The Renaults of Hulkenberg and Jolyon Palmer looked strong in free practice, particularly in FP2 when they were seventh and eighth respectively, but they then slumped in qualifying.

Palmer got knocked out in Q1 in 17th, while Hulkenberg missed Q3 for the first time since the Australian GP in 13th.

"Qualifying was a bit tricky," said Hulkenberg. "It was not as successful as we hoped for and, to some extent, what we expected. We went slower. We didn't change the car much, so it must be to do with the conditions.

"It was hotter and also a lot more windy, and wind at the moment is a difficult subject for us."

Hulkenberg, who described his 1m21.397s lap as "pretty sweet", does not believe the problems stem from the latest upgrades, but rather are indicative of a more deep-rooted issue with the RS17.

"I think the updates are working," he added. "We've seen this previously that whenever the wind picks up the car suffers from that, maybe more than others."

Palmer was less certain about the reasons behind the loss of pace.

"The conditions changed quite a lot with the wind and the track temperature, but I don't think it was such a big difference compared to yesterday afternoon," he said.

"It's the same for everyone, maybe our car is a bit more sensitive [to changing conditions]. It's very strange; it's not often you go quicker in FP2 than FP3 or qualifying. To be starting where we are is very disappointing."