- Kimi Antonelli won the Canadian Grand Prix after George Russell retired.
- The victory stretches Antonelli’s Formula 1 championship lead to 43 points.
- Max Verstappen secured his first podium finish of the season today.
Kimi Antonelli turned a tense Mercedes head-to-head into the biggest result of the Formula 1 weekend in Montreal, winning the Canadian Grand Prix after George Russell retired from the lead with a power unit problem.
The result gives Antonelli a fourth straight Grand Prix win and, according to Formula 1’s official race report, stretches his championship lead to 43 points.
Inter-Mercedes battle ended with Russell’s electrical failure
Antonelli won a dramatic Canadian Grand Prix after an early and at times contentious battle with Mercedes team mate Russell.
Russell started from pole, the pair traded the lead several times, and their fight only ended when Russell stopped on Lap 30 with a technical failure.
The key turning point of the race saw Russell pull off with smoke from the car while leading. From there, Antonelli controlled the race, with Lewis Hamilton climbing to second for Ferrari and Max Verstappen taking third.
First podium of the season for Max Verstappen
This was no routine win. Antonelli stayed in the fight against Russell on merit, survived the most intense intra-team duel of the race, and then capitalised when Mercedes lost its other car.
For F1 fans, this is making for an epic title fight. Antonelli has turned a weekend that began with Russell’s Sprint win and pole into a much stronger championship position.
There were wider knock-on effects too. Hamilton’s second place is an important lift for Ferrari, Verstappen finally has his first podium of the season, and McLaren paid heavily for starting both cars on intermediates before the track demanded slick tyres.
Massive result for Antonelli
Mercedes arrived in Canada looking capable of taking control of the competitive order, and Saturday seemed to confirm it when Russell won the Sprint and then beat Antonelli to pole in a front-row lockout.
Sunday underlined Mercedes’ pace, but in a much less clear-cut way than on Saturday. Russell’s retirement denied the team a likely one-two and left the big story not as a Mercedes triumph, but as Antonelli tightening his grip on the drivers’ championship.
It was also an ultra-costly day for McLaren: Oscar Piastri finished outside the points after contact with Alex Albon brought a penalty, while Lando Norris retired after a gearbox issue during his recovery drive.
