Max Verstappen says a gamble to switch to slick tyres during Saturday's qualifying session ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix was never an option, even as the track dried throughout the session. The Dutchman dominated qualifying, topping every segment and eventually taking pole position by over 0.6 seconds from Fernando Alonso. With the track drying throughout the hour, a dry line emerged on several sections of the Circuit Gilles Villenueve, prompting Mercedes' George Russell to roll the dice with a set of slick tyres towards the end of the session. However, the Briton's gamble failed when he hit a wet patch and slid off track at Turn 2, and Verstappen said the conditions were never quite suitable for dry weather tyres. "It was just too wet in some places, like Turn 1, Turn 2, I think out of 4 all the way into 5, into 6, so, for me, it was never on," Verstappen told media, including RacingNews365.com . "Of course, it was only like two and a half seconds [away from the crossover lap time], but of course you cannot take that gamble in qualifying. "But at other places on the track it was quite dry, [and] to manage your Intermediate tyres over a lap was quite a handful."
Verstappen explains tyre management across drying session
Saturday's running in Montreal was the first time that Verstappen had driven the Circuit Gilles Villenueve in the wet, and the Dutchman noted that managing his Intermediate tyres across changeable conditions over one lap proved challenging, especially as the circuit dried and lap times tumbled as the session went on. "In Q3, the track was dry in some places and I felt like actually on the first lap the tyres were in the best condition," Verstappen commented. "But, of course, the track keeps on drying, so that's why on the second lap you improve. "The tyre grip was not perfect and so you just tried to not kill the front tyres in the beginning of the lap, and make sure that towards the end of the lap you still had that little edge on the front to make sure that the car turns."
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