A downpour before qualifying began delayed the session by almost an hour, and when it did finally get underway, it was wet tyres all round. Lotus showed some improvement by getting one driver through to Q2, whilst Marcus Ericsson crashed out on track bringing the first session to an early conclusion.

Williams suffered with the conditions and despite having the potential for great pace, saw both drivers drop out in the second sessions. Daniil Kvyat was knocked out of the top ten by his own teammate, who finished up ninth overall.

Jenson Button chose intermediate tyres in the final shootout for pole, at odds with the other nine contenders. Lewis Hamilton set the benchmark and couldn't improve on his own time, only narrowly seeing off the competition from Sebastian Vettel.