McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl was left ruing a weekend in Montreal where nothing went his team’s way.
Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo looked relatively strong during Friday practice, but issues began to ensue during a wet qualifying session.
Ricciardo seemed to have a pace advantage over his team-mate in slippery conditions, but Norris was not helped by an engine issue that saw him sit out most of Q2.
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When he did make it out, he had little time to get the tyres into the right window, and he was dumped out in 14th as Ricciardo made Q3 and qualified ninth.
The MCL36’s pace was evident on Sunday as Norris got caught in traffic, unable to find a way past, before a double stop went wrong the British side.
They had just brought the Australian into the pits and planned to double stack him with the 22-year-old, but they had the wrong tyres out for Norris, who suffered a slow stop as a result.
He would spend the final stages stuck behind the Williams of Alex Albon in 15th, while Ricciardo was knocked out of the points by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll as he ended up 11th.
It has been an inconsistent season full of ups and downs so far for the Woking-based side, and last weekend was not one of their better ones.
“A very disappointing Sunday afternoon,” said Seidl in the team’s official race review.
“It’s been a tough weekend in general, with the car lacking pace, having reliability issues and suffering an operational issue in the double-shuffle pit-stop during the Virtual Safety Car period.
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“We have to acknowledge our competitors did a better job and therefore we didn’t deserve points today.”
The German boss offered a hand of apology to his drivers for the ultimately insufficient package they were working with in Canada.
“We didn’t give Lando or Daniel the package they deserved today, so we have to offer them an apology,” added Seidl.
“My thanks to our team here at the track, back in the factory and our colleagues at HPP for their efforts over the whole of this long-haul double-header.”
McLaren are based just 80 miles south of the next race in Silverstone at the British Grand Prix, where Seidl hopes for a return to the top 10.
“We also have to use this as an opportunity to learn, and come back stronger in two weeks for our home race at Silverstone,” he stated.
Esteban Ocon’s P5, coupled with Fernando Alonso’s ninth-placed finish, now puts Alpine eight points behind McLaren in the battle for fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.