McLaren explains tyre gamble that wrecked its F1 Canadian GP

McLaren Formula 1 team principal Andrea Stella has explained the team felt it was the right call to put both of its driver on intermediates at the start of the Canadian Grand Prix. 

Light rain had hit Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve all morning, but conditions improved ahead of the 4pm local start, with the vast majority of the grid starting on slicks.

Sharing the second row, McLaren team-mates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were the only frontrunners to start on the intermediate tyres, which turned out to be a costly choice as they were quickly forced back to the pits to pick up medium tyres.

McLaren’s race spiralled out of control from there as Piastri clumsily collided with Alex Albon while carving his way back to the front, while Norris retired with mechanical trouble.

After the race, however, team boss Stella felt the team’s call to start on rain tyres was not necessarily wrong at the time a call had to be made.

Further, the two additional formation laps for Arvid Lindblad‘s stricken Racing Bulls car further took away any early advantage McLaren may have had from the decision, as it prevented several laps of running when track conditions were at their worst.

“You have to consider that the tyres are fit five minutes before the start and that there were kind of seven minutes when we needed to operationally make a decision,” Stella explained.

“In our view the track was greasy. Already there was trouble keeping temperature in the tyres on a dry track, but at the time it was greasy, and it was raining. So, we thought that at the time you have to make a decision as to what was the right tyre for the moment.

“After that the rain very rapidly stopped and also there was a double formation lap which I think took the best out of this decision. I would have been pretty interested in seeing the cars with the dry tyres, had the race started at the time it should have started.

“So, I think we’re a bit unlucky with the fact that the rain had just stopped and the fact that there was a double extra formation lap. In hindsight we were penalised by the decision but at the time that the decision needed to be made, I think the conditions existed to fit an intermediate tyre.”

First laps in Montreal GP

Stella said he also gave his input in the decision as he wanted to make sure his drivers would be able to make it through the first few laps, in the knowledge that the cold conditions made it extremely challenging for slick starters to bring their front tyres up to temperature.

That was apparent at the start, where third-placed Norris jumped into the lead with a much better launch on the inters before his tyre advantage soon turned into a handicap.

“In terms of making the decision actually it was relatively shared by the pitwall and the drivers. I even gave my input myself when a call needed to be made,” he added. “I just wanted to be sure that we were on a tyre that we could withstand the first lap.

“We always have to be a bit careful in judging decisions simply from the outcome. I think you have to judge the decision at the time that they need to be made. With the rain lasting for a few more minutes and the race starting at the right time, we could have seen cars struggling on dry tyres.”

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– The Motorsport.com Team

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