McLaren off the front row
Disappointed by a third place — a strange feeling considering the start of last season, but that’s exactly what Oscar Piastri felt after Canadian GP qualifying. This shift in mentality mirrors McLaren’s exponential growth, as the Woking-based team has now become a clear benchmark in Formula 1. Still, Saturday marked the team’s worst qualifying of the year, with neither papaya car on the front row — something that hadn’t happened since the 2024 Qatar GP. While Oscar Piastri managed to limit the damage with P3, things went worse for Lando Norris, who ended up seventh after squandering all his Q3 flying laps.
What caught Oscar Piastri out was the C5 medium tyre, which offers easier handling compared to the soft compound over a full lap. George Russell and Max Verstappen made the right call using the mediums, while the Australian made his pole attempt on the softs. Despite that, the championship contender has no regrets — given how the weekend had unfolded, with him consistently behind in the practice sessions, he believes they made the right decision.
Oscar Piastri’s words
“To be honest, considering how practice went, I’m quite satisfied with myself,” said Piastri, who changed the front suspension and opted for the setup Norris used in practice.
“We went for the softs because we had many issues and wanted to run a normal qualifying,” he added. “I’m pretty happy with third place: it has a slightly different value this year, but I’ll definitely take it.”
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