A perplexed Sebastian Vettel was at a loss to understand why Aston Martin's pace had suddenly disappeared between final practice and qualifying in Montreal.
Vettel had clocked in third in Saturday's final practice which was held in wet conditions. And the four-time world champion was confident of upholding his impressive speed a few hours later in qualifying as conditions remained rainy and treacherous.
But neither the German nor teammate Lance Stroll were able to make the Q2 cut, a shortfall that bewildered Vettel.
"I do not know where our pace went," he said. "We did not change much between FP3 and qualifying – but we were too slow and we do not understand it.
"It is a pity, because we could have gone very well in these conditions. Given how the car felt out there, our lap times are not a surprise.
"The car was very difficult to drive – it was sliding and had a very poor rear end. We need to have a look at the data because something clearly did not work."
On the other side of the Aston garage, Stroll was equally confused.
"We were pretty competitive in FP3 this morning, so it was disappointing not to follow that up in qualifying," said the Canadian who is playing at home this weekend.
"In Q1, there was just no grip in the car, which meant we ended up stuck at the back of the pack.
"The yellow flag towards the end of the session also meant we could not further improve our lap-times – just when the track was one second per lap quicker as it dried out.
"It will be tough to start towards the back of the grid, but free practice showed our car has good pace, and we will try our best to get points tomorrow."
Aston team boss Mike Krack says his team was digging into the data to find out the reasons for his drivers' sudden lack of pace.
"Throughout Q1, both Lance and Sebastian were struggling for grip," he said. "And, despite a change to fresh tyres, neither driver felt they had the car beneath them to deliver a quick lap when the track was at its fastest at the end of the session.
"We did not do a good enough job this afternoon. We will go away and look at precisely what happened, but we know this is a circuit where overtaking is possible, we have two highly motivated drivers and a good car for tomorrow’s predicted dry conditions."
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