McLaren closes in on Mercedes as Norris and Piastri deliver strong qualifying in Montréal
McLaren emerged from Saturday at the Canadian Grand Prix with renewed confidence after a Sprint podium for Lando Norris and a tightly contested qualifying session that placed both cars directly behind the Mercedes front‑row lockout.
While the Woking team still lacks the final few tenths to challenge for pole on pure pace, the margins are shrinking—and both drivers believe Sunday’s mixed conditions could open the door to something bigger.
Norris held third off the line in the Sprint and initially dropped back from the two Mercedes cars ahead. But when George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli clashed, Norris was perfectly positioned to pounce. He slipped past Antonelli and then applied sustained pressure on Russell, running within half a second at times but ultimately unable to find a way through.
Piastri, meanwhile, lost a position to Lewis Hamilton at the start but remained patient, managing his tyres and reclaiming the place late in the race.
Norris praised the team’s execution and acknowledged the role Mercedes’ intra‑team battle played: "We can feel pretty good about today's results. Firstly, to finish P2 in the Sprint is a great achievement and a credit to the whole team for executing a good strategy and maximising our opportunities.
"We put ourselves in the right place to capitalise when the guys ahead were battling, and we came away with some very valuable points. We did a very good job with the package we have, but we have to be realistic about where we are.
"Without the two Mercedes fighting ahead of us, this result wouldn’t have been possible, so we’ll keep working and try to put ourselves in a position to battle with them on pure pace."
Piastri echoed the sense of progress: "Overall, a decent day. In the Sprint, it was a positive result for the team. With the change in wind from yesterday, the car didn’t quite feel like it did in Sprint Quali. However, we were able to get Lewis at the end and gain back the spot we lost at the start."
Qualifying once again saw Norris and Piastri separated by a razor‑thin margin—0.019s in Sprint Qualifying and 0.052s today. Norris secured P3, Piastri P4, and both drivers noted that McLaren appears closer to Mercedes than expected, especially without their full upgrade package.
Norris detailed the fine margins and the small setback on his final run: "In Qualifying, we we’re talking tiny margins today, half a tenth here or there was the difference between positions.
"We needed to be perfect today to beat the Mercedes, and it was very tricky to do that. I lost a bit of time on my final run when a car went off ahead, I picked up dirt on the tyres and then subsequently missed the slipstream down the back straight.
"But anyway, we’re close to the cars in front, closer than we expected without our full upgrade package, so as a team we can be very satisfied with today."
Piastri was similarly encouraged by the car’s behaviour: "I'm happy with Qualifying. The car was a step forward from the Sprint this morning, so that was positive.
"The session was a little trickier, we were struggling in Sector 1 and it was more difficult to get the tyres into the right window with the track and air temperature being quite low, and the harder nature of them."
He also noted the growing pressure McLaren is able to apply: "We are closer to Mercedes and were able to put some pressure on them, but unfortunately, it was just not quite enough.
"The rain tomorrow can mix things up, so it will be an opportunity for us all - let's see what we can do," the Australian concluded.
