Montreal (AFP) – Championship leaders McLaren admitted that they are in damage limitation mode ahead of Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix after being outpaced by Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in qualifying. Oscar Piastri, who leads the drivers’ title race by 10 points ahead of team-mate Lando Norris, improved his form to qualify Saturday after a dismal Friday, but Norris slipped to seventh.
“To be honest, after how practice went, I’m pretty happy with myself at the moment, it was a nice turnaround,” admitted Piastri. “Third is ok and I will definitely take it here. It was always a question for us and a difficult one to choose a medium or a soft tyre for final qualifying Q3. We went with the soft because we were having a lot of problems and we just wanted to keep things consistent and play it safe.”
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Team boss Andrea Stella admitted: “We are in damage limitation mode,” a comment that suggested he and McLaren will be satisfied to claim a podium finish. Norris admitted he had too many mistakes. “It’s not ideal, just too many mistakes, I hit the wall in the last lap,” he said. “I’ve got confidence and the car felt good, but I just made too many mistakes.”
He added that the new front wing and suspension had made no discernible difference for his performance. “This is the kind of track where you need very good ride and an ability to take some bumps and very low grip,” he said. “The car was quick and maybe the medium tyre was a bit quicker at the end of qualifying, but I think our pace is good enough — I’m just a bit too far back again.”
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