Sergio Perez conceded his "messy" Canadian Grand Prix qualifying was down to poor timing. Mexican Perez failed to reach Q3 for the third race in a row after struggling for competitive pace in wet conditions. The Red Bull driver started Q2 on Intermediate tyres but did not pit as the drying track started to allow better lap times for those on slicks. When the call was made to switch, it was too late and Perez was left struggling on slick tyres as the rain started to hit the circuit again, thwarting any potential effort to get into the top ten. "It was just a mess really," he told media, including RacingNews365.com . "Pitting half a lap earlier, then the picture would have looked a lot different. It was basically a half a lap too late and track position was really poor with an Alfa Romeo [in front of us]. "Once the tyres were up to temperature on the slicks, it started raining harder so we decided to box. Then when we went to the Intermediate it was all a bit too late."
Perez: It was literally a gamble
Even though Alex Albon made the gamble to start the session on soft tyres and produced the fastest time, Red Bull was too slow in reacting and elected to stick to its original plan. "That was always the plan: to do one lap then come back in to do the slick tyre. We took that decision together and we got it wrong, but it was literally a gamble," explained Perez. "We were missing four to five tenths and then were caught out with the track [conditions]. I think there was certainly much more potential in the car to get a lot better [position]."
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