Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has blamed cold tyres for the reason why Mark Webber failed to get through to Q2 and Q3.
The Australian dropped out in the first session of qualifying in a shock result which will see him start from 18th on the grid, just ahead of the two Team Lotus cars.
Several issues during practice in the morning, including the loss of KERS, meant he had just two laps to get through to Q2, but Horner says that should have happened without doubt.
“We thought there would be enough performance to do it on the primes,” Horner told the BBC. “Everything that we have seen previously, and from this morning, suggested that he should be able to do it on the first lap on the prime tyres.”
The team chose not to send him out on the quicker soft tyres.
“We shouldn’t needed to have run the prime, it’s very easy with 20/20 hindsight to say that was a mistake and we should have gone on the option.
“It was the team’s call because it looked like another set of primes should have been more than enough given the pace that we saw this morning even with Mark’s short amount of running – it should have been enough to comfortably make it through.”
Horner put the issue down to a lack of heat in the tyres, but is confident he will be able to fight through the pack in tomorrow’s race.
“But with the tyres not being up to temperature it has obviously compromised him. He has just had rotten luck this weekend, but I am sure that he can race very well from there,” he added.
