Daniel Ricciardo caused chaos during Q1, as his Red Bull pulled to a halt out on track. Ricciardo managed to get it off the racing line but still the session was red flagged whilst his car was recovered. The intervening time allowed drivers to make their choice between intermediates for the wet track, or risk a dry tyre. Alonso went for broke and topped the timesheets in Q1, but he dropped out in the next session and faces car-related penalties anyway.

Out front, it was all about Lewis Hamilton, who put in a spectacular lap to take pole position ahead of the two Ferrari drivers. Bottas was fourth, with his own five-place grid drop yet to take.