Norris backs McLaren’s failed Montreal tyre gamble: ‘It wasn’t stupid’

Lando Norris has refused to lay blame on McLaren following a disastrous strategic blunder at the Canadian Grand Prix, insisting the high-risk decision to start on intermediate tyres was backed by sound operational logic.

While the bold choice allowed Norris to sensationally snatch the lead on the opening lap, the rapidly drying track quickly turned McLaren’s afternoon into a tactical nightmare, compounding a painful double-retirement for the Woking-based outfit.

A calculated risk that lost the weather lottery

With greasy track conditions and unpredictable dark clouds looming over the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve before the race, McLaren split from the majority of the grid by fitting intermediates to both Norris and Oscar Piastri.

While Piastri immediately questioned the call over the team radio during the formation laps, Norris initially vindicated the decision by exploiting supreme early grip to pull out an immediate two-second cushion over the slick-shod pack.

However, the overhead rain abruptly ceased, forcing both papaya cars into costly early pit stops that dropped them deep into the midfield traffic.

Despite the strategic collapse, Norris remained adamant that the gamble was far from a reckless mistake.

“I think the rain already stopped a little bit by the warm-up lap, so yeah, it was the wrong decision in hindsight,” Norris explained to the media.

“It was good for a lap and kept me out of trouble, and easily things could have happened behind us. But I don’t think it was through any bad decision-making. There were valid reasons for doing what we did.”

The reigning world champion underlined that the initial performance gap proved the team wasn’t acting blindly, but simply missed out on a crucial percentage of forecasted weather.

“I just had a lot more grip, as simple as that. It shows how slippery it was for them in the beginning, and I had a two-second gap after one lap, so it wasn’t like it was stupid to be on that tyre.

“It was just drying out. Like one percent more rain or a few little bits of drizzle here or there, and it really would have suited us a lot more. So, that happens sometimes,” the Briton added.

A miserable afternoon capped off by mechanical failure

The strategic drop into the midfield pack ultimately set the stage for a bruising afternoon for McLaren.

While Piastri’s race unravelled after a costly collision with Williams’ Alex Albon, Norris’ recovery charge was cut short on lap 40 when his MCL40 suffered a terminal gearbox failure at the hairpin, putting a definitive end to a highly frustrating weekend.

Rather than pointing fingers at the pit wall, Norris stood united with the team, revealing that he had actively pushed for the aggressive intermediate start himself in order to survive a highly chaotic opening lap.

“There were a lot of positive things that could have come from it, just none of those things came our way. I don’t think we had the ultimate pace today anyway, so we take it on the chin and we learn from it,” Norris concluded.