Unable to provide the required 1 litre fuel sample, he was penalised by being forced to start at the back of the grid.

As they did with Sebastian Vettel when he ran out of fuel during qualifying for the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the Red Bull team opted to change the gearbox on Webber's car to improve his overtaking ability, thereby obliging him to start from pit lane.

Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes once again posted the fastest time of the session to take pole position.

Lewis Hamilton led from the start, ahead of Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa and a slow-starting Kimi Räikkönen.

Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil lightly collided, with no damage suffered on either cars.

On laps 6 and 7, the pit lane was full of chaos, as Alonso, Massa, Räikkönen, Jules Bianchi, Giedo van der Garde, Max Chilton, Romain Grosjean, and Pastor Maldonado were all forced to pit due to heavy tyre degradation.

Nico Hülkenberg found himself leading the race afterwards, ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button, Sergio Pérez, and Paul di Resta.

Then moments later, Räikkönen nudged the back of Pérez's McLaren, and damaged his Lotus's front wing.

Alonso, Button, Grosjean, Ricciardo, Maldonado and Pérez pitted on lap 23, with Vettel taking the lead of the race.