McLaren’s disastrous strategy call at the 2026 Canadian Grand Prix may have been analysed endlessly on the pit wall, but perhaps the most telling reaction came away from the race engineers — in the cooldown room.
As Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen waited for race winner Kimi Antonelli ahead of the podium ceremony, footage of the chaotic Montreal start played on the screen. Watching Lando Norris launch aggressively off the line on intermediate tyres, both Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen could not help but laugh at what had unfolded.
The most amusing moment came when Max Verstappen turned toward Lewis Hamilton and joked: “I saw you change them at the last second.”
The comment referred to the crucial tyre choice before lights out. Ferrari, like Mercedes and Red Bull, ultimately opted to start on slick tyres, while McLaren took a bold gamble by sending both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri onto the grid on intermediates. Lewis Hamilton smiled, replied with a simple “Yeah”, and played along with the joke, though the exchange remained light-hearted and offered no definitive proof that Ferrari had seriously considered making the same call.
Still, the conversation perfectly captured how strange McLaren’s strategy appeared to drivers who had just stepped out of their cars. This was not merely a decision that looked poor in hindsight to analysts reviewing data after the race. Just minutes after battling each other for second place, even two of Formula 1’s most experienced champions found the decision hard to believe.
McLaren’s Canadian Grand Prix gamble unraveled almost immediately
McLaren chose to take a major risk at the start of the race. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were the only drivers inside the top ten to begin on intermediate tyres, while every other front-running team committed to dry-weather rubber.
For a few moments, the decision looked inspired. Starting from third on the grid, Lando Norris made a brilliant getaway and surged into the lead by the first corner, taking full advantage of the extra grip offered by the damp-weather compound on the still slightly wet surface.
But the advantage disappeared almost instantly. The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve dried far more quickly than expected, pushing the intermediate tyres out of their operating window within just a handful of laps. Both McLaren drivers were forced into early pit stops to switch to slicks, and from that point the race began to unravel.
Lando Norris dropped deep into traffic before eventually retiring with a gearbox issue, while Oscar Piastri’s afternoon went from bad to worse after contact with Alex Albon. The Australian received a 10-second penalty and ultimately finished outside the points.
— MediaRacing (@racing_vids) May 24, 2026
Andrea Stella explains the failed strategy call
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella defended the decision-making process, even if the final result proved disastrous. According to the team, the call was made while the track was still slippery, rain remained a possibility, and the available data suggested intermediates were still a viable option. The decisive factor, however, appears to have been timing.
Shortly after the five-minute signal, the rain stopped almost completely. Then came two additional formation laps after Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad was left stranded on the grid, giving the circuit even more time to dry and effectively turning McLaren’s calculated gamble into a costly self-inflicted error.
Oscar Piastri summed it up with brutal honesty: “With a bit more rain, we would have looked like geniuses. Without it, we looked like idiots.”
That quote perfectly captured a wasted Sunday for McLaren. Starting third and fourth, the team had every opportunity to stay firmly in the fight for a major result, but instead left Montreal empty-handed — and became the subject of post-race amusement for Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
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