Antonelli wins dramatic Canadian Grand Prix as Russell retires amid thrilling Mercedes battle

Kimi Antonelli has taken victory in a dramatic Canadian Grand Prix, and extended his championship lead to 43 points in the process, after Mercedes team mate George Russell was forced to retire on Lap 30 following a power unit issue on his car.

The early stages of the race were dominated by a thrilling battle for the lead between Russell and Antonelli, with some contentious moments between them as the pair swapped positions on numerous occasions.

But the duel came to an end in heartbreaking circumstances for Russell when the Briton suffered a sudden technical issue that forced him to stop on track. A Virtual Safety Car was deployed and much of the field pitted, with Antonelli left holding a solid lead over second-placed Verstappen.

From there the Italian was untroubled at the front, crossing the line with a margin of 10.7 seconds to seal his fourth consecutive win. Lewis Hamilton took a strong second place for Ferrari, the seven-time World Champion overtaking the Red Bull of Max Verstappen in the final laps.

Verstappen held onto third to score his first podium of the season, while Charles Leclerc and Isack Hadjar were fourth and fifth respectively in the sister Ferrari and Red Bull cars. Franco Colapinto continued his good run for Alpine in sixth, and Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson just held off the other Alpine of Pierre Gasly as the pair claimed P7 and P8.

Carlos Sainz added to Williams’ tally in ninth, and Haas’ Ollie Bearman sealed the final point on offer in 10th. Oscar Piastri missed out in P11 on what turned out to be a nightmare day for McLaren, with both cars pitting early for slick tyres after their decision to start on the intermediate compound proved to be the wrong one.

The Audis of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto placed in 12th and 13th, ahead of Haas’ Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll in the Aston Martin and Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas in 14th through to 16th.

There were five other retirements from the race alongside Russell. McLaren’s difficult day was compounded when Norris stopped after reporting a gearbox issue, the Briton having spent much of the race trying to recover after pitting two laps in from the lead to swap his intermediate tyres for slicks.

Cadillac’s Sergio Perez retired with a suspension failure, while the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso found himself out of the running following a problem with his seat.

Williams’ Alex Albon was eliminated after being hit by Piastri – an incident that Piastri received a penalty for – and Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad did not even get to start the race after experiencing a clutch issue on the grid.

AS IT HAPPENED

After a busy weekend of track action at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve – which included an entertaining third Sprint of the campaign on Saturday – it was time for Round 5 of the season, the Canadian Grand Prix.

All eyes were on the skies as the paddock assembled prior to Sunday’s event, given that the weather forecast had predicted a good possibility of rain on race day. While it had been spitting during the morning on and off, the showers appeared to have gotten heavier again as the start of the race neared, with plenty of umbrellas up as the drivers and teams prepared on the grid in increasingly cold temperatures.

Russell was set to start from pole position and would be hoping to continue his solid form seen earlier in the weekend, having already converted pole into victory for the Sprint. Team mate Antonelli, however, would line up alongside him, meaning that it was very much all to play for after their clash in the 100km dash.

One alteration to the starting order had been made ahead of the race, with Stroll confirmed to start from the pit lane after elements on his power unit were changed under parc ferme conditions.

Given the mixed conditions, there were question marks over which tyres the pack would opt for – and it was subsequently revealed when the tyre blankets were removed that a mixture of compounds had been selected, with the McLarens, Audis, Cadillacs and the Williams of Sainz going for the intermediates, while Lawson, Lindblad and Colapinto had bolted on the mediums and the rest of the field had gone for the softs.

An extra formation lap was confirmed at the start after Lindblad’s car stalled due to a clutch issue on the grid, with the pack going around for a lap while the Racing Bulls machine was cleared before another formation lap followed. This would reduce the race distance to 68 laps.

The changing conditions sparked some conversation at McLaren during the extra lap, Piastri having radioed in to say that the intermediates were a “mistake”. But that would have to wait as the field lined up for the start – and when the lights went out, a lightning launch from Norris saw the Briton run alongside the Mercedes pair before storming into the lead.

Russell lost a position to drop back to third behind his team mate, while Hamilton had overtaken Piastri for fourth. That order quickly changed as Piastri dived into the pits at the end of the first lap, swapping to the medium tyres and dropping towards the rear of the pack.

There was further action in the McLaren pit box when the second tour concluded, with the Briton also stopping for the medium rubber and falling back to P14. Russell was looking racy as he tried to find a way past his team mate, but the championship leader defended to hold P1. Meanwhile the rest of the intermediate runners had pitted for slicks.

A big moment for Norris saw the reigning World Champion run over the grass, with his race engineer admitting that they might be “going very long” with their strategy. Five laps down, Antonelli continued to lead from Russell, Hamilton, Verstappen, Leclerc, Hadjar, Colapinto, Lawson, Bearman and Alonso.

Russell remained hot on the tail of Antonelli and overtook the sister Mercedes before the last chicane – with Antonelli then locking up and narrowly avoiding contact with Russell in the process as he ran off the track. Having flat-spotted his tyres, the Italian dropped back to one second behind.

Verstappen, meanwhile, had climbed to third after surging past Hamilton, the latter seemingly struggling as he reported “I got no power, man!” over the radio. Ten laps in, Russell was still one second clear of Antonelli, with Verstappen 3.5 seconds back in third as Hamilton and Leclerc followed.

Further back, Norris had moved up to P11 and was looking to find a way past Bearman, while Piastri was running in P13. But up at the front the situation was getting tense, with a lock-up from Russell seeing Antonelli momentarily take the lead before the British driver retook the position.

