[7] Minor changes were made to the track, renewing catch fences and tyre barriers, while removing the higher curb at the apex of turn 6 in order to prevent the cars from lifting off the ground.

[13] Lewis Hamilton was fastest in the first practice session on Friday morning, one-tenth of a second faster than teammate Nico Rosberg.

[14] Racing resumed fifteen minutes later, only to be interrupted once more when Kimi Räikkönen's front wing came off in turn 12, leaving debris on the track.

[12] Valtteri Bottas in the Williams, using a new front wing, finished ninth, six-tenths of a second quicker than teammate Felipe Massa.

[12][16] Following the crash for Pérez, Force India opted not to run in the second practice session in order to have time to investigate the causes.

[18] After making modifications to their suspension, Force India was cleared by the stewards to take part in the third and last practice session on Saturday morning.

While Daniil Kvyat was next-fastest in fourth, McLaren confirmed their improved pace by finishing the session eighth and thirteenth.

The second Ferrari of Räikkönen was confined to sixteenth place, after a water leak on his car prevented him from doing fast laps on the softer tyre compound.

[13] Despite hopes for a top ten starting position,[19] Jenson Button was eliminated during the first part of qualifying (Q1), along with both Sauber and Manor drivers.

The only driver to risk not using the soft tyre compound, which provided up to two seconds advantage, was Daniel Ricciardo, who finished the first part twelfth.

[23] Fernando Alonso, the only McLaren to have made it into Q2, stopped on track due to his engine shutting down close to pit entry, bringing out a red flag.

He pushed the car back into the pit garage, aided by numerous track marshals, only to be disallowed to drive out again due to regulations.

Lewis Hamilton continued his impressive performance by setting what he considered "probably the most dominant" pole of his career, having led every practice and qualifying session.

While he beat Hamilton on number of pole positions the previous year, he now trailed him by 0.262 seconds on average in qualifying, prompting him to say: "It is not explainable to me.

Meanwhile, Romain Grosjean became the second Lotus driver to be penalised, receiving a five-second penalty for an unsafe release from his pit box.

[26] By lap 42, Kimi Räikkönen started to experience engine problems which turned out to be an issue with his kinetic electrical unit.

Max Verstappen was also reprimanded with a drive-through penalty for failing "to stay above the required time set by the FIA ECU during the deployment of the safety car".

Even though Daniil Kvyat was handed a ten-second time penalty for leaving track limits, he held on to second place for his first Formula One podium finish.

Lewis Hamilton went past Romain Grosjean for sixth place on lap 67, closing on Fernando Alonso, but was eventually unable to catch him, who scored McLaren's best finish of the season up to that point.

[30] The race was also Honda's 350th Grand Prix as an engine supplier and the first time that the renewed partnership with McLaren scored a double points finish.

"[35][36] During the podium interviews, conducted by German TV presenter Kai Ebel, he went on to say: "Incredible day but this victory is for Jules.

"[38] Fernando Alonso hailed his fifth-place finish as "unbelievable", but stressed that the result was "a present", stating: "at the moment we are not super-competitive".

[39] Several drivers received penalty points on their Super Licences, including Hamilton, who was given his first two for his collision with Ricciardo at the safety car restart.

[41] The stewards came to the same verdict concerning the Verstappen–Bottas incident, saying that Verstappen "took reasonable actions to avoid contact",[42] however he did receive three penalty points, bringing his total to five, for speeding behind the safety car.