Oscar Piastri admits McLaren ‘looked like idiots’ in Canadian GP strategy backfire

Oscar Piastri discussed the fine margins behind McLaren’s bold call to start the Canadian Grand Prix on intermediate tyres.

With a little bit more rain, McLaren would have looked like heroes, but instead, McLaren looked “like idiots,” Piastri admits. That strategy gamble which backfired was the first setback in an extremely frustrating Canadian Grand Prix for McLaren.

Oscar Piastri admits McLaren ‘looked like idiots’

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It was a cold and dreary scene in Montreal for race day, though the track looked dry as lights out approached.

McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who formed the second row, took the start on intermediate tyres, despite both drivers arguing on the three formation laps that this was a mistake.

The Audis, Carlos Sainz and the Cadillacs also started on inters.

Norris actually launched into the lead at Turn 1, while Piastri lost a place to Lewis Hamilton.

But, it quickly became clear that the intermediates were not the right tyre. Piastri was in at the end of Lap 1 for slicks, Norris Lap 2.

Piastri was asked to explain the thinking from McLaren behind that intermediates strategy.

“It was raining, and between the anthem and getting in the car, it was pretty wet on the ground, in all honesty,” Piastri told Sky F1.

“There was definitely no standing water, but you could clearly tell where it was wet and where it was dry, and getting to the grid was not easy on slicks. Getting to full throttle was pretty tough.

“Unfortunately for us, it stopped raining as the formation lap started, basically.

“So, yeah, just one of those things where had it rained a little bit more, we would have looked like heroes. But it didn’t, so we looked like idiots.”

The afternoon failed to improve for McLaren.

Norris retired from the race with a potential gearbox issue. Piastri punted Alex Albon’s Williams into retirement, and received a 10-second penalty for his troubles.

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“It was just so, so difficult out there,” Piastri began as he reflected on the Albon incident.

“I felt like I was going into the corner pretty carefully, and locked the front, and then that was it.

“Obviously not my finest moment, and apologies to Alex and Williams, because it was unnecessary damage for both of us, especially for them.”

Piastri was ultimately classified P11, meaning McLaren took no points away from Grand Prix Sunday in Montreal.

McLaren is now 113 points behind Constructors’ Championship leaders Mercedes.

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