What initially looked to be a positive weekend in closing the gap to Mercedes, ended in disaster. A DNF and a p11 saw McLaren leave Montreal pointless. A weekend that looked optimistic with a close qualifying gap to Mercedes and pace in the sprint unravelled following an egregious call from their pit wall.
An Aggressive Upgrade Put On The Back Burner
Following the success of the upgrades in Miami, there were high hope for Mclaren’s second load of upgrades. The Woking based team arrived in Montreal with seven upgrades in hopes of making gains on the W16 of Mercedes. Famously known for bringing season changing upgrades, the team seemed to have hit a bump with their aggressive new front wing.
The sole practice session of the weekend saw Lando Norris use the new spec throughout. Teammate Oscar Piastri, however, started the session using the old wing. Both of them suffered lock ups during practice struggling to keep it on the track with the upgraded wing. Ahead of sprint qualifying, both McLaren drivers had reverted back to the one used in Miami due to a lack of comfortability with the new spec. Team Principal Andrea Stella told Sky Sports F1:
“We actually wanted to take a bit more time to see the behaviour of the front wing.”
Both Norris and Stella hinted at its reintroduction in the next couple of races.
Norris Converts Second Row Start To Sprint Podium
Both McLaren drivers sailed through SQ1 and SQ2. The medium tyre saw them in the fight with both Ferraris for the second and third row of the grid. The first laps in SQ3 saw Oscar Piastri slot into p6 and after making a mistake, Norris in a worrying P9.
With it all to do the reigning world champion pulled out a lap that had him momentarily on the front row. Piastri managed to slot in behind him and the pair locked out the second row. Qualifying third and fourth looked to be the maximum of the car.
The sprint on Saturday, however, gave a hopeful sign of McLaren keeping in touch with Mercedes. The Silver Arrows also brought an upgrade package to Montreal with theirs proving to be efficient. Qualifying just under three tenths off the closest Mercedes it seemed third would be the maximum on Saturday as well. Giving them hope as they managed to keep within toughing distance despite the championship leaders improving their car.
An intra battle between George Russell and Kimi Antonelli led to tensions rising and brief contact. Antonelli made a desperate move locking up and going across the grass. With a loss of momentum Norris passed Antonelli into second, where both sat closely behind Russell for the remainder of the race. A promising sign for the reigning Constructor’s Champions with two back-to-back podiums.
After being passed by Hamilton on the opening lap, Piastri remained in a close fought battle with both Ferraris for fourth place. A brilliant pass in the last chicane saw the Australian overtake Hamilton, who also lost a place to his teammate. Piastri then edged Leclerc by one tenth over the line securing fourth in the sprint. The result meant at the time Piastri gained two points on fifth place in the championship.
Mclaren Hit An All-time Low In The Grand Prix
Qualifying on Saturday saw an identical McLaren result to Friday’s sprint qualifying. A positive was that this time the closest McLaren of Norris was only one and a half tenths off pole.
Starting from the second row the strategy team made a catastrophic mistake. With drizzles of rain in the air, the pit wall put both their cars on the intermediate tyres. Despite protest from both Norris and Piastri claiming it was dry enough for slicks. In attempt to salvage the error, the reigning champion made a rocket start off the line. He jumped both Mercedes into turn one. What was a P1 on the road, however, was always going to become a fight to be in the points.
Both drivers entered the pit lane in the opening laps to switch to the medium tyre moving them to the back of the field. Norris made his way up into the back end of the points before taking another stop. A previous excursion through the grass resulted in debris in the sidepods needing to be cleared out. Back down the order the Brit began carving his way through the field once again. A lap down and fighting in the mid field the troubles continued. An issue, which Norris thought to be the gearbox, meant he came to a stop outside turn 10. Zero points for car number one.
It was also zero points for car 81. A rocky start off the line saw Piastri lose a place to Hamilton. Wanting to make up for the team’s strategy mistake, the nine-time race winner made an error into the hairpin. A lockup meant he swerved to avoid Oliver Bearman leading to him hitting Alex Albon.
With the Williams driver out of the race the Australian was handed a ten second penalty. Piastri then underwent two more race damaging pitstops. The first to replace a damaged front wing after the contact and the second to serve his penalty. Piastri managed to recover two places but finished one place outside the points in 11th.
The result meant for a second weekend this season, the team would walk away pointless in the grand prix format as they did in China when they didn’t start. McLaren will hope to bounce back in Monaco; a place they took the race win last year.