Lewis Hamilton was the defending race winner, and came into the event with a ten-point lead over teammate Nico Rosberg in the World Drivers' Championship.

Hamilton took pole position during Saturday's qualifying, his eighth of the season, ahead of Rosberg and the two Williams of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas.

[14] In the first practice session on Friday morning, Nico Rosberg posted the fastest time, after recovering from early hydraulic problems that forced his team to exchange his gearbox.

[16] Taking part in first practice were test drivers Jolyon Palmer, replacing Romain Grosjean at Lotus, Susie Wolff in Valtteri Bottas' Williams FW37, and Raffaele Marciello for Sauber instead of Marcus Ericsson.

[17] The second session on Friday afternoon was red-flagged early on when Romain Grosjean got stuck in a gravel trap at Luffield corner.

It was Manor Marussia driver Roberto Merhi who brought out a second red flag, when his car beached at the same spot that had caught out Grosjean earlier.

[22][23] This came at the expense of the two McLaren drivers, the two Manor Marussia cars and Sauber's Felipe Nasr, who all failed to proceed into the second part.

[23] Q3 saw the top-ten drivers compete for pole position, which eventually went to Lewis Hamilton, beating teammate Rosberg by 0.113 seconds.

After securing two podium finishes in the past two races, Williams confirmed their improved form and took the second row on the grid, Massa ahead of Bottas.

While Alonso made a pit stop for a new nose, the incident brought out the safety car, which led the field until the start of lap four.

Hamilton immediately attacked Felipe Massa, only to run wide on Vale, allowing Bottas to take second place on the inside of Club.

[26][27] Over the next couple of laps, Williams exercised team orders, and told their drivers to avoid racing each other to pull away from the Mercedes cars.

Both Ferrari drivers made a pit stop for new tyres early, on laps 14 and 15, apparently set for a two-stop strategy.

"[34] The world champion admitted that Mercedes losing their places at the start "made the race for the fans" and went on to say: "You can't imagine how happy I am.

"[34] Following the early lap fight for the lead with teammate Massa, Valtteri Bottas stated that he was sure he could have pulled a gap to the Mercedes behind.

"[35] Red Bull's team principal Christian Horner declared after the race that a spin on a damp track had allegedly cost Daniil Kvyat the chance to challenge for a podium position.

By placing two drivers on the podium for the ninth time in a row, Mercedes equalled a record set by Ferrari over the course of the 1952–1953 seasons, albeit whilst often racing with more than two cars.

[38] A day after the race, a small controversy surfaced in the media in relation to the Mercedes team allegedly breaking the rules by causing its mechanics to rush to the pit lane on lap 14, for a stop that never eventuated.

[39] While no sanctions followed, FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting responded by deciding to warn all teams against this practice at the subsequent Hungarian Grand Prix.