Carlos Sainz: "I feel very happy! Probably it was the less expected Q3 of the year, I even thought this was going to be the toughest and most difficult to achieve after what we had seen in FP3... But we did a mega turnaround and we went for it. Everything worked out and I'm very satisfied with the result. For tomorrow's race, our race pace should be the same or even better than our qualifying pace, so it
gives me quite a good feeling for tomorrow. We have a balanced car that's good through the high-speed corners and gentle on the tyres, but if we get into battles it can become a bit tricky. We will have to find a compromise, but I'm really looking forward to my fourth race in Formula 1."

James Key (Technical Director): "We've had a fair amount of problems to resolve this weekend. Yesterday was a real mixed bag of being happy and unhappy with where we were, so we had to work hard overnight. In FP3 we were not entirely satisfied, although we knew there was a lot more potential to find. We believed that Q3 was always on the cards, preferably with both drivers, so we worked towards that and with the changes we made in FP3 we finally got a balance on the car that both Carlos and Max were happier with. Carlos did what he needed to do and got into Q3, which was great, as it was a very tight fight. To start P9 is a decent result and, given the problems we've had, it was a great turnaround from Carlos. Tomorrow we will try and recover from our unfortunate lack of points in the last race."

STARTING GRID
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m32.571s -
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m32.982s 0.411s
3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m33.129s 0.558s
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m33.227s 0.656s
5 Valtteri Bottas Williams/Mercedes 1m33.381s 0.810s
6 Felipe Massa Williams/Mercedes 1m33.744s 1.173s
7 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull/Renault 1m33.832s 1.261s
8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India/Mercedes 1m34.450s 1.879s
9 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso/Renault 1m34.462s 1.891s
10 Romain Grosjean Lotus/Mercedes 1m34.484s 1.913s
11 Sergio Perez Force India/Mercedes 1m34.704s -
12 Felipe Nasr Sauber/Ferrari 1m34.737s -
13 Marcus Ericsson Sauber/Ferrari 1m35.034s -
14 Fernando Alonso McLaren/Honda 1m35.039s -
15 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso/Renault 1m35.103s -
16 Pastor Maldonado Lotus/Mercedes 1m35.677s -
17 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull/Renault 1m35.800s -
18 Will Stevens Marussia/Ferrari 1m38.713s -
19 Roberto Merhi Marussia/Ferrari 1m39.722s -
20 Jenson Button McLaren/Honda - -