Ted Kravitz suspects McLaren overruled top strategist before Canadian GP tyre blunder

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McLaren sporting director Will Courtenay ‘can’t’ have been responsible for their tyre error at the Canadian Grand Prix, Ted Kravitz says.

Both McLaren drivers started on the intermediate tyres despite the track appearing to be dry, making them outliers in the top 10. Audi went in the same direction, along with the Williams of Carlos Sainz, but they had more reason to gamble.

Lando Norris took the lead from third on the grid but had to pit at the end of the second lap, while Oscar Piastri followed him one lap later. Light showers made the track a little damp and there were concerns about tyre warm-up, but they quickly realised they were going to burn out their inters.

Ted Kravitz criticises McLaren decision-making at Canadian Grand Prix

Kravitz was critical of McLaren during the race, suggesting that they should have pulled Piastri into the pits after one of the two formation laps.

“It seems like Oscar Piastri is the only one who actually knows what’s going on with the tyre choice at McLaren!” he said.

Why do McLaren keep making strategy errors?

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When Piastri suggested over the radio that the team may have made a mistake, Kravitz said: “There you go! That’s what we wanted to hear. He’s finally said it, plain and simple: we were on the wrong tyres.”

Speaking on ‘Ted’s Notebook‘ afterwards, he suggested that the decision had come from team principal Andrea Stella or racing director Randeep Singh, rather than former Red Bull strategist Will Courtenay, who joined the team this year.

“They have this new strategist at McLaren, who’s great, called Will Courtenay. I’ve not known him to make decisions like that. It can’t have been Will’s decision.

“Was it Randeep Singh, the racing director? Maybe. Was it Andrea Stella backing them up? Yes, maybe.”

Both McLaren drivers tried to claw their way back through the field after pitting early, but Norris eventually retired with gearbox trouble and Piastri, who received a 10-second penalty after hitting Alex Albon, finished two laps down and outside the points in P11.

Oscar Piastri admits McLaren looked like ‘idiots’ after choosing intermediate tyres

Piastri said McLaren fell on the wrong side of the fine margins in Montreal. Their experience on the warm-up laps convinced them that the intermediates could work, but they ultimately needed more rain.

“Getting to the grid on slicks was not easy, getting to full throttle was tough,” he told Sky Sports. “Unfortunately for us, it stopped raining. If it rained a little bit more, we would have looked like heroes. It didn’t, so we looked like idiots.”

McLaren have made a number of high-profile strategy errors in recent times, perhaps most notably at the Qatar GP last December when their decision not to pit during an early safety car denied them a likely one-two.

Red Bull’s head of racing Gianpiero Lambiase is joining McLaren in 2028 (unless an agreement for an earlier departure can be reached) and Kravitz has already said that he could have prevented some of these mistakes.