Verstappen said: “It’s already slippery in the dry but in the wet it’s not fun. It felt more like driving on ice.
“I did feel we were a little more competitive on the extreme tyre, we were not quite competitive enough to fight for pole but second is still good.
“Excited for tomorrow, I hope the inside (of the grid) is OK in terms of grip but we will see.”
Sainz’s run to third was a strong performance in a car not expected to be quick in the wet but he faces an investigation for rejoining unsafely in the first session.
Behind Piastri, the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Hadjar were sixth and eighth, split by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
Leclerc and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly were ninth and 10th.
Piastri had a decision from Aston Martin to switch Lance Stroll to intermediate tyres for a final run in Q2 to thank for progressing into the top 10 shootout.
Stroll had been quick until then but could not switch the tyres on in time before the end of the session to improve his earlier time.
Hamilton struggled throughout the first session and qualified last on outright pace for the first time in his career.
“It was very slippery and the first set of tyres didn’t work for us and I just struggled to generate the heat in the tyres for some reason,” he said.
“It’s a shame because the guys have done such a great job and the car was feeling awesome in FP3 and I really felt like we had good pace, but then the rain came. There’s not a lot to say, to be honest.”
