Christian Horner believes McLaren’s crucial decision regarding slick tires cost them victory at the Canadian Grand Prix, even after losing the lead to Max Verstappen during the first safety car stop for Logan Sargeant’s stranded Williams.
While McLaren’s Lando Norris initially seemed to make the right call by staying out longer on intermediate tires, which remained faster for a while, the strategy ultimately backfired. Norris, with a 20-second lead over Verstappen, opted to extend his stint by two more laps before switching to slicks.
Horner explained that the crucial moment came when drivers started moving to slicks. Although Norris initially managed to emerge from the pits slightly ahead of Verstappen, he hit a damp part of the track and couldn’t get traction, allowing Verstappen, on the dry line, to pass him for the lead.
“I thought we were in a much better window as the circuit dried out,” said Horner. “We were able to hold a consistent gap and then it was all about getting the crossover at the right time. The first sector was pretty damp, and when you drive out of the pitlane, you lose a huge amount of temperature.”
Horner suggested that Norris’s decision to stay out for an additional two laps allowed Verstappen to get his tires up to temperature. “They left him for two [laps], and that was crucial as that gave Max another lap to generate the temperature. So when Lando did pit, [Verstappen] had tires that were in a window and was able to drive and pull out a three-second gap by sector one. So that timing was crucial.”
Horner admitted that McLaren looked set to win when Norris had a significant pace advantage on the drying track in the first stint. He explained, “In the first stint, we looked very competitive at the beginning of the race, pushing George [Russell] very hard and pulled out seven seconds very quickly on the cars behind. Then unfortunately, we just dropped a little back from George as the DRS opened, which allowed Lando to come back as the track was drying out. It looked like the Mercedes was in more trouble, but we were struggling to get past and that gave Lando a free pass.”
Ultimately, a safety car neutralized the field, and strategic adjustments allowed Red Bull to position Verstappen for victory. Horner concluded, “At that point, it looked like McLaren was the favorite to walk away and win the race. Then pit stops came, and we went onto another new set of inters. The safety car neutralized everything, and the adjustments we made allowed us to get into a better position.”
The key takeaway from Horner’s analysis is the critical importance of timing in tire strategy, particularly in variable conditions, which played a decisive role in the outcome of the Canadian Grand Prix.
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