Andrea Stella has defended McLaren’s controversial tyre gamble at the start of the Canadian Grand Prix, insisting the decision to begin the race on intermediate tyres was a collective call made jointly by the pit wall and the drivers.
What unfolded in Montreal quickly turned into a strategic nightmare for team papaya. While the vast majority of the field opted for slick tyres as conditions improved before lights out, both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri lined up on Pirelli’s green-banded inter.
The call backfired almost immediately.
As the rain eased and the circuit dried faster than expected, both McLaren drivers were forced into early pit stops for medium tyres, dropping them deep into traffic and effectively destroying their races before they had settled into rhythm.
Norris later retired with a mechanical issue, while Piastri’s recovery attempt unravelled after contact with Alex Albon.
Yet despite the disastrous outcome, Stella maintained the decision itself was logical based on the information available before the start.
Stella explains McLaren’s weather gamble
The McLaren boss pointed to the timing of the tyre choice and the rapidly evolving conditions as key factors behind the team’s thinking.
"You have to consider that the tyres are fit five minutes before the start and that there were kind of seven minutes when we needed to operationally make a decision," Stella explained.
"In our view the track was greasy. Already there was trouble keeping temperature in the tyres on a dry track, but at the time it was greasy, and it was raining. So, we thought that at the time you have to make a decision as to what was the right tyre for the moment.
"After that the rain very rapidly stopped and also there was a double formation lap which I think took the best out of this decision. I would have been pretty interested in seeing the cars with the dry tyres, had the race started at the time it should have started.
"So, I think we're a bit unlucky with the fact that the rain had just stopped and the fact that there was a double extra formation lap. In hindsight we were penalised by the decision but at the time that the decision needed to be made, I think the conditions existed to fit an intermediate tyre."
The additional formation laps – triggered after Arvid Lindblad encountered trouble before the start proved especially damaging to McLaren’s strategy.
Those extra laps allowed the circuit to dry significantly, removing much of the performance advantage intermediates might have offered during the opening phase.
‘Relatively shared by the pitwall and the drivers’
Stella also made clear that the call was not imposed solely from the pit wall. According to the McLaren team principal, the decision-making process involved direct input from both drivers as the team weighed up the risks of cold slick tyres in slippery conditions.
"In terms of making the decision actually it was relatively shared by the pitwall and the drivers. I even gave my input myself when a call needed to be made," he added.
©McLaren
"I just wanted to be sure that we were on a tyre that we could withstand the first lap.
"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 that they need to be made. With the rain lasting for a few more minutes and the race starting at the right time, we could have seen cars struggling on dry tyres."
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For a brief moment, the gamble even appeared inspired. Norris launched brilliantly off the line and surged into the lead thanks to the superior traction offered by the intermediates on the damp surface.
But as the circuit rapidly evolved, that advantage disappeared almost as quickly as it had arrived.
Instead of a strategic masterstroke, McLaren left Montreal with zero points and plenty of questions – though Stella remains convinced the team’s thinking, at the moment the decision was made, was far from reckless.
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