McLaren boss Andrea Stella has defended his failed Canadian Grand Prix tire gamble despite Oscar Piastri admitting the episode left the team looking “stupid”.
Amid cold weather and light rain for Sunday’s race in Montreal, Piatri and Lando Norris were among seven drivers equipped with intermediates for the start. The others were Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, Williams’ Carlos Sainz, and Cadillac’s Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas.
From third Norris actually took the lead of the two Mercedes, but pitted at the end of the second lap as the middle guys started to overheat.
Piastri said over the radio that McLaren had made a “mistake” when an issue with Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad resulted in two extra formation laps, delaying the start by about seven minutes behind schedule.
“It was raining, and between the national anthem and getting into the car, the ground was pretty wet. You could clearly see where it was wet and where it was dry,” Piastr said. Sky Sports F1.
“It wasn’t easy to get to the grid on the slicks, it was hard to accelerate to full speed. Unfortunately the rain stopped. If it had rained just a little more we would have looked like heroes. If it hadn’t, we looked like idiots.”
Oscar Piastri collided with Alex Albon at the 2026 Canadian Grand Prix.
But Stella believes drivers on dry tires might have struggled if the rain “had lasted a few more minutes and the start had been made at the right time”.
“When we had to decide what tires to put on, it wasn’t clear when the rain would stop, but the track was very oily and the right tires for that time were medium tires,” he said.
“I wanted to see the race start when it should have started because I didn’t know how long the double extra formation lap was going to take, but obviously when you look at the pit lane it went from dark gray to dry gray.
Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Watch Lando Norris take the lead at the start of the CHAOTIC Canadian GP race.
“I think you always have to be a little cautious about making decisions based solely on results. I think you should make decisions when they need to be made.
“After the five minute signal the rain almost stopped and a double extra formation lap added a clear penalty to the inter start.”
Is your McLaren susceptible to cold environments?
Norris and Piastri locked down the second row in Sprint Qualifying and Qualifying in Montreal behind the upgraded dominant Mercedes.
McLaren also brought new parts to Canada but did not run the new front wing after testing it in Friday’s only practice session.
Norris managed to split the Mercedes in Saturday’s sprint and is back in a points-paying position after being fitted with dry tires on Sunday.
Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Lando Norris took advantage of his Mercedes’ scrap in the sprint to finish second in Canada on Saturday.
However, he had to pit again to clean a radiator and suffered his second retirement of the season due to a gearbox failure.
“The cold conditions made the car difficult to handle as we couldn’t get the front end up to temperature, but I think we got a decent score nonetheless,” Norris said.
“There are still many positives from the weekend. Our pace was strong, we battled with Mercedes and the support from the fans was brilliant.”
“We will study the failures, work on warming up the tires in cooler conditions and come back stronger. We will learn from the calls we made and aim to translate that pace into a clean finish and points next time.”
Use the Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Lando Norris reflects on the Canadian Grand Prix where ‘a lot didn’t go his way’.
Piastri finished 11th after damaging his car and receiving a 10-second penalty for a collision with Williams’ Alex Albon as he attempted to fight back through the field.
Stella believes that neither Norris nor Piatri would have been able to challenge for the podium even if McLaren had started the race with dry tires.
“I don’t think we were able to show the level of competitive pace we showed leading up to Sunday. All I can point to is a lack of tire temperature,” he said.
“Drivers kept locking their tires, going long in corners and the front tires wouldn’t work at all.
“Even in normal races, where there are no problems, if you look at the speed of the other cars competing for the podium, I would say yes.”
Next up is the start of Formula 1’s European summer. The Monaco Grand Prix is the first of six races to be held in eight weeks. Watch live on Sky Sports F1 from 5-7 June. Stream Sky Sports NOW – No Commitment, Cancel Anytime
