Early in the session, Esteban Ocon got a paper towel lodged in his brake duct and was forced to return to the pits.

[10] Alexander Albon, Mick Schumacher, Kevin Magnussen and Nicholas Latifi all missed turn 12 corner and retreated to the escape road in separate incidents.

[19] Yuki Tsunoda, who was required to start from the back after taking new power unit components,[20] Nicholas Latifi, Lance Stroll, Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly were knocked out from the first part of qualifying.

[23] Leclerc, who had taken new power unit components, and was due to start from the back of the grid, did not risk going out on the wet track and was also out of the session.

In the third part of qualifying, all drivers completed banker laps on intermediate tyres with Max Verstappen putting himself on provisional pole.

Noticing a dry line around most of the track, George Russell gambled on slick tyres for his final attempt, believing that if he could survive the wet turns 1 and 2, he would have a shot at pole.

[34] After complaints from Esteban Ocon and others, Magnussen was black and orange flagged, meaning he was forced to pit to repair the damage.

[35] On lap eight, Sergio Pérez pulled off the circuit at turn eight due to a gearbox failure, retiring from the race and bringing out the virtual safety car (VSC).

On Lap 19, Mick Schumacher retired his car in the runoff of turn eight with an engine failure,[37] bringing out the race's second VSC.

On fresh tyres, Verstappen was able to closely follow Hamilton through the first two sectors before overtaking him between turns 10 and 12 at the end of lap 43 to retake second.

[40] Charles Leclerc made his way up to fifth after taking a new power unit and starting 19th on the grid, limiting the damage in his title challenge.

[41] Ocon crossed the line in sixth ahead of his teammate Alonso, who was suffering with an engine issue that started in the middle of the race.

[42] A post-race penalty for weaving down the straight saw Alonso drop from seventh at the flag to ninth behind Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.