(Motorsport-Total.com) – Who is responsible for McLaren’s zero score on Sunday in Canada? The team sent Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri out on intermediates at the start, which in hindsight was a mistake and early on ruined all hopes of a good result.
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Expert Ralf Schumacher emphasizes, however, that the blame should not be placed solely on the team here. “From my point of view, a clear mistake by both drivers,” said the six-time Grand Prix winner in the podcast Backstage Boxengasse from Sky.
According to Schumacher, putting on intermediates at the start would only have been a valid strategy “if the weather forecaster says it will rain soon. Then it makes sense. Otherwise, I have to be honest, the responsibility lies 100 percent with the driver,” said the expert.
The drivers should have already noticed on the way to the starting grid that the track was too dry for intermediates. “They should actually have this experience by now,” said Schumacher. In addition, they should have had the “confidence” to overrule the team if necessary.
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In fact, Piastri realized during the formation lap that the strategy would not work. He already wanted to switch to slicks before the start, but McLaren refused. “That should have been done,” says Schumacher, who also sees the team responsible at least in this point.
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“Sometimes, when it matters, McLaren just makes the wrong decision,” criticizes the expert. For example, the team also messed up with a strategy decision at the 2025 race in Qatar and thus lost all chances of victory.
Also in Montreal, they have now “ruined the race themselves again,” warns Schumacher and explains that it was an “absolute wrong decision by team and driver,” although he sees most of the responsibility with the two drivers.
“That really shouldn’t happen,” he says, emphasizing that this applies especially to Norris as a “world champion who has been around for so long.”
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