Andrea Kimi Antonelli opened his Formula 1 title lead with victory in the Canadian Grand Prix, after a fierce battle with Mercedes teammate George Russell ended with the Brit failing to finish.
After the pair’s thrilling and terse duel in Saturday’s Sprint Race, the battle was set to be repeated, and duly was during the first half of the event, before Russell’s Mercedes gave out, giving Antonelli an unassailable lead.
Lewis Hamilton kept out of trouble and rolled back the years with a superb late overtake on Max Verstappen to take second.
McLaren produced a strategic horror show, with both cars starting on wet tyres, forcing them to pit early, effectively ending their interest early on. Lando Norris failed to finish, with Oscar Piastri ending the day out of the points.
How the F1 Canadian GP unfolded
The five lights held for an inordinately long time, with Antonelli starting to creep forward. A fresh formation lap was called, with Arvid Lindblad proving to be the problem – the young Brit unable to get in gear, forcing the abortion of the start.
With the Racing Bulls still being wheeled back to the pits, the second start was also aborted. The track, continuing to dry, began to irk Piastri, who dropped the biggest of hints that McLaren had fitted him with the wrong tyres.
Take number three: the race got underway and Russell seemed to stutter, with Antonelli getting the jump on him, but past the both of them swooped Norris, who dove into Turn 1 in the lead.
It was a tale of two McLarens as Piastri dropped to fifth with Hamilton taking fourth spot. Piastri boxed for dry tyres whilst under pressure from Verstappen. It would only be a matter of time before Norris’ rubber would start to show its disadvantage.
On the run down to the final chicane, Norris was ordered to pit, too, giving Antonelli the lead, with Russell and Hamilton both hot on his heels.
Russell tried to overtake on the outside into 1, but was cut off, giving Hamilton a sneaky look at his former teammate.
Antonelli nullified the pressure and by Lap 4 was six tenths ahead, with Verstappen up to fourth. The McLarens were now 14th and 15th, and Norris, in an attempt to work his way through the field, went wide at Turn 3, but just keeping his car from the walls.
Things came to a head with the Mercedes duo at the end of Lap 6, with Russell getting an amazing tow on Antonelli going into the final chicane. Breezing through, Antonelli was forced to brake hard, locking up and taking to the run off, but recovering to maintain second ahead of Hamilton.
The Ferrari would not hold third for long, as, at the start of Lap 9, Verstappen got the better of him at Turn 1.
Big winners early on were Oliver Bearman and Liam Lawson, working their way up to 10th and eighth respectively, but the Brit would be relieved of 10th by Norris, who was starting to carve his McLaren through the field.
On Lap 12, the Mercedes battle began to heat up, with Antonelli retaking the lead as Russell locked up at the hairpin, but Russell took it back again at the final chicane. They continued into Turn 1, but kept it clean, with Russell holding the lead.
Piastri came in again, this time after contact with Alex Albon at the hairpin. The McLaren was now lapped by the leading pack.
It would have no doubt been a case of blue moods and red faces for those in papaya, as Norris was also forced to box again, to clear plastic from his air intake.
Mercedes battle heats up but goes cold as Russell retires
Lap 17, and Russell locked up at the hairpin again. This time, he would hold the lead, and despite Antonelli getting side-by-side towards the final chicane, he would hold the lead. Thankfully for them, Verstappen was five seconds behind.
By Lap 21, Russell was continuing to defend valiantly from Antonelli, who was like a dog with a bone in pursuit of the lead.
A lap later, Antonelli managed to make the move stick after yet another hairpin lock-up from Russell, getting enough of run before the final corner to take the lead.
Two laps further on, Antonelli was the one to lock up, and Russell was alongside going into the chicane. Antonelli held the lead but off the track, and was ordered to give it back, despite his protestations.
All the while, Verstappen was six seconds behind in third, now over four seconds ahead of Hamilton, who lost time a few laps before after going off at Turn 8.
As everyone was settling down with their popcorn, ready to enjoy a Battle Royale between the two Mercs, Russell’s race was over in a flash.
Going onto the grass into 8, the #63 Silver Arrow ground to a halt as it returned to the asphalt. Round 5 it may be, had we just witnessed the first big moment of the title race?
A Virtual Safety Car was called, and Antonelli, Verstappen, Hamilton, Leclerc and Hadjar all pitted, with racing resuming exactly at half-distance.
The spiciest racing was now taking place between Leclerc and Hadjar, the Ferrari being squeezed out, but still giving chase.
Antonelli was now leading by 6.4s from Verstappen, with Hamilton back in third. Norris was up to ninth and in pursuit of Pierre Gasly.
At the end of Lap 39, Leclerc managed to get enough speed on the back straight to finally dispossess Hadjar of fourth, and one lap later, the next high-profile DNF came in the form of Norris, whose McLaren suffered a technical problem at the hairpin, and pulled off out of danger.
Into the final quarter of the race, and Antonelli held a six second lead over Verstappen, who complained of the temperature going out of his tyres. Hamilton was now bearing down on him, cutting the gap to just two seconds.
Debris at Turn 11 sparked the third VSC of the race, during which Leclerc had a big slide on the exit of the final chicane, collecting his Ferrari just in time, but brought the gap to Hadjar down to two seconds.
Hamilton and Verstappen take centre stage as Antonelli cruises to victory
With racing now resuming, Hamilton was just 0.7s behind Verstappen and on Lap 56 and into 57, he began to really look at the Red Bull, but was blocked off at every juncture.
With Hamilton looking at a loss to find enough power to get by Verstappen, he managed it on Lap 62.
Gaining enough momentum out of the final chicane, the Ferrari lined up behind the Red Bull and swept past on the outside into Turn 1. It was Hamilton of old and brought the crowd to its feet.
Verstappen was not done yet, keeping in touch with Hamilton, but the battle was giving Antonelli an even bigger lead out front, stretching it to 10 seconds.
Hamilton held off the Dutchman to the end, as Antonelli, out of sight up the road, crossed the line to take a fourth straight win, and firmly rubber-stamped himself into title contention, raking in a huge advantage over Russell.
Leclerc was fourth, with Hadjar, despite two time penalties totalling half-a-minute, fifth, with Colapinto sixth, Lawson seventh, Gasly eighth, Carlos Sainz ninth and Bearman 10th.
READ MORE – F1 2026 Canadian Grand Prix – Race Results
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