Max Verstappen says "Thank you" to McLaren for tyre blunder in Canadian Grand Prix

The race in Canada last weekend started in tricky conditions with rain threatening the proceedings, but it was clear at the start of the race that slick tyres were on order, something the top teams believed aside from reigning Formula 1 Champions McLaren, who bizarrely started their race on Intermediates.

As it turned out, that was the wrong decision, with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris pitting early for slicks, which put them on the back foot. The latter retired with car issues later, while the former spent his race languishing out of the points with an early clash with Williams' Alex Albon and a consequent penalty not helping.

That made Verstappen's life easier. Starting from sixth on the grid, he found himself in podium contention and finished third after Lewis Hamilton beat him late in the race for a second.

“That was a great call. I was like, ‘thank you’!” Verstappen joked when asked about McLaren's decision.

Of his result, he added: “I’m a little bit surprised with being on the podium. But you also have to look at it with George [Russell] retiring, McLaren making a mess of the strategy.”

Red Bull Racing boss Laurent Mekies admitted the tyre decision was simple for his team; he commented: “It was straightforward for us.

"But I'm not going to play that card. After the race, it's always easy. It was straightforward for us. Was it comfortable? No.

“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, which is the best thing you can do at that moment, 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," Mekies concluded. (Report by Agnes Carlier)