2026 Canadian Grand Prix – McLaren Race Report

Find out what happened during the Canadian Grand Prix at the Miami International Autodrome, and get the thoughts of McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, as well as Team Principal, Andrea Stella

The Canadian Grand Prix hasn’t been kind to the Mastercard McLaren Formula 1 Team in recent years, and today was no exception. Oscar came home P11 following a collision with Albon on Lap 13 and subsequent 10-second penalty, while Lando retired mid-way through the race, suffering a suspected transmission issue.

In damp conditions at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, the team chose the Inter tyre at the start but lost out as the light rain petered out. The decision was driven by a greasy track and rain with five-minutes to go.

The potential upsides of this strategy were significant, as evidenced by the team’s superior grip at the start of the race, allowing Lando to take the lead. Ultimately, however, this potential advantage was negated by the two additional formation laps. Even as Lando took the lead on Lap 1, he knew the decision to start on Inters had proven to be the wrong one, and boxed at the end of Lap 2. Oscar, meanwhile, pitted at the end of the first lap, coming off the Intermediates onto the slick Medium Tyre.

Lando, having gone across the grass on Lap 8, had debris in a cooling duct, causing critical temperatures to spike. He pitted on Lap 15, taking on another set of Mediums while the crew cleared the blockage. He ran an excellent attacking stint after this, climbing back into the points, before reporting a transmission problem and retiring the car.

Things went from bad to worse. Oscar, recovering positions, had a collision at the Hairpin with Alex Albon. He damaged his nosecone and floor and immediately pitted for a new front wing and a second set of Medium tyres. He collected a 10-second penalty for causing the collision, which was served later in the race.

Oscar continued to push hard and took advantage of a VSC on Lap 51 to serve his penalty as cheaply as possible, while fitting a set of Soft tyres for a short final stint. He had a series of good, but ultimately unrewarded, battles, eventually finishing P11.

The McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team leave Montreal disappointed, but will regroup, take the learnings and then shift focus to Monaco and the start of the European season.

In F1 Academy, it was a tricky weekend for Ella Lloyd and Ella Stevens. Today’s Feature Race saw Lloyd overtake well, finishing in P9 having started in P16. For Stevens, she crossed the line in P12 after starting in P14. In British F4, Dries Van Langendonck finished on the podium again after crossing the line in P3 in Race 2, followed by a P7 finish in Race 3. Christian Costoya had a tough weekend after an on-track incident caused him to retire from the race, meaning he was unable to progress to the final.

Meanwhile, the Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team contested the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500. Pato O’Ward finished P4, Nolan Seigel finished P11, Christian Lungaard finished P17 and Ryan Hunter-Reay was classified P32 after an early incident caused him to retire from the race.

“That wasn’t the day we were hoping for. We made the decision to start on Inters as the ground was quite wet between the anthem and getting in the car, but ultimately it was the wrong call. I then got some damage in the collision with Albon. Apologies to him and to the Williams team. After that, we did what we could to try and catch up but it was just very difficult out there.

“There are still positives to take from this weekend. I feel like I made progress in some areas and we have made a step forward in closing the gap to Mercedes. We now reset, review and shift our focus to Monaco.”

“Today was tough. We made the decision to start on Intermediates because it was still spitting on the grid, and while the start was fantastic, the rain eased and that choice proved wrong beyond the first lap. That’s racing. Sometimes those decisions win you a race, sometimes they don’t and I take my share of responsibility for that decision. We also had to deal with a couple of early stops and, in the end, a mechanical failure that put us out of the race. In the cold conditions we couldn’t get the fronts up to temperature, which made the car hard to handle, but even so I think we were on for decent points.

“There are still plenty of positives to take from the weekend. Our pace was strong, we fought the Mercedes, and the support from the fans was brilliant. We’ll investigate the failure, work on tyre warm-up in cooler conditions, and come back stronger. We learn from the calls we made today and aim to turn that speed into a clean finish and points next time.”

Andrea Stella

Team Principal

“It’s been a Sprint event weekend of two halves. We were competitive in qualifying and the sprint, but the race didn’t go our way. We opted for intermediates five minutes before the start because the track was greasy and it was still raining; unfortunately, the rain stopped as soon as the tyres went on, the track dried quickly, and two extra formation laps took away any advantage. With Lando we faced a car issue, had to stop to clean the radiators, and then suffered a terminal gearbox problem. On Oscar’s side, the collision with Albon damaged the car and led to a penalty, and even in free air we struggled to generate the tyre temperatures needed for strong race pace.

“This is racing, and on difficult days you show character and learn the qualities that make you a champion. We’re grateful for the support, we’ll regroup and go again in Monaco.”