Norris defends McLaren tyre gamble: ‘There were valid reasons’

Lando Norris refused to blame McLaren’s controversial tyre gamble for the team’s disastrous Canadian Grand Prix, insisting the call to start on Intermediate tyres was grounded in logic – even if it ultimately unravelled within minutes.

For one glorious lap in Montreal, the decision looked inspired.

While most of the grid nervously rolled away on slick tyres under threatening skies, McLaren rolled the dice and fitted Intermediates to both of its cars.

Norris immediately looked untouchable, slicing through the field with superior grip and storming into the lead as rivals struggled desperately for traction on the greasy Circuit Gilles Villeneuve surface.

By the end of the opening lap, Norris had already built a two-second advantage.

Then the rain – which had been extremely light – stopped. And with it, McLaren’s entire strategy collapsed almost as quickly as it had ignited.

The track dried rapidly, the slick runners came alive, and Norris suddenly found himself stranded on the wrong tyre as the race slipped away.

Forced to pit early, McLaren’s brief moment of brilliance turned into another painful afternoon that eventually ended with Norris retiring altogether.

Still, the Briton insisted the team had not made a reckless mistake.

A wrong decision only in hindsight

"Probably just on the warm-up lap," Norris said when asked when he realised the gamble might not work.

"I think the rain already stopped a little bit by then, so, yeah, it was the wrong decision in hindsight. Obviously, it was good for a lap and kept me out of trouble, and so easily things could have happened behind, and I would have looked much better, but it was the wrong decision in the end.

"But I don't think through any bad decision-making. There were valid reasons for doing what we did. I'm happy we went for something and stuck to it. It doesn't work out sometimes, that's the way it is, so we take it on the chin, and we learn from it."

That first lap at least gave McLaren evidence that the call was not completely misguided.

Norris looked dramatically faster than the slick-shod cars in the opening corners, pulling clear while others tiptoed through the damp conditions struggling for tyre temperature and grip.

According to Norris, that initial advantage proved the Intermediates were not a crazy choice – merely one that lost the weather lottery.

‘One percent more rain and it would have suited us’

"I just had a lot more grip, as simple as that, honestly," Norris explained. "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, and of course, when they got a bit of temperature into the tyres, it worked out for them.

"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 and nothing really went our way today.

“I don't think our pace was going to be exceptional either way with the temperatures we had, and we ended with a DNF, so just a bit unlucky."

McLaren’s calculations also relied heavily on the possibility of early chaos.

With the field packed tightly together on a damp circuit, Norris and the team believed a safety car was highly likely – something that could have completely transformed the gamble into a masterstroke.

But once again, the race unfolded in exactly the wrong direction for McLaren.

"Already on the warm-up lap, we thought there would still be a very high chance of a safety car and things like that,” the reigning world champion explained.

• Canadian Grand Prix - Race results

"So, even with staying out on track, a safety car loss is 10 seconds. I was leading by two, and if a safety car came out, and everyone would be on their delta, I still could have come out on a new slick, probably inside the top 10, even better. I probably would have been better than that even.

"There were a lot of positive things that could have come from it, just none of those things came our way. So, it was a shame, apart from the very first lap and a good start and a good lap one, then we were just unlucky today."

In the end, McLaren’s bold call became another reminder of Formula 1’s brutal margins. For a few corners, Norris looked like a genius. A handful of dry laps later, the gamble had turned into a race-ending headache.

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