Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel had been holding third position for much of the first half of the race, but a delay due to a stuck wheel nut during his pit stop dropped him into fourth place.

Having just nine turns,[1] the fewest on the Formula One calendar, the circuit offers very few low-speed sections and gave teams an opportunity to push their power units to their potential.

Before all drivers were able to set times on the super-soft tyres, Fernando Alonso coming to a stop on the start/finish straight brought out a red flag, halting the session.

[12] During the first part of qualifying (Q1), Kimi Räikkönen was eliminated due to a failure in communication, which meant he did not have enough time left for another fast lap at the end of the session.

[17] With the track still damp when qualifying began, times improved with every passing lap, with the drivers being able to switch from intermediate to slick tyres at the end of the first session.

[19] Daniel Ricciardo was eliminated in 14th place, meaning that he - like Button - was unable to take the full extent of his ten-place grid penalty.

[19] Last year's pole sitter Felipe Massa followed in fourth, while Le Mans winner Nico Hülkenberg finished fifth, ahead of the second Williams of Valtteri Bottas.

At the end of the lap, Daniil Kvyat made a pit stop to replace a damaged front wing, while Will Stevens retired from the race with an oil leak.

Meanwhile, Bottas went past Le Mans winner Nico Hülkenberg for fifth place on lap 26, but an earlier pit stop brought the German back out in front of the Williams.

For speeding in the pit lane, Carlos Sainz Jr. was handed a five-second time penalty, which was not to be applied since the Spaniard retired on lap 34 due to a technical problem.

Sebastian Vettel came in two laps later, being stationary for more than 13 seconds due to a problem with the wheelnut of his rear right tyre and came out behind Felipe Massa in fourth place.

Going past the start/finish straight, Maldonado almost lost the rear of his car coming out of the Toro Rosso's slipstream, while Verstappen locked up going into turn one, handing the position to the Lotus driver.

"[31] Speaking about his start at the post-race press conference, Hamilton explained that his car suffered from a lot of wheelspin, which made him get off the line slowly.

"[31] When asked about the necessity of closed cockpits following the first lap accident between Alonso and Räikkönen, Rosberg and Massa stated that improvements to safety should be made in this area, while Hamilton said he had no opinion on the matter.

[29] Alonso stated that he was "scared" after the collision and was visibly concerned for his rival's safety upon checking on the condition of Räikkönen, and relieved that the accident left his former teammate uninjured.

[36][37] It was his eleventh career victory, putting him level with Jacques Villeneuve, Rubens Barrichello and third placed Felipe Massa, who became only the eighth driver in the history of the sport to achieve more than 1,000 championship points.

[36] In the Constructors' Championship, Williams extended their lead to Red Bull to 74 points, while Force India moved up to fifth after their second double-points finish of the season.

[37] In a weekend that the official Formula One website described as "a new low" for McLaren, Fernando Alonso retired from the fourth consecutive race, something that had never happened to him in his career.