Outside Line: What is going on at McLaren? Formula 1 World Champs left looking like Chumps in Montreal

Reigning Formula 1 world champions McLaren had a disastrous Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday, 26 May 2026, after making a catastrophic strategy call by fitting both cars with intermediate tyres on a fast-drying Circuit Gilles Villeneuve while virtually every other team switched to slick dry tyres. The blunder compromised their race before it truly began, leaving them as bystanders while Mercedes driver and teenage sensation Kimi Antonelli won, and Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton battled for the podium. Columnist Paul Velasco described it as one of the worst strategy calls he had ever seen from a front-running Formula 1 team.