McLaren blames tyre strategy for missing points in F1 Canadian GP

Jenson Button and Sergio Perez both missed out on the top 10 on Sunday, bringing a run of 64 consecutive points-scoring finishes for McLaren to an end.

Team principal Martin Whitmarsh is in no doubt that if the team had made a better tyre choice then it would have extended that record.

Stats: McLaren's points record grinds to a halt

"The whole weekend was a difficult one," he said. "We weren't quick enough. After qualifying, which didn't go well for us, it was difficult for us to recover from that.

"With hindsight we should have started on the prime, and we should have pushed harder on the prime because it was a much more durable and much quicker tyre than we anticipated.

"Even when we got Jenson on the prime, we gave him relatively slow target laps because we were fearful of not reaching the end. But actually he was much quicker at the end.

"We could have got into the points, but we didn't. We didn't plan it well, but we certainly weren't quick enough anyway to be up with the frontrunners.

"It was one of those weekends, apart from coming with a car that wasn't quick enough, where everything didn't fall into place.

"We should have scored some points, but we weren't fast enough this weekend."

Whitmarsh added that the end of McLaren's record run of points finishes was not a major cause for disappointment.

"Someone once said to me you don't remember tough times," he said.

"It's obviously sad our record for consecutive races in the points is at an end, which is tough, but we don't worry about that.

"We're just frustrated we didn't do a better job."