The weather at the start was dry and sunny, with the air temperature and the track temperature from . A right-front wheel cooler fitted to Hamilton's car detached and crunched on the front wing, causing Mercedes to push him to his grid slot following a
reconnaissance lap. An inspection by Mercedes found there to be no problems for Hamilton. Unlike previous years when softer tyre compounds were selected, making one pit stops was calculated to be faster than two by around 12 seconds. When the race began from its
standing start at 14:00
Central European Summer Time (
UTC+02:00), an incorrect mode dropped Hamilton to fourth and moving Rosberg to the lead into the Rettifilo chicane. Magnussen passed Massa on the outside for second going into the Rettifilo chicane. Pérez accelerated faster than Alonso and passed him before Alonso repassed Pérez on the left at Curva Grande corner. Massa attempted to take second from Magnussen by braking later than he did at the start of lap two as Rosberg pulled away from the two. Rosberg led by almost four seconds by the conclusion of the lap and moved his brake bias towards the front of his car. Hamilton used DRS to steer left before the Rettifilo chicane and passed Massa for second on the 10th lap. On the 34th lap, Ricciardo turned right and braked later than Räikkönen for ninth into the Rettifilo chicane. Kvyat's brakes failed on lap 52, causing him to turn left onto the grass at the Rettifilo chicane to avoid hitting Räikkönen, and clipping a polystyrene marker as he rejoined the track. Massa took his first podium result of the season in third, and his first since the
2013 Spanish Grand Prix. Bottas took fourth, ahead of the Red Bull duo of Ricciardo and Vettel in fifth and sixth. Pérez, Button, Räikkönen and Magnussen rounded out the top ten after his five-second time penalty was applied. Kvyat, Hülkenberg, Vergne, Maldonado and Sutil, Kobayashi and Bianchi, Gutiérrez and Ericsson were the final classified finishers. There were three lead changes in the race; two drivers reached the front of the field. Hamilton led twice for a total of 27 laps, more than any other competitor. Hamilton told the press he felt uncomfortable with the fans behaving in such a manner: "I've had it here, years and years ago, and it's great personally for me to have such great support, from the Ferrari fans and the Mercedes fans. But when I was up there, it was awkward for me to hear them booing Nico because I just don't like that in sport." When asked about the booing in the press conference, Rosberg replied while it was "not nice" he hoped over time the fans would forgive him for his past actions. denied theories that Rosberg's race-lead mistake on the 29th lap was deliberate. In the hours following the race, conspiracy theories emerged on social media concerning the circumstances of Rosberg losing the lead to Hamilton on lap 29. They suggested the incident was an act of revenge for the collision between Rosberg and Hamilton at the Belgian Grand Prix two weeks prior. Three-time world champion
Jackie Stewart said he felt the move was "a bit too easy" and appeared to indicate the error was done purposely: "I thought [Rosberg] could have least made an effort to get round the corner. I first thought 'that's wise', because he knew it wasn't a difficult thing to believe; the second time I thought: 'Hello, what's going on here?'" Wolff denied allegations the mistake was deliberate, suggesting Rosberg was under pressure because of the championship battle but admitted it was uncommon for Rosberg to run wide twice: "Only a paranoid mind could come up with such an idea." He stated he learnt about the theory and affirmed there was "no possible reason" for him to purposely drive off the circuit. Television pictures apparently showed Wolff smiling moments after Rosberg's error. Wolff said the broadcast was not live and that the transmission of pit-to-car radio before Rosberg's mistake about him asking Hamilton to slow to preserve his tyres for a late race attack was inaccurate. The stewards deemed Gutiérrez responsible for hitting Grosjean and imposed a 20-second time penalty on him although they accepted he had brake problems. Bottas stated he felt he was too assertive with his clutch and his race was hindered by a lack of acceleration leaving the chicane: "The start on the formation lap – when we always do the final checks – was a bit compromised because Lewis had a slow getaway, so that maybe hurt a little bit. But definitely the tyres were not in the optimum window." Alonso was convinced he could have finished fifth had he not retired, saying he felt quicker than Ricciardo and revealed his team changed their approach, prompting him to slow after his problem emerged. He stated the remainder of the season was "not going to be too different" after a strenuous campaign in the past 12 rounds but that Ferrari was prepared: "It is the way at the moment but we cannot do anymore than this." Bottas said Magnussen's driving was "on the limit" but was unsure whether the latter deserved a penalty. Magnussen was "frustrated" upon receiving his second consecutive time-penalty and stated he would review the incident and carry over lessons into the season's next race. While initial reactions in the United Kingdom disagreed with the stewards decision, The result saw Hamilton lower Rosberg's lead in the World Drivers' Championship to 22 championship points, with Ricciardo remaining in third place on 166 championship points. By finishing fourth Bottas passed the non-finishing Alonso for fourth and the latter fell to fifth. Mercedes further extended their advantage in the World Constructors' Championship to lead the second-placed Red Bull by 182 championship points. Williams overtook Ferrari to move into third place and McLaren were with 110 championship points with six races left in the season.
Race classification Drivers who scored
championship points are denoted in
bold.
Notes: • –
Kevin Magnussen had five seconds added to race time for putting
Valtteri Bottas off the track. • –
Marcus Ericsson started from pit lane for yellow flag infringement during the third practice session. • –
Esteban Gutiérrez had 20 seconds added to race time for causing an avoidable collision with
Romain Grosjean. ==Championship standings after the race==