Sat: Lotus, Sauber, McLaren, Manor

Romain Grosjean made it into Q3, but failed to set a time due to a brake issue while Fernando Alonso managed to get out of Q1.

Lotus
Romain Grosjean: "That was frustrating as we should be qualifying higher than P9. I went out for Q3 but it was immediately apparent that there was an issue and the team called me back in. It was a hydraulic leak which we thought we could fix, but sadly we just missed out on going out again. Starting from P9 is not the end of the world and it could be an interesting race tomorrow; I’ll be pushing all the way to make up as many places as possible."

Pastor Maldonado: "It was quite a busy qualifying session with the track drying and everyone trying to get their fast laps in when the surface was at its best. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get a clean, fast lap at the vital moment to get into the top ten, but at least we are the first of the cars able to choose our starting tyres tomorrow. It’s a great track here so we could still score a great result."

Sauber
Marcus Ericsson: "It is disappointing that my lap time was not good enough at the end of Q2, although I felt comfortable in the car and the team made the right calls. The conditions were difficult today, but this was the same for everyone. Nevertheless, it is still a good starting position for the race."

Felipe Nasr: "It was a great qualifying for us. Since the first free pactice we have gone in the right direction and saw that our car was competitive. The conditions were not easy today, but everyone in the team did a good job and put everything together. It is a satisfying starting position for the race, and I am confident about fighting for points."

McLaren
Fernando Alonso: "The car felt good today – the new aero package means it feels more competitive in the corners. It’s just a bit unfortunate that this is a high power-effect circuit, so we can’t maximise everything. Still, we’re moving in the right direction, which is very positive. We’ve had a lot of problems throughout free practice, so we definitely need to improve reliability, and we’ll have some extra penalties when the race starts. It's really a learning weekend for us – we’re running the cars in different configurations – but hopefully that will increase our learning. It’s going to be a difficult grand prix – a little bit painful – but hopefully we’ll get a lot of answers in the race tomorrow, and then use that data in the test next week."

Jenson Button: "I was one of the first to cross the finish line in Q1, so everyone had a bit more time to improve while the circuit was drying. But I enjoyed it out there – it was actually a lot of fun. When the surface was tricky and unpredictable, I was looking pretty good, but once the circuit dried – and other people found their feet – I was only able to do what the car could do. I think there could have been a chance of getting into Q3 if the conditions had remained mixed. I also thought I was going to have a good battle with Fernando tomorrow, but we’ll get different penalties so I won’t be racing him. This just hasn’t been my weekend."

Manor
Roberto Merhi: "I’m very happy with my qualifying today. I have lost a bit of track time here this weekend, due to a problem yesterday and then the rain in FP3 prevented us from running the option tyre. The track was starting to dry coming into this afternoon’s session but they were the perfect conditions for me and I hope we see a repeat of them for the race tomorrow. This can be a challenging track and the first and final corners are tricky, so we have to be ready to take advantage of any opportunity in the race tomorrow. It should be fun!"

Will Stevens: "A frustrating qualifying for me, considering my pace has been very strong all weekend. With tough conditions and the track drying out, it was always going to be the last lap that would be the best and unfortunately I had a lot of traffic during the lap, which cost me quite a bit of time. I’m looking forward to tomorrow as I know our pace is very strong here."