Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg set the fastest laptime in todays qualifying session held at the Shanghai international circuit in China. The rain stopped in between the practice session and the qualifying session, and the track was almost completely dry when Q1 began.

Q1 stopped almost as soon as it began when Manor driver Wehrlein lost traction on a wet section of the track and hit a wall hard. Wehrlein himself was unharmed, but the car was severely damaged, and the session was stopped so the track mashalls could remove the debris from the track. The session was restarted 15 minutes later. Both Saubers outqualified the Renaults, Manors, and Haas' Gutierrez. This is the first time Sauber get into Q2 this year.

In Q2, Hamilton retired with a power unit failure. The defending champion will drop all the way down to the bottom of the grid in tomorrow's race. With only 8 minutes left of the session, Force India's Hulkenberg went off the track with a loose left front tyre, and the session was redflagged. Hulkenberg is now under investigation for leaving the pit under unsafe conditions. The premature end to Q2 meant that neither of the McLarens, Saubers, Grosjean or Massa could pursue Q3 positions.

Ferrari had a strong start to Q3, but neither Räikkönen or Vettel managed to get near Rosberg, and they will start from place 3 and place 4 respectively. Red Bull's Ricciardo impressed with a second fastest time in Q3, and team principal Christian Horner congratulated the Australian driver and joked that it was all thanks to his new, fast haircut. Ricciardo's team mate Kvyat managed to get into Q3 for the first time this year.