McLaren rivals wondered ‘what on Earth’ they were doing with Canadian Grand Prix tyre choice

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McLaren left their rivals utterly bewildered by their decision to start the Canadian Grand Prix on the intermediate tyre.

Locking out the second row of the grid, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri started the race on intermediates. Rain was forecast for the Canadian Grand Prix, and McLaren hoped to capitalise.

However, it proved to be the wrong decision, as the track was still suited to slick tyres. By the end of lap two, both McLarens had pitted for dry tyres and were left at the back of the grid.

Karun Chandhok says rival F1 teams were left wondering ‘what on Earth’ McLaren were doing at Canadian Grand Prix

McLaren were not the only ones to take the risk, with Audi, Carlos Sainz and Valtteri Bottas also starting the race on inters. They would all realise that it was the wrong strategy, and McLaren’s race only got worse.

Piastri made contact with Alex Albon, taking him out of the race, and was hit with a time penalty. He limped home in P11, while Norris retired from the Canadian GP with a power unit issue.

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McLaren got their strategy horribly wrong, and some of their rivals were left feeling the same way. Karun Chandhok shared on Sky Sports F1 (24/5, 11:36 pm) what some drivers and rival engineers thought of the Woking outfit’s bold call.

“To be honest, from the commentary box walking to here, I bumped into three drivers and four people, engineers, from different teams, whose opening words were, to me, ‘What on earth were McLaren doing?’

“And you can replace earth with a different type of word on every one of those. So, yeah, certainly nobody else I’ve spoken to thought the inters were a good idea, none of the top teams anyway.”

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Lando Norris defends McLaren after Canadian Grand Prix strategy blunder

Norris did not care about Mercedes’ upgrades in Canada, and it seemed that McLaren had the pace to fight them, with the Brit splitting the Silver Arrows in the Sprint race.

But McLaren’s work was undone on Sunday by starting on the intermediate tyres. Norris admitted that it was the wrong call, but he says that it was not down to poor decision-making from the team.

Here’s how the championship standings look after the Canadian Grand Prix! Does George Russell have to take more risks now?

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He said via Motorsport.com: “I think the rain already stopped a little bit by then, so, yeah, it was the wrong decision in hindsight.

“Obviously, it was good for a lap and kept me out of trouble, and so easily things could have happened behind, and I would have looked much better, but it was the wrong decision in the end.

“But I don’t think through any bad decision-making. There were valid reasons for doing what we did. I’m happy we went for something and stuck to it. It doesn’t work out sometimes, that’s the way it is, so we take it on the chin, and we learn from it.”