The Canadian Grand Prix was a spectacular affair with drizzle at the start, tense fighting across the fields and a series on unpredictably retirements, but in the end it was again Kimi Antonelli who drew the longest straw to win again. Hamilton and Verstappen were happy to join him on the podium after securing season best results.
I mean at the time you stated it, Russell was like 4 tenths off the pace so I think your assertion was quite reasonable.
Definitely McLaren reverted back to the Miami front wing. Stella also referenced ‘a few’ (parts) which need reviewing so not absolutely everything is still on the carzibby43 wrote: ↑23 May 2026, 23:31I mean at the time you stated it, Russell was like 4 tenths off the pace so I think your assertion was quite reasonable.
Ultimately, McLaren were about 1.5 tenths closer to the lead Mercedes today.
Usually when you see swings like that from sprint qualifying to qualifying it’s all down to tires and tire prep.
Edit: As an aside, did McLaren revert the large upgrade package they brought here as well? If so, I missed that.
max about the rain: ''it's already hard enough to make the slicks work over a lap, and in barcelona - a circuit where you generate more temperature in the tires - it was very difficult to make those rain tires work so that'll definitely be an issue tomorrow here.''
To follow up on Merc, looks like they made some setup changes for Sunday based on the forecast and it cost them some single lap pace.AR3-GP wrote: ↑23 May 2026, 23:52Sprint weekends still feel off to me. I prefer if all the teams can optimize their cars and run them. If you just want to see cars in random states of progress being out of position because they are not dialed in, then yeah the sprint weekends are good for that.
I still feel no wiser about the balance of power (other than Mercedes being X tenths in front).
Thank you kindly!CjC wrote: ↑23 May 2026, 23:39Definitely McLaren reverted back to the Miami front wing. Stella also referenced ‘a few’ (parts) which need reviewing so not absolutely everything is still on the carzibby43 wrote: ↑23 May 2026, 23:31I mean at the time you stated it, Russell was like 4 tenths off the pace so I think your assertion was quite reasonable.
Ultimately, McLaren were about 1.5 tenths closer to the lead Mercedes today.
Usually when you see swings like that from sprint qualifying to qualifying it’s all down to tires and tire prep.
Edit: As an aside, did McLaren revert the large upgrade package they brought here as well? If so, I missed that.
Finally, when asked about the biggest challenges in wet conditions, Hamilton pointed to the current wet tyres, admitting drivers still struggle with compounds that, in his view, do not work properly following the changes made to tyre blankets and blanket temperatures. The Briton also revealed he had personally pushed for adjustments during testing, though he believes the issue is still far from fully resolved.
“Ultimately the wet tyres aren't spectacular in terms of the way that they've moved to having no blankets, to having low blanket temperatures, and then ultimately they had to build a tyre that worked with those low blankets and the tyres didn't work. So we're constantly battling the tyres that don't work. From my test, I've pushed them to raise the blankets. If I had to raise the blankets, they did it. From the test, I've pushed them to add the blankets onto the extreme tyres, which they have. But that's still not enough. There's still a lot of it.”
Driving slower makes the tires colder.PlatinumZealot wrote: ↑24 May 2026, 04:00They can always drive slow in the rain if they don't want to hit the barriers.
AR3-GP wrote: ↑24 May 2026, 02:23Hamilton says the wet tyres are bad.
And so what? Everyone is running the same tires.Finally, when asked about the biggest challenges in wet conditions, Hamilton pointed to the current wet tyres, admitting drivers still struggle with compounds that, in his view, do not work properly following the changes made to tyre blankets and blanket temperatures. The Briton also revealed he had personally pushed for adjustments during testing, though he believes the issue is still far from fully resolved.
“Ultimately the wet tyres aren't spectacular in terms of the way that they've moved to having no blankets, to having low blanket temperatures, and then ultimately they had to build a tyre that worked with those low blankets and the tyres didn't work. So we're constantly battling the tyres that don't work. From my test, I've pushed them to raise the blankets. If I had to raise the blankets, they did it. From the test, I've pushed them to add the blankets onto the extreme tyres, which they have. But that's still not enough. There's still a lot of it.”
