Hamilton won the race, passing Nico Rosberg in the later stages, and thereby secured his third Drivers' Championship, as Sebastian Vettel finished third.

After starting in damp conditions, both Red Bull drivers were initially able to challenge the Mercedes for the lead, but later dropped back as the track dried, with Daniil Kvyat retiring after a crash and Daniel Ricciardo eventually finishing tenth.

Alexander Rossi became the first American to drive in the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, returning to Manor Marussia after Roberto Merhi had raced for them in Russia.

[6] Fernando Alonso ran a new power unit in his McLaren over the weekend, one that he had already used once during practice for the previous race in Russia, having taken the grid penalty for it there.

Manor Marussia's Will Stevens was placed back 20 grid spots for a change of his engine, turbocharger and MGU-H unit.

[10] Both customer teams, Red Bull and Toro Rosso, chose not to run with the update, saying its performance advantage was not worth taking the grid penalties.

In preparation for the effects of the high altitude in Mexico, Mercedes added two "ears" at the top of the airbox in order to improve cooling to the energy recovery system of their power unit.

[17] This meant that Hamilton would be able to win the title with three races to spare, as long as he gathered nine points more than Vettel and two more than Rosberg at the Grand Prix.

[22][23] Nico Rosberg topped the timesheets on Friday, ahead of the two Red Bull cars of Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo.

The session started on a very wet track, but with no more rain falling, it dried out as the practice progressed, with drivers soon switching to intermediate tyres.

A gearbox problem meant that Pastor Maldonado was unable to take to the track, while at Sauber, Raffaele Marciello replaced Felipe Nasr, ending the session three-tenths of a second quicker than teammate Marcus Ericsson.

Max Verstappen ended the session last, while Force India's Nico Hülkenberg was third, ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Sainz.

[23] Inclement weather continued to disrupt the Saturday's proceedings as qualifying was delayed multiple times before being ultimately rescheduled for Sunday morning.

"[25] During the waiting period on Saturday, many teams had engaged in tomfoolery in the paddock to entertain the crowds, such as bowling or ballroom dancing between Red Bull teammates Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat.

Due to the prospect of worsening rain and the chance that qualifying could be brought to an end by the weather at any point, the teams fought for grid positions early on, with Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Daniel Ricciardo setting the fastest times.

[28][29][30] Following his third pole in a row, Rosberg said he wanted to win the race "really badly", after being passed by Hamilton in Japan and retiring from the Russian Grand Prix whilst in the lead.

[33] While the rain had stopped by race time, the track was still wet and slippery; all drivers opted to start on intermediate tyres.

Hamilton got away better at the start, entering the first corner alongside pole-sitter Rosberg, and, by forcing the German wide, took the lead exiting the first turn.

While Rosberg soon took back fourth from Pérez, Hamilton, in front, came under pressure from Kvyat, with the Red Bull drivers running fast in the damp conditions.

With Kvyat just half a second behind the championship leader, a virtual safety car period was declared on lap five to clear the debris from the first corner incident.

[32][34] The two Mercedes drivers moved ahead of their respective Red Bull rivals on laps 22 and 23, while Vettel, now in fifth, closed on the leading quartet.

At this halfway point of the race, the order stood as: Rosberg, Hamilton, Ricciardo, Kvyat, Verstappen, as Vettel used the safety car period for a tyre change, moving him back into sixth.

By lap 40, when the safety car period was over, Rosberg was up into third at the expense of Verstappen, while Alonso moved up several places into sixth, with teammate Button in fifth.

The safety car came back in at the end of lap 46, with the order being: Rosberg, Hamilton, Verstappen, Vettel, Alonso, Pérez, Button and Maldonado.

[38] Hamilton soon opened up a gap to his teammate, while Button moved up into sixth ahead of Alonso on lap 50, but lost the position again to Sainz before the end of the race.

[40] Hamilton, the newly crowned world champion, called his third title "the greatest moment of my life", thanking his father and his family for their support.

[46] Daniel Ricciardo called for the FIA to clear up the regulations of the virtual safety car, following him being overtaken easily at the first restart by Nico Rosberg, saying that he had not gotten a warning about the end of the period.

This was caused in large parts by the weather conditions over the weekend, while the return of the Mexican Grand Prix also played a role.