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Max Verstappen was in no mood to hide his amusement. Speaking after the Canadian Grand Prix, the reigning champion delivered a pointed one-liner at McLaren's expense, laughing: "That was a great call. I was like, 'thank you'!"
The jab was directed squarely at McLaren's decision to send both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris onto intermediate tyres at the start of Sunday's race — a call that immediately unravelled and ultimately wrecked any hope of a competitive result for the Woking outfit.
Heading into the race, the Montreal surface was slippery under overcast skies, and the threat of rain was enough to tempt McLaren into committing to intermediates. They were, however, the only frontrunner to do so. As the formation lap unfolded, it became clear the track was actually beginning to dry out rather than deteriorate — and McLaren's strategy wall knew they had made a costly error before a single racing lap had been completed.
Piastri, who had qualified fourth, pitted for medium tyres at the end of lap one. Norris, who had launched from third all the way to first at lights out, followed suit a lap later. The early move to the front was largely a by-product of Mercedes struggling off the line — a recurring issue for the Silver Arrows this season — meaning Norris's lead was always going to be short-lived had he stayed out.
The damage, though, was already done. As Oscar Piastri himself admitted after the race, the strategic call left McLaren looking "like idiots" — a damning self-assessment that underlined just how badly the gamble had misfired.
The fallout was severe. Norris retired from the race with a gearbox problem, while Piastri was classified 11th after receiving a 10-second penalty for making contact with Alex Albon at the hairpin during his frantic recovery drive through the field. A weekend that had promised much for the championship-contending team ended in a double non-score.
For Verstappen, the chaos presented an unexpected opportunity. He took third place — his first podium of 2026 — behind race winner Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes and runner-up Lewis Hamilton in the Ferrari. George Russell, who had led the race, retired from the front, further opening the door.
"I'm a little bit surprised with being on the podium," Verstappen acknowledged. "But you also have to look at it with George retiring, McLaren making a mess of the strategy."
For more on what the result means for Red Bull, Verstappen himself called it an "extremely positive" step forward as the team claimed their first top-three finish of the new era.
McLaren were not entirely alone in their intermediate gamble — Audi, Williams and Cadillac also opted for the wet compound from the lower reaches of the grid — but among the frontrunners they stood entirely isolated. Championship leader Antonelli admitted to being baffled by the sight of the McLarens on inters.
"You could see it was starting to get a little bit wet but we knew, at least we were quite confident, that it wouldn't have lasted that long and that you could survive," the Italian said. "So obviously went for slicks and of course I was surprised to see the McLarens on inters, especially because I think they were the only ones. So it was a massive gamble and if it would have started raining it was very good for them, but it didn't."
For Red Bull, the decision to stay on slicks was described as straightforward — though team principal Laurent Mekies was careful not to be too smug about it in hindsight.
"I'm not going to play that card. After the race, it's always easy. It was straightforward for us. Was it comfortable? No," Mekies said. "Nobody knows if the rain is going to intensify and we are all going to look stupid. Or if not, we felt that for the conditions we had at that moment, it was the right thing to do. What was going to happen in the next five, 10, 15 minutes is in the control of nobody and one could look very bright or less so."
It was a measured and candid response — but the result spoke for itself. While McLaren imploded, Red Bull banked crucial points, and Verstappen walked away from Montreal with a smile on his face and a podium trophy in hand.
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.