In Q1 the Red Bull started strong and were the ones doing laps with the hard, also with a single attempt in the case of Vettel. Valtteri Bottas put his Williams in 1st position, while Ferrari passed to Q2 struggling with Alonso and Massa in 15th and 16th position. Sutil has been eliminated after being the first driver to have traffic problems and also with his Force India stopped on track before ending the session. Maldonado has also been blocked on two occasions, first by Gutierrez and then by Van der Garde, who was the next eliminated. Bianchi, Pic (with a penalty of 5 positions due to a gearbox change) and Chilton were the other drivers who have fallen in Q1.
The Red Bull turned up again in Q2, accompanied at first positions by Alonso and Bottas. Massa, unlike his partner has not gotten a good time and got stuck in 15th place ahead of only Vergne. Rosberg was also out of Q3 for the second time this season finishing in 14th position. The others eliminated were Button (he will start 3 position behind due to a penalty for overtaking under red flag in free practice), Di Resta and Ricciardo. Heikki Kovalainen, replacing Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen, has made it through to Q3 for the first time since racing in McLaren in 2009.
Finally, Vettel again did well in Q3 and has won the eighth pole of the season by scoring a third sector stratospheric. His teammate Webber was the one who had the best time before the German did his lap and everything was already set for the Australian to get the pole, but Vettel did not allow it. After the Red Bull, to 0.8s away, finished Romain Grosjean. After him were Hülkenberg getting a superb 4th place, followed by Hamilton, Alonso, Perez, Kovalainen, Bottas and Gutierrez.
Results:
| Pos. | Driver | Team |
| 1 | S.Vettel | Red Bull |
| 2 | M.Webber | Red Bull |
| 3 | R.Grosjean | Lotus |
| 4 | N.Hulkenberg | Sauber |
| 5 | L.Hamilton | Mercedes |
| 6 | F.Alonso | Ferrari |
| 7 | S.Pérez | McLaren |
| 8 | H.Kovalainen | Lotus |
| 9 | V.Bottas | Williams |
| 10 | E.Gutiérrez | Sauber |
| 11 | Ricciardo | Toro Rosso |
| 12 | Di Resta | Force India |
| 13 | Button | McLaren |
| 14 | Rosberg | Mercedes |
| 15 | F.Massa | Ferrari |
| 16 | J-E.Vergne | Toro Rosso |
| 17 | A.Sutil | Force India |
| 18 | P.Maldonado | Williams |
| 19 | G.Van der Garde | Caterham |
| 20 | J.Bianchi | Marussia |
| 21 | C.Pic | Caterham |
| 22 | M.Chilton | Marussia |
