McLaren boss Andrea Stella has delivered a strong defence of the team’s decision to start the Canadian GP on the intermediate tyres with both cars.
From the second row, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were the only leading contenders to elect to take wet-weather rubber for the start, with those around on slick tyres as late rain and drizzle fell in Montreal.
The decision allowed Norris to roar into the lead off the line, after an extra two formation laps following Arvid Lindblad’s failure at the end of the first, which caused an aborted start procedure, but Piastri was radioing the team as early as the first formation lap requesting to pit for slicks.
Ultimately, after he did pit once the race got underway, he finished 11th after a penalty for clattering into Alex Albon’s Williams at the hairpin, whilst Norris retired due to what is believed to be a gearbox failure.
Defending the decision to start on the intermediate tyre, Stella explained that at the time the decision was required, McLaren was confident it had made the correct choice, and how the delay in actually starting the race counted against the Woking team.
“Well, you have to consider that the tyres are fitted five minutes before the start, and seven minutes before is when we needed to operationally make a decision,” Stella told media, including ApexF1.
“In our view, the track was already greasy, and there was trouble in keeping the temperature in the tyres on a dry track, but it was greasy and raining, so we had to make a decision as to what was the right tyre for that moment.
“After that, the rain stopped very rapidly, and there was also a double formation lap, and I think the double formation lap took the best out of this decision.
“I would have been very interested in seeing the cars with the dry tyres had the race started at the time it should have started, so I think we were a bit unlucky with the fact that the rain just stopped, and there was a double extra formation lap, which I am not exactly sure the last time we saw it.
“So in hindsight, we were penalised by the decision, but at the time the decision needed to be made, I think the conditions existed to fit the intermediate tyre; it just changed very rapidly in terms of making the decision.
“It was shared by the people and the drivers, and I myself even gave input because when a call needed to be made, I just wanted to make sure we were on a tyre that could withstand the first lap.
“I’m not sure how long it took for the extra double formation lap, but if you look at the pit-lane, it went from being dark grey, to grey like dry, so I think we always have to be a bit careful in judging decisions simply from the outcome.
“I think you have to judge the decision at the time they need to be made, like I say, the rain stopping pretty much after the five-minute signal, and then the double extra formation lap added a penalty to starting on the inters, but with the rain lasting for a few minutes more, and the race start happening at the right time, we could have seen cars struggling on dry tyres.”
