Prior to qualifying, it had been raining a bit. I believe teams had been using the intermediate tires for the first part of qualifying Q1, but then they started to change to slicks late in Q1 I believe. But then it started to rain a bit again towards the end of Q2, and it was up in the air if everyone would be starting Q3 on intermediate tires or slicks.

KMag was first in line to go out in Q3, and the weather was getting a bit worse. 9 of the drivers were still on slicks, and LeClerc was on inters (and none too pleased about being the only one on inters). Everyone got a chance to get 1 qualifying lap in, KMag nailed his lap, the other drivers seemed a bit tentative or had brief moments of traction loss because of the conditions. Then, Russell came in way too hot to a turn, went off straight and got stuck in the gravel. Red flag to get him out, and by the time it went back green, the track was way too wet for slicks, and since the intermediate tires are like 8+ seconds a lap slower than slicks, no one could possibly get a better time than any that had already been set, so no one even tried, and the last 6 minutes or so was empty track and loud Haas fans in the crowd cheering on KMag.