The result returned Hamilton to the lead of the World Drivers' Championship with 241 points, three ahead of teammate Rosberg who retired after 14 laps after his problem could not be rectified.

Ricciardo maintained third place, with Fernando Alonso and Vettel passing the non-scoring Valtteri Bottas to move into fourth and fifth.

[6] The drag reduction system (DRS) had two activation zones for the race; one was from turns five and seven, and the second was on the start/finish straight from the final to first corners.

The outside turn seven barrier on the run-off area was realigned to allow traffic to drive behind it and the pit lane's fast section was resurfaced.

"[11] In the weeks before the race, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; Formula One's governing body) race director Charlie Whiting, introduced a ban on certain pit-to-car communications, with a particular emphasis on banning driver "coaching"—such as describing their sector times relative to another competitor—under the sporting regulations stating a driver must drive the car "alone and unaided".

Rosberg, Vettel, Ricciardo, Jean-Éric Vergne, Kimi Räikkönen, Jenson Button, Daniil Kvyat and Sergio Pérez were in positions two through ten.

Vettel stopped at the pit lane exit with a sudden loss in oil pressure; he avoided a ten-place grid penalty because he used an older engine.

[17][18] Hamilton, who had brake vibrations, set the day's fastest lap of 1 minute, 47.490 seconds on the super soft compound tyres in the second practice session; Alonso, Ricciardo, Räikkönen, Vettel, the McLaren pair of Kevin Magnussen and Button, Pérez, Nico Hülkenberg and Kvyat followed in the top ten.

[19] The session was disrupted halfway through when Pastor Maldonado overdrove through turn 10, lost control of his car's rear, and slid into the right-hand exit barriers, damaging his vehicle's front-right hand corner.

Force India's Hülkenberg and Pérez qualified 13th and 15th respectively after being unable to improve on their second attempts; Gutiérrez's faster Sauber car separated them.

[32] Romain Grosjean was the slowest driver in the second session; a turbocharger wastegate problem slowed him and he radioed his frustration to Lotus after being eliminated.

[28] Marcus Ericsson ventured onto the track late in the first session after his team worked quickly to rectify an electrical issue and qualified 22nd.

Although he made the starting grid after a steering wheel change and computer reset, the problem persisted and he began from the pit lane.

[38] Kobayashi's car developed an oil pressure issue on the formation lap and pulled off the circuit, preventing him from starting.

Alonso attempted to pass the Red Bull cars to their right but entered turn one too quickly, locked his front-left tyre, and drove onto the run-off area, falling to third.

At the end of the first lap, Hamilton led Vettel, Alonso, Ricciardo, Räikkönen, Massa, Button, Bottas, Magnussen and Kvyat.

Massa ran close behind Räikkönen until his first pit stop at the end of the lap as part of the Williams' team plan to pass the latter through strategy.

[41][43] On lap 23, Räikkönen drew closer to Massa and the Williams team responded by bringing the latter into the pit lane for soft compound tyres for a potential strategic overtake.

[40] Hamilton made his stop for super soft compound tyres on the following lap, giving the lead to Ricciardo; his team used a large time gap to remove rubber debris on his front wing.

[45] His retirement promoted Räikkönen to seventh and Bottas' worn tyres slowed him, enabling Hülkenberg, Vergne and Pérez to run close behind him.

[37] Pérez passed Räikkönen into turn 10 and took seventh when Bottas lost all tyre grip and fell from the top ten quickly.

[47] At the podium interviews, conducted by pundit and former team principal Eddie Jordan,[39] Hamilton said he did not feel any pressure at his final pit stop because he felt comfortable with his large lead.

Vettel said his team altered their strategy before the safety car and the final laps on worn tyres were "very, very much borderline" and emphasised the challenge of the track in hot and humid weather.

[48] In the later press conference, Hamilton felt the race would have been "hardcore" had Rosberg not retired and knew Mercedes would not be "100 percent happy" because they aspired to secure victories collectively and be the series' most dominant team.

Vettel revealed how uncomfortable he felt that he could not reach the end of the race on worn tyres but stated second was the best possible result for Red Bull.

[48] Rosberg called his race "the toughest of the year" and deemed it worse than the British Grand Prix where he retired with a gearbox failure.

He stated that his car's reliability needed the most attention and wanted to understand the problem: "It’s tough not even leaving the grid.

[51] The team's technical director Paddy Lowe added reliability concerns worried him throughout the season and hoped it would not be repeated in the future.

[52] He called his tenth-place finish "the hardest-earnt point I've ever had" and the McLaren team principal Éric Boullier said his performance under the circumstances was a "scant consolidation" and praised Magnussen for being "indicative of his tremendous fighting spirit".

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner asked Whiting for clarification because Ricciardo had battery damage from mounting the kerbs.