McLaren's intermediate tyre gamble backfires; Montreal ends scoreless

McLaren endured a disastrous Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal that began with a controversial strategy call and ended with no championship points. The team started both cars on intermediate tyres, a decision both drivers objected to during the three formation laps as the rain eased — some sources reported it had stopped as the formation lap began. Lando Norris briefly led into Turn 1 on the call before Oscar Piastri pitted for slicks at the end of Lap 1 and Norris followed on Lap 2. Carlos Sainz was the only driver who made the intermediate gamble work, finishing ninth. Norris stopped again on Lap 15 for a suspected reliability issue and ultimately retired on Lap 40 with what looked like a gearbox failure. Piastri's day got worse when he collided with Alex Albon, putting the Williams out, earning a 10-second penalty and being classified 11th. Afterward, Piastri said McLaren "looked like idiots."

The pointless weekend left McLaren third in the Constructors' standings, 113 points behind leaders Mercedes and 41 points behind Ferrari. McLaren had reverted to its old front wing after practice and reported the MCL40 was losing time on the straights compared to the works Mercedes power unit. Team principal Andrea Stella said recent upgrades had narrowed the gap to Mercedes to under two-tenths of a second but warned Mercedes likely retained the edge in dry conditions, with limited wet-running experience on the 2026 cars adding to the unpredictability. Piastri flagged inconsistent power-unit behavior as a concern in the wet and raised worries about the Pirelli wet tyres following problems observed after the storms in Miami.