Nico Rosberg entered the round holding a nine-point lead in the World Drivers' Championship ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton.

[9] The government of Azerbaijan confirmed the plans in July of the same year, declaring that the race would be held under the title Grand Prix of Europe.

[22] In preparing for the race, Pirelli acknowledged concerns about the circuit's high speed straights and direction changes causing "standing waves" over longer runs, a phenomenon whereby the energy passing through the wheel is strong enough to shift the build of the tyre, compromising its rigidity and increasing the likelihood of tyre failures.

[23] Following the first free practice session, it was found that the metal bolts used to anchor segments of kerbing to the roadway had started working loose and had been cutting into the rubber of the tyres, necessitating minor modifications to the circuit in order to correct the issue.

Rosberg's running was limited as he coasted to a halt on track with twenty minutes of the session left to go due to losing drive.

Ferrari was not competitive in eighth and thirteenth place for Vettel and Räikkönen respectively, with both cars suffering from problems with their energy recovery unit.

Fernando Alonso managed eleventh place, but had to spend considerable time in the garage while his team worked on his car.

Marcus Ericsson also had limited track time as a problem with his exhaust pipe forced him to miss the early part of the session.

Carlos Sainz Jr. spun at the first corner, but nevertheless finished the session in sixth, the fastest runner without a Mercedes power unit.

[35] In the third session on Saturday morning, Hamilton topped the timesheets once again, setting a time of 1:44.352, a quarter of a second clear of teammate Rosberg.

The session saw several incidents: Bottas damaged the floor of his car when he ran over a drain cover on his installation lap and was forced to miss the rest of the session; Felipe Massa made contact with the wall, but was later able to rejoin practice; Räikkönen's track time was limited as well due to a loss of power; and a red flag period occurred right after the chequered flag fell as Pérez crashed at turn 15.

[33] Nico Rosberg was the fastest at the end of the session, which saw MRT drivers Rio Haryanto and Pascal Wehrlein eliminated in seventeenth and eighteenth place, their best qualifying performance of the season.

Jenson Button qualified nineteenth, after running wide at turn 15 on his first flying lap and aborting his second after encountering traffic.

Marcus Ericsson finished twentieth overall, ahead of the Renaults of Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer, who struggled with a lack of power on the circuit's long straights.

Carlos Sainz Jr. and Fernando Alonso finished thirteenth and fourteenth to fill the seventh row of the grid, ahead of Gutiérrez.

[38] Rosberg surpassed Pérez's lap time to claim provisional pole while Hamilton crashed out, clipping the barrier on the inside of turn 10 and breaking his front suspension.

Valtteri Bottas overcame the damage to his car and lack of running during free practice to finish eighth alongside Verstappen, the two having been involved in a series of on-track altercations throughout qualifying.

[41] Sergio Pérez was demoted to seventh with the application of a gearbox penalty, following a change made necessary after he hit the barrier in turn 15 during the last practice session.

Sergio Pérez gained two places and was fifth, while Esteban Gutiérrez damaged his front wing when he made contact with the back of Nico Hülkenberg's car.

Force India reacted two laps later and brought Pérez in and he emerged back from the pit lane just ahead of Hamilton.

Aided by pit stops in front of him and a timely overtake on Carlos Sainz Jr. on lap 27, he moved back into ninth shortly thereafter.

With Räikkönen facing a five-second time penalty for crossing the pit entry line, Pérez behind him would not have to pass him to achieve third place as long as he stayed within five seconds of him.

[45] At the podium interview, conducted by former team owner Eddie Jordan, Rosberg hailed an "amazing weekend" for himself, saying that he was "ecstatic" about the victory, but refused to answer questions concerning the outcome of the World Championship.

Second-placed Vettel praised the track and his team's effort in preparing the car after difficulties in Friday's free practice.

Sergio Pérez emphasised his recovery after his gearbox penalty, which put him back five places on the starting grid and the satisfaction of overtaking Räikkönen on the last lap of the race.

[49] It transpired after the race that Rosberg had had the same problem, a couple of laps after it occurred on Hamilton's car, but was able to solve it faster than his teammate.