Brabham finally had the opportunity to demonstrate their prowess at completing a midrace refueling at the Austrian Grand Prix. Qualifying had gone well, with the team locking out the front row of the grid. Piquet started from pole position but blistered a tyre within a few laps. This allowed Patrese, running second behind his team leader, to move into the lead. Piquet's tyre problems saw him come into for his first pitstop on lap 16. Despite signalling his intent to enter the pits, the Brabham mechanics were not prepared as his scheduled pitstop was not for several more laps. Piquet was stationary for nearly a minute while the team found and fitted replacement tyres and resumed in fourth place. Patrese, still in the lead, came into the pits for his scheduled stop on lap 24. This time, the mechanics completed a swift turnaround and Patrese, having only been held up for 15 seconds, resumed the race still in the lead. It was only to last for three more laps before he spun off due to an engine failure. Nonetheless, his performance had validated the strategy of starting with a light fuel load. Piquet suffered a camshaft drive failure a few laps later which ended his race while running in third place.