At the Canadian Grand Prix, McLaren had virtually no chance against Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen, according to Andrea Stella
If you believe McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, the team didn’t stand a chance against Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen at the Canadian Grand Prix. Both finished in second and third place, respectively.
“Even in a normal race without any issues, I don’t think that, looking at the pace of the other podium contenders, we would have had the necessary pace ourselves,” Stella explained after the race. According to the team principal, this assumption is based on “the laps we drove when we were able to exploit our full potential.”
Both McLaren drivers started the Grand Prix on intermediates. Oscar Piastri had already asked to switch to dry tires during the formation lap, but both Papaya cars still entered the Grand Prix on tires designed for light rain.
Pirelli had warned in advance that the cold temperatures wouldn’t exactly help the intermediates. After a few laps, both switched to slicks, though Piastri collided with Alexander Albon shortly afterward, ending Albon’s race. A ten-second time penalty followed.
Meanwhile, Norris tried to fight his way up through the midfield. But even in dry conditions, the MCL40’s pace wasn’t impressive. On lap 38, the reigning world champion had to retire from the race due to gearbox issues. All in all, despite Norris’s second-place finish in qualifying, Canada was a weekend to forget.
“We had problems here in all areas, whether it was on the track, in terms of reliability, or due to an accident,” Stella explained after the race. “There’s a lot to analyze.”
Consequently, it was difficult for McLaren to properly assess the impact of its own upgrades. On Friday, the team had replaced its new front wing with an older model. By Sunday, they felt they were within a few tenths of a second of Mercedes. However, the temperature of the front tires in particular caused the team great concern during the race.
“I can only point to the cold temperatures,” Stella emphasized. “Our drivers were constantly locking up their tires or overbraking. They couldn’t get the front tires to work.”
Although Stella mentioned that the MCL40 is particularly susceptible to such cool temperatures, there were complaints across the entire field about a lack of grip or locking front wheels.
According to the team principal, a finish in the points after the intermediate tire attempt would have been the best-case scenario. Instead, McLaren ended up with zero points at the Canadian Grand Prix. In the Constructors’ Championship, they are in third place, 41 points behind Ferrari. Mercedes, with 219 points, is already more than 113 points ahead of the Woking-based team.