The yellow flags were waved on Lap 13 after Albon came to a stop, the Williams driver finding himself out of the race after being hit by Piastri. The McLaren man had been trying to overtake Bearman and locked up, running into Albon as a result.

Piastri made another pit stop for a new front wing, with the collision noted by the stewards. There was worse to come for McLaren when Norris was also forced to pit again to have grass cleared from his car following another wide moment, dropping him down to P14 ahead of Piastri in P16.

As Lap 18 ticked down, another lock-up from Russell allowed Antonelli to run side-by-side with his team mate – but Russell again held on, forcing Antonelli to brake and back out. The Italian remained half a second behind, however, meaning that the fight was likely not over yet.

Behind them, Verstappen was still in third but with Hamilton chasing hard behind – also half a second adrift as was the case with the front pair – while Leclerc held a more distant fifth. An off-track moment for Hamilton saw him drop backwards shortly afterwards.

On Lap 22 the scrap at the front took yet another twist, with Antonelli making a move into the last corner and making it stick to take the lead. But just two tours later – as the duo lapped Norris – Antonelli locked up and Russell returned to P1. Antonelli soon tried another overtake but ran wide off the track and rejoined ahead, leading the team to ask him to give the position back.

"Why mate, he pushed me off and I was already ahead?" Antonelli asked over the radio, yet the Italian did as told and gave the place back to Russell. Amid all of this Piastri had been handed a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision, marking another unhappy event for McLaren on what was proving to be a tough day.

The stewards confirmed that there would be no further investigation into Antonelli and Russell – but the situation took a dramatic turn on Lap 30 when Russell slowed down with a sudden issue and stopped on track, the Briton furiously slamming his fists on the car before jumping out. This made the Mercedes driver the fourth retiree, with Alonso having been wheeled back into the Aston Martin garage shortly before.

A Virtual Safety Car was deployed as Russell’s car was recovered, leading to most of the field diving into the pits – including Antonelli, who bolted on the medium tyres and emerged with a 4.6 second lead over Verstappen.

It was confirmed that Russell would be investigated after the race over an incident, seemingly for throwing his head rest out of his car after coming to a halt. Back on track – as Lap 35 ticked down – the rest of the top 10 behind Antonelli and Verstappen was completed by Hamilton, Hadjar, Leclerc, Colapinto, Lawson, Gasly, Norris and Sainz.

Leclerc – who had lost a position to Hadjar after Ferrari double-stacked in the pit lane – was left unhappy after having to take avoiding action following some robust defending from the Red Bull driver, leaving the Monegasque to remark: “That was nearly a huge one.” Hadjar, meanwhile, had been noted for a yellow flag infringement.

While no further investigation was deemed necessary over that offence, the Frenchman was then noted for making more than one change in direction. Leclerc eventually found a way past to move up into P4.

McLaren’s difficult day continued as Norris retired from the running, reporting a possible issue with the gearbox – and the list of retirements grew further when Perez limped back to the pits, with something seemingly flying off his car in the process. The Mexican had also recently been noted for ignoring blue flags.

It was proving to be a busy afternoon for the stewards, with Hadjar handed a 10-second time penalty for changing direction more than once in his scrap with Leclerc. After a brief Virtual Safety Car phase to allow for some debris to be collected, the race continued with Antonelli 4.3 seconds ahead of Verstappen on Lap 48.

Verstappen, however, was potentially going to find himself under pressure from Hamilton, the seven-time World Champion having closed to 2.5 seconds behind his former title rival. Further back, fourth-placed Leclerc asked his race engineer not to speak to him again until the last lap.

Another Virtual Safety Car was called on Lap 53, leading Hadjar and Piastri to take the chance to pit and serve their respective 10-second time penalties, bringing them out in fifth and 13th places. When the VSC ended, Antonelli had extended his lead to eight seconds – but Hamilton was now only 1.4s behind Verstappen.

As replays showed Leclerc just saving a big slide at the final corner, Hamilton edged further towards Verstappen and looked to find a way past the four-time World Champion. “I need more power” was Hamilton’s comment over the team radio.

The Ferrari driver finally got it done on Lap 62, going around the outside of Verstappen into Turn 1 to snatch second place. Meanwhile the other Red Bull of Hadjar had been hit with a stop-and-go penalty for that earlier yellow flag infringement, with the French driver pitting again to serve the punishment, having held enough of a margin to Colapinto behind to keep P5.

Hamilton was not able to rest easy in P2 as the final laps ticked down, with Verstappen still all over the back of the Scuderia car. But Antonelli did not have to worry up front, the Italian taking his fourth consecutive victory by 10 seconds as the chequered flag fell.

Despite Verstappen remaining only half a second behind, Hamilton held onto second as the two World Champions sealed their positions on the podium in Montreal. Leclerc was some 32 seconds back in fourth ahead of Hadjar, who remained in fifth despite serving two penalties.

Colapinto clinched a second points finish in a row in sixth, while Lawson kept a chasing Gasly at bay to claim seventh. Sainz and Bearman completed the top 10, with Piastri having to settle for P11 on a point-less day for McLaren.

Hulkenberg, Bortoleto, Ocon, Stroll and Bottas were the final classified runners, the race having ended with a list of six retirees in Perez, Norris, Russell, Alonso, Albon and Lindblad.

Key quote

"It was a really fun battle to be fair with George," said Antonelli. "We were pretty much in the limit and it was not easy today with the wind. Very gusty, Turn 10 was very difficult. I think one lap he locked up and then I went in front and locked up. It was very close and it was a shame for him to have he failure because it would have been a very cool battle but, I mean, we take it. Another win and I'm very happy, and a massive thanks of course to the team."

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