McLaren driver Oscar Piastri regarded his Qualifying outcome for the upcoming 2026 F1 Canadian GP as rather positive, while also acknowledging the fact that a wet race would be much more challenging to compete in with the new generation of cars.
The Australian driver performed better in the initial Qualifying segment, with more time to bring his tyres up to temperature. In the latest grid-setting segment, timings were more compressed, and Piastri opted, alongside the majority of the grid, for two single push attempts.
After the end of the F1 Qualifying session for the Canadian GP, Piastri admitted his top 5 start was not an easy feat.
“Pretty tough. I mean, I think everybody was doing warm-up laps, which was obviously a bit unusual, but I think George actually did two laps on the same set, so it was tough. I think, you know, once you did a warm-up lap it made things a bit easier, but not the easiest to get everything out of time.”
Ever-improving McLaren feeling
Every outing with his MCL40 is even more fruitful, increasing his understanding of the new regs and his track feeling. In fact, it already improved following the earlier Sprint Race, during which he secured good points with a last lap move on Lewis Hamilton for P4.
“It was reasonable. I think we did a better job of getting the balance nicely today, certainly compared to the Sprint, which was a good thing, but we’re still just lacking that last little bit, so we need to find a new one.”
In his opinion, there wasn’t much more potential left unexpressed in his car, motivating the always very tight margins at the Circuit Giles Villeneuve. Only 0.179s separated Piastri from eventual polesitter George Russell.
“Reasonably close. I think this circuit is one where you always feel like there’s a tenth or two left, but that normally ends up with a wheel or two missing if you try and chase it. I think there was a bit left in there, turn 3 and turn 4 I was struggling with pretty much that whole session, but apart from that it was all pretty good. Looking at George’s lap, it’s not a perfect lap either, so I think the Mercedes still got a bit of a gap on everyone.”
Piastri anticipates a wet F1 Canadian GP
Moving on to the main event, Piastri is mostly worried about the potential of a wet race. Up to now, he hasn’t had the chance yet to drive the new generation car in fully drenched conditions, an aspect which tallies up with the overall fairly common lack of track feeling.
“I think it’s going to be tough. We’ve not really driven these cars in the rain on a full wet [track], stop. Obviously, some people have done some testing now, but for myself, I’ve not driven the car in the rain, so it’s going to be tough.
“This circuit in the rain is tricky anyway when we had a wet race here a few years ago, so it’s going to be tough. These power units don’t like it when you’re inconsistent and it’s basically impossible to be consistent in the rain, so there’s going to be a few issues with that most likely up and down the grid, but we’ll see what we get.”
Not only tyre handling will raise a serious question, but also how the power unit fares. In order to be able to fully convert the horsepower within, strict conditions must be maintained throughout the lap, requiring high levels of concentration from the driver.
“The tyres, I don’t know, but I’ve not heard amazing things, and the power units, I mean, they’re tricky enough in the dry and consistent conditions, let alone in the rain, so I think both will be a big problem. Obviously, I think the power unit will just be a lap time loss. It could be quite big, but getting the tyres into the window or not, the risk factor of that is significantly higher, so we’ll see what we get.”
Looking forward to the race
In spite of the unexpected mixed weather conditions, Piastri still retains confidence in his and his team’s ability, knowing that everyone at McLaren will give their best to secure the maximum result available in the F1 Canadian GP.
“We did a lot of preparation in Miami, trying to understand. I think the conclusion was we don’t know what’s going to happen, and when you’ve got a few hundred, if not thousands, of the best engineers in the world that don’t know what’s going to happen, it’s an interesting place to be.
“I’m sure it’s the same up and down the track. There is definitely going to be a large element of the unknown.”
