McLaren rues safety car after losing a potential victory in Montreal
Despite finishing second and fifth at the Canadian Grand Prix, McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were left frustrated to miss out on an even better result in the eventful and wild race of Montreal.
McLaren displayed impressive speed in qualifying to take a third and fourth on the starting grid for the Montral round. The two drivers have an ordinary launch off the line, but they appeared to struggle for grip in the initial laps of the 70-lap race when the surface was the wettest.
However, both Norris and Piastri looked to be more comfortable in the drying conditions on the inters. The Briton was able to overtake Max Verstappen and then George Russell to lead the race. He built up an impressive gap in a few lap, but he did not pit immediately when the safety car was deployed, and that cost him the lead.
Although he had a second chance to win when he stayed out on the inters as Verstappen and Russell pitted, but he led briefly when he rejoined the track, but was unable to hold on to the lead on his cold slicks.
“That was eventful! To be honest, I felt like I drove a good race from start to finish. The conditions were so stressful inside the car but very enjoyable at the same time.
"The first two stints were very strong, but we were a bit unlucky with the Safety Car. Well done to Max Verstappen who drove a good race and didn’t make any mistakes.
"I’m happy with second. It was good fun out there and we’ve scored good points for the team. The car’s been great all weekend, so thanks to everyone at McLaren. It’s nice to be so close and on the podium again. We’ll keep fighting to get back onto the top step," Norris concluded.
His team-mate Oscar Piastri was frustrated with the result of the race given his eye-catching pace on the drying track. Interestingly, the Australian looked the most comfortable in his MCL38 on the drying track just as his team-mate Norris.
“P5. It’s obviously not quite the result we wanted on my side of the garage, but we’ve got a good haul of points for the team and we’ve made more progress in the Constructors’ Championship.
"The pace that the Mercedes had on the fresh tyres for the final stint was better than we anticipated, but the race had the potential to be chaos so I think we can be pleased with what we’ve done. We will now get our heads down into the triple header and I look forward to seeing what we can do," the Australian concluded.
