Drivers and teams have been almost universal in their condemnation of the state of the track surface in the qualifying session for tomorrow's Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, with Mike Gascoyne warning that so bad are the conditions, it is possible that not a single driver will make it to the chequered flag.
In high temperatures, the asphalt of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on the Ile Notre-Dame disintegrated dramatically over the course of the 60-minute session, causing numerous spins and off-track moments as drivers hit the marbles, and prompting
Red Bull Racing's
Mark Webber to quip on
ITV: “I think we'll have to bring motocross bikes tomorrow, not
F1 cars!”
“This morning the car was well-balanced, although the grip level was still low,”
Force India chief technical officer Gascoyne explained, “but this afternoon both cars had practically no grip.
“Given these sort of track conditions and the changeable weather, it will be a very difficult race for anyone to finish tomorrow.”
Those remarks were echoed by Force India pairing
Adrian Sutil and
Giancarlo Fisichella, who will line up respectively 16th and 17th on the starting grid for the race. The German described the grip level out on the circuit as ‘very, very low', with his Italian team-mate – one of those to visit the scenery during Q1 – referring to the track as ‘practically undriveable'.
“That was just a really difficult session,” concurred
Toyota's
Timo Glock, eleventh on the grid. “It was very hard to find a good balance. The main problem was as each session went on, the track just started to fall away. That made the second and third runs very difficult and everyone was making mistakes, and if there are similar track conditions [on Sunday] it could cause major problems.”
“Qualifying was exceptionally difficult today,” added team-mate
Jarno Trulli, outside the top ten for the first time this season down in 14th spot, “because the track conditions were a disaster.
