Kimi Raikkonen could not perform a final flying lap because he ran out of fuel and blamed it on a miscalculation by his team.
The Iceman was one of the favourites to take the pole position after he topped the Q1 and came just a tenth slower than Sebastian Vettel in Q2.
Later in Q3, as conditions improved, the Finn was forced to return to pits due to low fuel.
He did not have enough time to refuel and return to run another lap and was thus forced to stick to the sixth place.
“I knew how much fuel we had, but honestly I didn’t know we didn’t have time to refuel and go out again,” Raikkonen said.
“I guess we should have stopped when we changed tyres and put more fuel and then we manage to do more laps, but I don’t know the reasons why. We haven’t had meetings.
“Obviously, for sure not how it should have ended, but this is what we got today so we need to see why and what.”
He added: “We knew how much there was but maybe we should have done differently and brought the car in and a bit more fuel and be out there in the end, but I don’t know.
“I thought we had time enough anyhow to come in and change, but this is what happened.”
Vettel performed better on his flying lap and almost secured the pole. But in his final run, the German ran out of power in his battery in turn 1 and had to settle for P2. Lewis Hamilton took the pole after he bested Vettel’s time by seven tenths.
The four-time world champion was surprised at his battery condition and admitted the team could have done a better job in the qualifying.
“I don’t feel we put everything together,” Vettel said. “The last lap we ran out of battery. It wasn’t a nice ending to come up to the point.
“I was surprised myself when I crossed the line and saw the battery was low, which was quite costly.
“In the end, we should have managed better as a team. I always try to slow down and charge the car but there wasn’t enough for the end.”
