What does it mean to qualify on wet tires before the race.?

Question

does it mean to change the tires from what you are going to use in dry weather to what you are going to use in wet weather or is the track actually wet and your using the tires that u would use in the rain..

Answer 1

It means that whilst qualifying, it was raining -

Therefore wet qualifiers were used.

As always rides would choose soft,

medium or hard (wet) qualifiers just

as they do for normal qualifying (dry).

Matey above would be right to say that

lap times would be slower.

Answer 2

As mentioned above its qualifying with a wet track. wet tyres being defined as tyres with a full wet pattern (grooves and tread) you can also get intermediate tyres, these are usually cut slicks, grooves cut into the tyres by the technicians at the track. these can be very slight grooves or fairly deep depending on how much water is standing on the track. you will have seen during the races sometimes a dry line will form from the tyres displacing the water from the track as spray.

the problem with wet tyres in the dry is they overheat by the rubber folding into the grooves, this disintegrates the tyre. but using slicks (no pattern)in the wet, allows a film of water to form between the tyre and the surface.  which causes aquaplane, and with just 2 wheels, this is obviously a bad thing. so its usually a gamble as to which tyres to use for the best grip on a damp or drying track.

Answer 3

it means when they qualified, it was raining.  therefore they were qualifying in rain tires, which would mean slower lap times.

which could mean a difference of 3-4 seconds in race times depending on the size of the track.