Oscar Piastri says McLaren ‘looked like fools’ but Andrea Stella defends failed Canadian GP tire gamble | F1 News

McLaren boss Andrea Stella has defended the failed tire gamble at the Canadian Grand Prix despite Oscar Piastri admitting the episode made the team look “stupid”.

With light rain in cold conditions in the build-up to Sunday’s race in Montreal, both Piastri and Lando Norris were among the seven drivers who could enter the midfield at the start – Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, Williams’ Carlos Sainz, and Cadillac’s Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas.

From third, Norris actually led the two Mercedes but dropped out at the end of the second stage as his middles began to overheat.

Piastri said on radio that McLaren “made a mistake” as Racing Bulls Arvid Lindblad’s problem led to two extra races, delaying the start seven minutes later than planned.

“It was raining and between the national anthem and getting into the car, the ground was wet. You could clearly see where it was wet and where it was dry,” said Piastri. Sky Sports F1.

“Getting to the grid on slicks was not easy, getting to full throttle was difficult. Unfortunately for us, it stopped raining. If it had rained a little we would have looked like heroes. It didn’t, so we looked like fools.”

However, Stella reckons that if the rain “had dragged on for a few minutes and started at the right time”, drivers on dry tires would have struggled.

“At that time you had to decide where to put the wheels, and there was no knowing when the rain would stop, the railway was oily and the right wheel at that time was the middle wheel,” he said.

“I was interested to see the race start when the race should have started because I’m not sure how long it took for the double extra formation lap, but if you look at the pit lane, it went from dark gray to gray, like dry.

“I think we have to be careful in judging decisions by the outcome. I think you have to judge decisions at the time they have to be taken.

“The rain stopped pretty much after the five-minute signal, then a double round of formation added a clear penalty to start with the inters.”

Is McLaren at risk in cold conditions?

Norris and Piastri closed the second row in Sprint Qualifying and Qualifying in Montreal behind the leading improved Mercedes.

McLaren also brought new parts to Canada but did not run its new wing after only testing it in Friday’s practice session.

Norris managed to separate the Mercedes in Saturday’s sprint and returned to the points on Sunday after running on dry tyres.

However, he was forced to ride again to clean the radiators, then the gearbox failed, which led to his second retirement this season.

“In the cold conditions we could raise the temperature, which made the car difficult to handle, but still I think we wanted a decent score,” said Norris.

“There’s still a lot of positives to take from the weekend.

“We’ll investigate the failure, work on warming up the tires in cooler conditions, and come back stronger. We’re learning from the calls we made and we’re aiming to turn that speed into a clean finish and point next time.”

Piastri finished 11th after damaging his car – and receiving a 10-second penalty – following a collision with Williams’ Alex Albon as he tried to fight through the field.

Stella believes that, even if McLaren had started the race with dry tyres, Norris or Piastri would not have entered the field.

“I don’t think we showed competition at the level we showed until Sunday. I can point this to the lack of tire temperature,” he said.

“Drivers have been locking their tires and driving around corners for a long time without finding the front wheels at all.

“I can say that even in a normal race, in a race where we had no problems, we look at the speed of other cars that were fighting for the field.

Next up is the start of the European summer cycle of Formula 1, with the Monaco Grand Prix the first of six races in eight weeks. Watch live on Sky Sports F1 from June 5-7. Stream Sky Sports NOW – no contract, cancel anytime