The result allowed Rosberg to lower Hamilton's lead in the World Drivers' Championship to 17 points while Daniel Ricciardo secured third place despite retiring with a suspension issue.

[3] As they were at the United States Grand Prix the week before, Formula One's commercial rights owner Bernie Ecclestone granted Caterham and Marussia dispensation to miss the race due to their ongoing financial struggles coupled with the high cost of travel to the western hemisphere and the one-week gap between the United States and Brazilian Grand Prix.

[8] In addition, in response to a crash by Jules Bianchi in the Japanese Grand Prix, procedures relating to the location of a tractor crane at the Senna "S" chicane were altered.

However, following the Russian Grand Prix one month prior, many drivers criticised the low level of grip and wear shown on the new tarmac of the Sochi Autodrom.

[10] Along with unanimous agreement from all eleven teams,[n 2] Pirelli ultimately decided to bring the Medium and yellow-banded Soft tyres to Brazil.

[11] During practice, the sport's governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile re-tested its Virtual Safety Car system, which was proposed for the 2015 season to better deal with race track emergencies, following the incident suffered by Bianchi in the Japanese Grand Prix.

Daniil Kvyat, Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa, Verstappen, Pastor Maldonado, Kimi Räikkönen, Kevin Magnussen and Ricciardo occupied positions three to ten.

[14] During the session, where drivers struggled with grip on the resurfaced track, Juncadella was under mental strain because of his competing in DTM with Mercedes-Benz and spun at turn six.

Force India replaced several engine hydraulic components following a heat soak and Pérez missed the second session.

[18][19] The final session was held in dry but overcast weather and saw Rosberg complete a free practice sweep with a lap of 1 minute, 10.446 seconds on soft compound tyres.

The Williams duo of Massa and Bottas were third and fourth; Ricciardo, Button, Räikkönen, Alonso, Magnussen and Kvyat completed the top ten.

[21] He was joined on the grid's front row by Hamilton who lost time entering turn ten too fast, causing him to lose control of the rear of his car.

[26] The Ferrari duo of Alonso and Räikkönen were eighth and tenth; Ricciardo separated them,[27] believing minor pre-qualifying fine-tuning adjustments to his car affected its balance.

[26] Kvyat qualified 14th after electing not to record a lap in the second session and was demoted ten places on the grid for carrying over an engine penalty from the United States Grand Prix.

[22] Pérez originally took 16th but a seven-place grid penalty was applied after he was deemed to have caused an avoidable accident with Sutil in the United States and Maldonado inherited the place.

[32] At the end of the first lap, Rosberg led Hamilton by 0.8 seconds,[33] who was followed in turn by, Massa, Bottas, Button, Magnussen, Alonso, Ricciardo and Gutiérrez.

Hülkenberg reported a blistered front-right tyre to Force India and Rosberg overtook him for the lead into the Senna S chicane at the start of lap 14.

[33] Mercedes asked Hamilton on lap 28 to make an energy recovery switch to raise the harvesting rate but not a forward brake bias adjustment.

Ricciardo entered the pit lane to retire, ending a 15-race finishing streak extending back to the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Button held the racing line and drew alongside Räikkönen on the back straight before passing on the outside at the Descida do Lago turn.

[38] At the podium interviews, conducted by three-time World Champion Nelson Piquet,[39][40] Rosberg declared his happiness over the weekend sweep, having been able to feel comfortable to attack in his Mercedes.

[40] In the later press conference, Rosberg said it was important for him to improve after the United States, and was confident that he could control the gap to Hamilton and ensure he did not battle for the win.

[40] Massa said he thought his chances of a podium finish were diminished with his five-second time penalty but was unworried about parking in the wrong pit stall.

[41] Williams' Head of Vehicle Performance Rob Smedley was angry with himself for not stopping Massa driving through the McLaren pit stall after the team switched garage positions for the race and exchanged words afterwards.

However he praised Bottas for scoring an extra point and described the Williams team's race as a "character building" event, something he was taught at Ferrari by technical director Ross Brawn.

[42] Bottas said he had severe left-rear tyre graining on his final stint, causing him to slide massively and lose positions: "I was managing a lot at the beginning and then could just avoid [Daniil] Kvyat from overtaking.

"[45] Räikkönen dismissed the battle as "normal racing" and felt it had not hindered his team because it would score the same number of points regardless of his finishing position.

Andrew Benson of BBC Sport said his weekend was "copybook" and it was needed to "re-establish his position as a credible championship contender" to many people.

"[47] The Daily Telegraph's Formula One correspondent Daniel Johnson described Rosberg's performance as "the race of his life under relentless pressure" and called his victory "the finest of his career.

"[48] Writing for The Independent, David Tremayne wrote Rosberg had "finally avenged himself" on teammate Hamilton by winning and gave him realistic title chances by proving he could resist pressure.