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Andrea Stella has revealed that McLaren made a last-minute U-turn on their Canadian Grand Prix upgrade ahead of Sprint qualifying.
On Friday, Mercedes duo George Russell and Kimi Antonelli dominated the proceedings in Montreal as they locked out the front row for Saturday’s Sprint.
With pressure mounting on him, Russell secured Sprint pole ahead of Antonelli, and Lando Norris was in third place.
Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton rounded off the top five. Meanwhile, a frustrated Max Verstappen qualified in seventh.
Mercedes lock out the front row for the Montreal Sprint… But can Lando Norris replicate his Miami Sprint heroics from P3?
Andrea Stella reveals McLaren made last-minute U-turn on upgrade
Speaking after the session, McLaren team boss Stella revealed that they decided to make a last-gasp U-turn on one of the upgrades they brought to Canada.
The Italian stated that McLaren ran with the old-spec front wing and confirmed that they would like to take more time to evaluate the new version before sticking with it.
Stella said to Sky Sports: “I think it’s a fair margin considering they (Mercedes) had important upgrades here.
“We also had some upgrades. We actually wanted to take a bit more time to see the behaviour of the front wing, so we raced with the previous front wing.
“So, looking at the fact that the car is pretty much the Miami car, it’s a gap that remains encouraging.
“Obviously, we want to be in pole position, and today we are three tenths off so all things need to be put in perspective.”
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Lando Norris says Sprint qualifying was a ‘good surprise’
Reigning world champion Norris won the Sprint in Miami and will be looking to do so again on Saturday.
However, he knows that he will have a massive task on his hands if he is to overtake and then stay in front of Russell and Antonelli.
Speaking after Sprint qualifying, Norris admitted that McLaren have made a step forward and that P3 was a ‘good surprise’.
Norris said, as per Sky Sports F1: “It was a very good result, actually. A good surprise. After this morning [in practice] we were a little bit worried how far off we were, with the lack of confidence in the car.
“We made some tweaks and it seemed to make a good improvement. The car feels decent. Some things are maybe more questionable but it is such a weird track this, so low grip. You are bouncing off kerbs.
“You are not getting a true representation of everything and it is hard to back up what we are getting from the wind tunnel. We need a bit more time with some bits and will probably reintroduce them next week or in Barcelona.
“But the rest of the car was working well. It’s a good step forward.”
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