Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton apologised after opting to abandon his final flying lap in Q3.
Hamilton held provisional pole in changeable conditions but aborted his last lap as he felt he was unable to improve.
But the final sector dried sufficiently for several of his rivals to improve their times, dropping Hamilton to sixth.
"I made a mistake today and pulled out of the lap when I should have kept going," he said.
"It was a tough qualifying with the changing conditions and we got through most of it really well, until the most important part. It was my decision, a bad call, and that decided my qualifying.
"I'm so sorry to have disappointed the fans here today as their support has been fantastic and I'll do what I can to have a great race for them tomorrow.
"I need to have a start like I had in Austria two weeks ago and then do my best to get back to the front; you never know what might happen. It's difficult when you're just out of the car to express your emotions and see the positive but I'll go back to the team and my family now and we'll build up for tomorrow from there."