and other than Piquet and Lauda, these were Rosberg's teammate Jacques Laffite, whose presence in fourth was a surprise given his 18th place grid slot. Ferrari had a difficult race and had a best finish of only fifth with Patrick Tambay, who had started third. The final point went to Marc Surer, who had qualified 20th but moved up to 14th by the end of the first lap.