George Russell converted pole position into a one-second victory in the sprint race at the Canadian Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver held the lead at the start despite a challenge from his teammate Kimi Antonelli, pulling nearly an eight-tenths lead on the opening lap and taking control of the race despite a slow start.
During the opening phase of the race, the two teammates were at it hard, with one making contact, but the second fight between the Mercedes duo proved more costly. Antonelli was forced to take avoiding action, running off the track, losing a place to Lando Norris. The Italian complained, but the team ordered him to “concentrate on the driving, not on the radio moaning”.
Antonelli was told off on at least two separate occasions by Mercedes chief Toto Wolff over team radio, as the teenager argued both during and at the end of the Sprint that Russell had raced unreasonably.
Russell kept his cool in the lead, and on the penultimate lap, Antonelli had a third off-track moment as he attempted to dive around the outside of the McLaren into the first corner, but Norris held firm. Norris took advantage of the collision to get himself into second and finish nearly six tenths ahead of the Italian.
The first of a series of flashpoints between Russell and Antonelli came on lap six after the two Mercedes had converted their front-row starting positions into a one-two on track at the start.
Russell said “It was a good, hard battle. Obviously, I defended into Turn 1 and you never get overtaken around the outside of that corner, so I knew it was kind of pretty safe, but kudos to Kimi for giving it a go, and I respect that, and obviously, came out unscathed. I’m glad that we’re both sat here now. It could have been something different, but it wasn’t, and that’s how racing should be.”
Norris added, “It was a good race, was good to watch them to go at it for a while and we were there to pick up the pieces. They were quick, Kimi caught me back up pretty quickly, so I was looking behind and looking to attack ahead. It was fun, always a tough track to push on and easy to make mistakes but yeah, today was a good result for us.”
Russell’s victory sees him gain two points on Antonelli, reducing the 19-year-old’s lead at the top of the drivers’ standings to eighteen points going into Sunday’s Grand Prix in Montreal, for which qualifying follows later on Saturday.
Antonelli tried to pass Russell around the outside of Turn One, but ended up on the grass, managing to hold on to second place. This was the incident by which Antonelli was angered, and the Italian continued his complaints after the race, believing he was forced off track by Russell as he tried to go around the outside of his team-mate at Turn 1, with the Italian having to bail out on his way into Turn 2.
Russell may be starting to get his arms out and use his experience to fight his teammate, but that third attempt to try and pass saw him look a bit desperate. Antonelli, raging from the incident, braked perhaps too late and bounced across the grass, losing second place to Norris. But it could be the start of a more tense rivalry between the Mercedes duo for the championship.
Oscar Piastri finished fourth, but the second McLaren appeared never to be in contention to fight for victory as he dropped nearly eight seconds behind Norris. The Australian did, however, fight back past Lewis Hamilton; the Ferrari driver had passed the McLaren at the start but was re-passed by Piastri on the final lap. Hamilton is under investigation for leaving the track and potentially gaining an advantage.
The Ferrari driver finished five seconds ahead of Max Verstappen, with the Racing Bull of Arvid Lindblad taking the final point. But neither the Red Bull nor its sister car showed pace, which would have made them able to challenge further up, the four-time champion finishing nearly fourteen seconds ahead of the Englishman.
Franco Colapinto was a respectable ninth for Alpine, followed by Williams’ Carlos Sainz and the second Racing Bulls car of Liam Lawson, who recovered from his limited running on Friday to finish twenty-four seconds behind the Spaniard. Gabriel Bortoleo finished a quarter of a second ahead of Audi teammate Nico Hulkenberg, but a ten-second penalty dropped the German to fifteenth.
Esteban Ocon was promoted to thirteenth after Sergio Perez was also given a time penalty, dropping the Mexican to fourteenth, and was ahead of Hulkenberg by just over a second and three-quarters.
Lance Stroll was sixteenth, leading the lapped cars, having started from the pit lane after a suspension issue, along with those behind him Valtteri Bottas, Ollie Bearman, Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly and Isack Hadjar. Hadjar had initially returned to the pits to retire after reporting an engine problem, but emerged back on track within a couple of laps and used the remaining session to gather data for the rest of the weekend.
Related
- Canadian GP – Sprint Qualifying Result
- CANADIAN GP – George Russell beats Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli by seven hundredths to sprint pole
- CANADIAN GP – Kimi Antonelli leads teammate George Russell by under a tenth in an interrupted practice session
- Welcome to the Canadian Grand Prix – 20/05/2026
- PRIXVIEW – Canadian Grand Prix
