After the 2014 race had been held at a resurfaced circuit, causing the teams to fight with the soft tyre choice by Pirelli, speculations arose if drivers would be able to challenge the eleven-year old track record set by Rubens Barrichello in 2004.

[3][4] However, practice showed that lap times actually slowed due to changes to the kerbs, forcing the drivers to stay away from the insides of the corners.

[15] Hamilton set his fastest time on the medium compound, but was caught out twice on other laps, locking up and running wide in the Senna S.[14] In the later parts of the session, he also complained about a "weird" feeling clutch, but returned to the track soon after.

[16] Despite several problems during the third session on Saturday morning, Lewis Hamilton was fastest, setting a time of 1:12.070, just over a tenth of a second in front of his teammate.

[17] Earlier in the session, he needed to return to pit lane due to a gear-selection problem which had caused him to temporarily stop on track and later spun at turn eleven.

[17] He was followed by teammate Räikkönen, Valtteri Bottas and Nico Hülkenberg in the Force India, all more than a second slower than Hamilton.

[13] During the first part of qualifying, all drivers used the softer compound tyres at least for their second run of timed laps, including the Mercedes pair.

Fernando Alonso's McLaren broke down due to a loss of power before he was able to set a time, with teammate Jenson Button likewise unable to proceed.

[18] During the second part, the Mercedes drivers set only one run of timed laps as they were able to save their tyres for the race, well clear of the competition.

On lap 53, Massa moved ahead of Grosjean into eighth place, but was already reported under investigation for his pre-race tyre temperatures at that point.

At the front, Hamilton's tyre started to wear off in the closing stages, enabling Rosberg to take victory 7.7 seconds ahead of his teammate.

[20][21] At the podium interviews, which were conducted by former Formula One driver Martin Brundle, Nico Rosberg expressed delight about his victory, but also remembered the events of Paris which, as he put it, rendered "everything relative".

Lewis Hamilton on the other hand lamented the fact that he was unable to follow Rosberg closely on track without damaging his tyres too much, saying that he would have otherwise had the pace to pass him.

Third placed Sebastian Vettel called it "a good race", but also "not very exciting", since the Ferrari drivers had been "in no-mans land" behind the Mercedes.

[22] The main talking point after the race was Hamilton's assertion that he would have preferred to go on a different strategy compared to his teammate to have a chance of passing him, an option denied by his team.

1996 world champion Damon Hill shared Hamilton's frustration, saying: "I have some sympathy with what Lewis was saying, the drivers should be allowed to call the shots - and if he wants to try something different and basically zag when the other guy is zigging.

"[26] Daniel Johnson, writing for The Daily Telegraph, concurred: "It was not just Hamilton's failure to win the Brazilian Grand Prix, following home an obdurate Nico Rosberg; it was the manner of it, lacking the killer move while obeying a Mercedes strategy which rendered the drivers more robots than racers.

[28] However, on 19 November 2015, Williams decided to drop the appeal, stating that since a decision was unlikely to be made before the end of the year, the matter would draw attention away from the preparations for the 2016 season.

[33] The Independent wrote, referring to Hamilton's desperate attempts to pass Rosberg: "If there was ever a race which confirmed that Formula One should be looking at ways to facilitate overtaking, this was it.

"[35] In the wake of his experience, Hamilton called for Formula One to adjust rules to enhance overtaking, saying: "I guess for fans it's probably not too exciting to watch.

Sebastian Vettel agreed, calling for more grip created by the tyres to make it easier to follow a car closely.

Further back, Kimi Räikkönen closed the gap to fourth placed Valtteri Bottas to just one point ahead of the final race of the season.