Verstappen mocks McLaren's costly tyre gamble as Antonelli wins Canadian GP

Max Verstappen claimed his first podium of 2026 at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal on Sunday, finishing third behind race winner Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton — and wasted no time mocking the strategic blunder that helped put him there. McLaren, the reigning constructors’ champions, became the only frontrunning team to start the race on intermediate tyres, a gamble that unravelled almost immediately.

With the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve surface slippery under cloudy skies before the race, McLaren opted for inters for both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. But the track began to dry during the formation lap, and by the end of lap one the team was already in damage-limitation mode. Piastri, who had started fourth, pitted for mediums at the end of lap one; Norris, who had jumped from third to first at the start, followed a lap later.

Norris’s early lead was partly a product of the Mercedes cars’ poor getaways — a recurring weakness in 2026 — rather than any advantage from the intermediate compound, meaning a drop back through the field was inevitable regardless. The recovery drives that followed proved fruitless: Norris retired with a gearbox failure, while Piastri crossed the line 11th after receiving a 10-second penalty for colliding with Alex Albon at the hairpin.

When the strategy call was put to Verstappen after the race, the Dutchman laughed: “That was a great call. I was like, ‘thank you’!” He was equally candid about the broader picture. “I’m a little bit surprised with being on the podium,” he said. “But you also have to look at it with George retiring, McLaren making a mess of the strategy.”

Piastri himself described the decision as making the team look “like idiots.” Championship leader Antonelli, who took victory for Mercedes after team-mate George Russell retired from the lead, said he was baffled to see McLaren on intermediates when almost every other frontrunner had gone with slicks. “It was a massive gamble,” the Italian said. “If it would have started raining it was very good for them, but it didn’t.”

McLaren were not entirely alone — Audi, Williams and Cadillac also started on inters further down the grid — but among the title contenders they stood isolated. Red Bull, Verstappen noted, were never tempted by the option. The result hands Antonelli a significant boost in the drivers’ standings and leaves McLaren with nothing to show from a race weekend in which they arrived as one of the favourites.