2024 Canadian Grand Prix – Race Report "It was good fun out there and we’ve scored good points for the team"

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Sunday, 9 June

Hear from McLaren Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, as well as Team Principal Andrea Stella, after the Canadian Grand Prix.

As it happened

• Clean start, both cars hold position through the first sequence of corners. 
• Oscar drops to P5 as Magnussen moves through on the Wet tyre which is more suited to current conditions. 
• Magnussen pits as the Wet tyre is becoming less effective, allowing Oscar to regain his starting position of P4. 
• A Verstappen error allows Lando to get within one second of the Red Bull just as DRS is enabled.  
• Lando has the pace over the leaders and overtakes Verstappen heading towards the final chicane. 
• Lando doesn’t take long to get past Russell and now takes over the race lead. 
• The Safety Car is deployed with Sargent stranded on track. The timing is unfortunate for Lando whose pace is very strong. Oscar, however, pits for new Inters.  
• Lando is still able to pit under the Safety Car on the following lap but re-emerges in P3. 
• Hamilton is the first of the leading pack to pit for slick tyres, Oscar follows suit and pits for new Mediums. 
• Lando stays on the Inters for two laps more than Verstappen and Russell. When he does pit for Mediums, he is just pipped to first at the pit exit by Verstappen. 
• Russell makes the most of his warmer tyres and gets ahead of Lando but then runs slightly wide which is just enough for Lando to regain P2. 
• The Safety car is back out for a second time as Albon and Sainz collide, leaving Albon in the wall. 
• Russell pits under the Safety Car which moves Oscar up to P3.   
• There’s contact between Oscar and Russell as the latter attempts to get ahead at the final chicane but Oscar defends his position. 
• The two Mercedes swap positions and it is Hamilton who overtakes Oscar for the final podium position. 
• Oscar can’t keep Russell behind him on this occasion and he drops back to P5. 
• Lando secures our fifth successive podium, bringing his MCL38 home in P2. 

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Started 3rd
Finished 2nd
Fastest Lap 1m15.558s on Lap 67 (+0.702s, 3rd)
Pit-stops 2, lap 26 [Inter/Inter] (2.5s) and lap 47 [Inter/Medium] (2.9s)

“That was eventful! To be honest, I felt like I drove a good race from start to finish. The conditions were so stressful inside the car but very enjoyable at the same time. The first two stints were very strong, but we were a bit unlucky with the Safety Car. Well done to Max Verstappen who drove a good race and didn’t make any mistakes.

“I’m happy with second. It was good fun out there and we’ve scored good points for the team. The car’s been great all weekend, so thanks to everyone at McLaren. It’s nice to be so close and on the podium again. We’ll keep fighting to get back onto the top step.”

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Started 4th
Finished 5th
Fastest Lap 1m16.247s on Lap 65 (+1.391s, 5th)
Pit-stops 2, lap 25 [Inter/Inter] (2.7s) and lap 44 [Inter/Medium] (2.8s)

“P5. It’s obviously not quite the result we wanted on my side of the garage, but we’ve got a good haul of points for the team and we’ve made more progress in the Constructors’ Championship. The pace that the Mercedes had on the fresh tyres for the final stint was better than we anticipated, but the race had the potential to be chaos so I think we can be pleased with what we’ve done. We will now get our heads down into the triple header and I look forward to seeing what we can do.”

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The Senna Collection

Andrea Stella

“As expected, we had an entertaining and exciting Canadian Grand Prix. The field has compressed, and the competition is very tight. With the variable weather today, it meant several drivers were favourites for the win at different stages of the race and it’s important that Lando was one of those. This is the key message we take away from Montréal: McLaren is competitive, able to take podiums and compete for victory in different conditions.

“The timing of the Safety Car was a little unfortunate for Lando, because it came when his pace was very strong and he was in the lead, opening a large gap, but this is racing and we won’t dwell on it. He drove a very good race. Oscar was very strong also. It’s great to see him in his second season fighting for podiums.

“Our focus has to be on improving the car and improving our operations so that we can consistently be at the front like we were here in Canada. We take home a big haul of points, so we consider this a positive outcome. My thanks to the team for another big effort this weekend, and on we go to Spain.”