Although at the end of the session, it was a familiar front row of the two Mercedes drivers, they didn't look quite as dominant as they have done previously in the season. Red Bull were the next fastest, but for a while it looked as though Ferrari might be able to jump ahead. Kimi Räikkönen had to ditch his last flying lap attempts, though, after the car developed a power unit problem.

Further back, Adrian Sutil dropped out in the first session and sounded disappointed he couldn't get more out of the car. Romain Grosjean complained loudly about the engine in his Lotus not delivering the goods, whilst Jenson Button was slightly down on pace compared to his teammate, dropping out in Q2 where Magnussen finished in the top ten.