QUALIFYING REPORT
Behind Ricciardo , Max Verstappen was fourth in the second Red Bull ahead of Ferrari ’ s Sebastian Vettel , Toro Rosso ’ s Carlos Sainz , the McLarens of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button , Force India ’ s Nico Hulkenberg and the Williams of Valtteri Bottas .
“ For sure there were double waved [ yellow flags ], but I had a very , very big lift and lost a lot of time as a result and I was also slower than on my previous lap in that yellow segment , so I ’ m sure it will be OK ,” said Rosberg of his dramatic final lap .
“ It was a really challenging qualifying : the conditions changing all the time , very exciting out there . In the end it was pretty amazing that it did full dry out towards the end . I mean some kerbs still had some patches – going on to the start-finish straight , you had to be really careful opening DRS ,”
“ I think you saw a lot of moments coming on to there . Then , yeah , I just got a really good lap in on that last lap – awesome , I ’ m very happy with that ,” declared the pole winner .
Torrential rain in the hour before qualifying was due to begin made the track undriveable and there were two 10-minute delays before Q1 eventually got underway .
There was more rain to come , however , and a heavy shower a few minutes in brought out the red flags as the conditions again became impossible .