2025 Canadian Grand Prix – McLAREN Qualifying Report "attention is now on tomorrow and working hard with the team"

Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, Saturday, 14 June

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

OP81
FP3 1m12.519s (+0.720s) 18 laps 8th
Q1 1m11.939s (Soft)   2nd
Q2 1m11.715s (Soft)   5th
Q3 1m11.120s (Soft)   3rd

"I’m pleased with third today, that’s not often been the case this year, but I'll definitely take it this weekend, especially after some challenging moments in practice. It's good to see the turnaround we’ve made this afternoon and now we'll work hard overnight to carry that momentum into tomorrow’s race with the aim of keeping things consistent as we challenge to gain positions at the front."

LN4
FP3 1m11.799s 24 laps 1st
Q1 1m11.826s (Soft)   1st
Q2 1m11.599s (Soft)   2nd
Q3 1m11.625s (Soft)   7th

"A tough Qualifying and not the result I was after. We were lacking a little bit of pace to the quickest cars, and I've pushed a bit too much to try and find that. The attention is now on tomorrow and working hard with the team to recover positions and move forward to secure strong Championship points in the race."

background image

New Era, New Styles

Andrea Stella

"Not the Qualifying result we were hoping for today, but a reflection of the fact that this track has been difficult for the performance of the MCL39, which we have seen since FP1.  

"The team did a good job to make several adaptations from a car setup point of view and the drivers from a driving point of view, which worked well, allowing us to be relatively competitive in Qualifying until the final session.  

"Oscar was able to make some good progress but the potential in the car wasn't enough to beat George Russell and Max Verstappen today, who both used the Medium tyre in their final run. On Lando's side, Q1 and Q2 were competitive but in Q3 he wasn't able to improve performance and will start the race P7, which is not a reflection of his or the car's potential.  

"It will be an interesting race with regards to tyres and strategy alongside the potential for Safety Cars. Therefore, we remain positive for the race, and we will now focus on maximising preparations for tomorrow as a team."