Max Verstappen laughs at McLaren's failed strategy gamble

McLaren was the only frontrunning team to start Sunday's Canadian GP on the intermediate tyre

Max Verstappen poked fun at McLaren’s decision to start the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix on the intermediate compound as that strategic call immediately backfired.

The reigning championship-winning squad was the only frontrunner to start Sunday’s race on a non-slick tyre with the Montreal surface being slippery under cloudy conditions leading into it.

But much to McLaren’s dismay the track actually began to dry out, and on the formation lap the team started to realise it had made a costly error.

So Oscar Piastri, who started fourth, pitted for mediums at the end of lap one, with team-mate Lando Norris switching the following tour despite launching from third to first at lights out.

That was largely down to the Mercedes cars, which lined up 1-2, being slow at race starts this year though, so it was only a matter of time before Norris dropped down had he not pitted.

McLaren’s strategy was therefore put to the drivers after the grand prix and Verstappen made a joke of the situation, laughing: “That was a great call. I was like, ‘thank you’!”

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Cristobal Herrera-Ulashkevich / via Getty Images

It eventually led to a horrible non-score for the Woking outfit, as Norris retired with a gearbox problem while Piastri took 11th after a 10s penalty for colliding into Alex Albon at the hairpin during his desperate recovery drive.

So Verstappen took his first podium of 2026 with third behind Mercedes victor Kimi Antonelli, whose team-mate George Russell retired from the lead, and runner-up Lewis Hamilton.

“I’m a little bit surprised with being on the podium,” said Verstappen. “But you also have to look at it with George retiring, McLaren making a mess of the strategy.”

The strategic decision made McLaren look “like idiots” according to Piastri, with it also leaving other drivers such as championship leader Antonelli perplexed.

“It was not [an] easy situation because it started to drizzle a little bit harder,” said the Italian.

“You could see it was starting to get a little bit wet but we knew, at least we were quite confident, that it wouldn’t have lasted that long and that you could survive.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images

“So obviously went for slicks and of course I was surprised to see the McLarens on inters, especially because I think they were the only ones. So it was a massive gamble and if it would have started raining it was very good for them, but it didn’t.”

McLaren wasn’t the only team to do it though, as the lower half also saw Audi, Williams and Cadillac all go for inters, but Verstappen’s Red Bull team was never tempted by the option.

“It was straightforward for us,” said Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies. “But I'm not going to play that card. After the race, it's always easy. It was straightforward for us. Was it comfortable? No.

“Nobody knows if the rain is going to intensify and we are all going to look stupid. Or if not, we felt that for the conditions we had, which is the best thing you can do at that moment, we felt that for the conditions we had at that moment, it was the right thing to do.

“What was going to happen in the next five, 10, 15 minutes is in the control of nobody and one could look very bright or less so.”

Additional reporting by Ronald Vording