George Russell won the first-ever Formula 1 Sprint Race in Canada, but Andrea Kimi Antonelli was left furious after losing out in a fraught on-track battle with his Mercedes teammate.
Starting on pole, Russell held off Antonelli at the start and continued to lead, but a jostle for the lead saw the Italian take to the grass, and vented his anger on the radio, leading to intervention from boss Toto Wolff.
Antonelli went off later on the same lap, handing second to Lando Norris, who held that position with Antonelli attempting the same move on the final lap with the same result.
Oscar Piastri stole fourth place, with Charles Leclerc fifth, and Lewis Hamilton sixth, who had been fourth going into the final lap.
How the race unfolded
There was drama before the race started for hometown hero, Lance Stroll, whose AMR26 was plagued by a front suspension issue. Initially thought to be out, work carried on during the formation lap in order to get Stroll to at least a pit lane start.
At the start, Mercedes appeared to confirm eradication of its issues off the grid, as Russell got away brilliantly, with Antonelli fending off Norris into Turn 1. With Piastri bunched up as a result, Hamilton swooped around the outside on the exit of Turn 2 to nab fourth place from the Australian.
By Lap 3, the Mercedes were around three seconds ahead of Norris, with Antonelli approximately half a megajoule up on Russell.
Antonelli was now bringing his teammate’s lead down by two tenths, and with a mistake at the hairpin, Russell gave Antonelli an inroad to attack, which he did at the final chicane.
Fended off, the Italian tried once more into Turn 1, and having the inside line into 2, braked late and was forced to take to the grass. Avoiding him upon returning to the tarmac, Russell held the lead, but the drama was not done then.
Antonelli kept trying, and lost it at Turn 8, skidding onto the grass and then losing second to Norris.
Furious, Antonelli protested that Russell “pushed me off,” forcing Toto Wolff to tell him to focus on his driving and not “moaning”.
Amid the Mercedes drama, Isack Hadjar, nursing a power unit issue, was forced to box his Red Bull into retirement on Lap 8. But after a bit of tweaking, the Frenchman was sent back out, albeit three laps down.
By Lap 13, Russell was now 0.7s ahead of Norris, with Antonelli a further nine tenths down in third. Hamilton was able to keep a watching brief in fourth, holding an eight tenths advantage over Piastri.
The Australian was more inclined to look in his mirrors, as Charles Leclerc was gaining, 1.4s ahead of seventh-place Verstappen.
Norris was starting to look racy and was able to keep in touch with Russell, with Piastri drawing Hamilton in, still the filling in a Ferrari sandwich. Further back, Arvid Lindblad, the only runner on Hard tyres, was doing a sterling job in eighth, three seconds ahead of Franco Colapinto.
It was the status quo for the next laps, but with Norris making a mistake at the hairpin like Russell, it was the same result. Antonelli, fired up, made the same manoeuvre and again, went onto the grass. This time, opting to take to the escape road, Antonelli handed the place back.
Russell was left to take the victory comfortably, with Norris second, Antonelli third, with Piastri fourth by a fraction ahead of Leclerc, the pair having taken Hamilton early in the lap.
Verstappen was seventh, with Lindblad a distant but impressive eighth, with Colapinto ninth, Carlos Sainz 10th, and Sergio Perez a remarkable 11th in the Cadillac, but would be classified 14th after a earning a 10-second time penalty.
Still smarting on the cool-down lap, Antonelli was far from cool, continuing to complain over the radio, again leaving Wolff to come over to plead for a discussion in private.
In just one Sprint Race, it appeared that Russell immediately regained a psychological advantage over his teammate.
READ MORE – F1 2026 Canadian Grand Prix – Sprint Race Results
Discussion about this post