A 15-minute delay to the start of qualifying, owed to clearing the track of debris, meant Q3 ran late. That allowed for a storm to arrive in the closing stages of the shootout.
As a result, Q3 was ultimately red-flagged with four minutes to run when the thunder and lightning hit.
Max Verstappen therefore bagged pole for the Sunday race with a 1min10.727s flying lap set early in the session. The Red Bull driver pipped Leclerc by 0.294s, but both called out their messy laps as they felt grip levels vanished even without rain.
As clouds arrived overhead to plunge the track into darkness, wind levels increased to destabilise the cars. That created conditions Leclerc had never previously experienced and left him to consider binning his hot lap.
He said: "To be honest, today was, in my whole career, I've never experienced something like that.
"From Turn 4 onwards there was no rain. But the car was extremely difficult to drive - no grip.
"I was thinking about just coming in at the end of the lap. Then I finished and then P2, so it's a really good surprise. But it's a very weird one for everybody out on track today."
Source: Autosport