Prior to the weekend, Red Bull revealed that Daniel Ricciardo would be driving alongside Sebastian Vettel in 2014, taking over from Mark Webber, who moved to the Porsche Sportscar programme.

Three-time 2013 pole-sitter Nico Rosberg had really poor mileage in the final practice session due to overheating[6] and was unlikely to fight for pole because of this.

Several drivers were out on track early on option tyres, including 2007 champion Kimi Räikkönen and Jean-Éric Vergne.

The five-time 2013 pole-sitter had an off at the exit of Curva Parabolica on his first flying lap and was impeded by Adrian Sutil on his second attempt at the entrance of the same turn.

Ferrari's towing tactic did not do any good as the red cars could only manage fourth and fifth, with Felipe Massa in front of Alonso.

The McLaren duo could only manage eight and ninth, with Sergio Pérez in front, while Vergne had to settle for tenth with an off that was a near carbon copy of Hamilton's in Q2 at Curva Parabolica.

More drama unfolded during the first lap as Paul di Resta ran into the back of Romain Grosjean's Lotus.

Räikkönen was also recovering from his first-lap clash with Pérez, taking advantage of a battle between Esteban Gutiérrez and Adrian Sutil, although Hamilton passed the three of them after his second pit stop.

Massa drove to a respectable fourth, while Hülkenberg successfully beat Rosberg to the flag for a strong fifth place.

Daniel Ricciardo took advantage of the great top speed of his Toro Rosso to successfully fight off Grosjean for a solid seventh.