Oscar Piastri from McLaren was surprised by the impressive speed demonstrated by Mercedes throughout the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix weekend. Piastri had the chance to secure a spot on the podium alongside his teammate Lando Norris, but couldn’t resist the advances of the Mercedes drivers in the final laps. Despite his best efforts, Piastri acknowledged that the Mercedes drivers were much faster with new tires.
Mercedes has been steadily improving since a disappointing start to the season, and their revised front wing introduced in Monaco unlocked more potential. The team emerged as the leader in the final practice sessions, with George Russell securing pole position ahead of Max Verstappen. Although McLaren anticipated Mercedes’ competitiveness in Montreal, Piastri expressed uncertainty about whether their speed was specific to the conditions.
Piastri mentioned that during the third practice session, Lewis Hamilton’s lap time left them perplexed. They eventually discovered the reason behind it, but at the time, they knew they couldn’t come close to matching it. Even in the second qualifying session, when Russell recorded a time of 11.7 seconds and Piastri managed a time of 12.1 or 12.2, he knew he couldn’t find half a second to catch up. Overall, Piastri acknowledged that Mercedes had a very strong weekend, although it wasn’t entirely unexpected considering their performance in Monaco.
During the race, Piastri had a minor collision with Russell while battling for third place at the final chicane of lap 63. Piastri believes it’s a challenging stretch to go side by side, and going around the outside requires a lot of courage. In the end, Russell overtook him, but Piastri hopes the incident provided some entertainment for the fans.
