Red Bull duo Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel are confident that their team's choice of the harder Bridgstones for Q3 and the start of the Canadian Grand Prix will prove to be correct.
The squad lost its 100 percent pole record for the season when Lewis Hamilton took the top spot for McLaren in Montreal today, but the Briton used the softer tires, which Red Bull felt had been too fragile in practice to risk using for the opening stint.
"We thought we could still do a pretty good job in qualifying on the harder tire," said Webber. "We knew still had a crack at the front row. McLaren is on the option tire, it is a long race tomorrow and we are planning to do the best job we can.
"We think it is something that will be beneficial to us. With the odd safety car here and there, there are many ways this race can unfold. We stuck to our guns, Seb and I are in the top three again."
Vettel was languishing near the foot of the top 10 until his final run in Q3, and admitted it had been harder to get the medium tires up to speed.
"It was a pretty entertaining last session," he said. "We went out on the hard tires, they take a while to come in, I didn't get a lap in until the last lap. It was not perfect timing, the lap wasn't very clean, so I'm happy I still made it ti third.
"Let's see what we can do, I'm happy both of us made it with the prime tires, especially with the soft tire being so difficult to make last for a few laps."