For the first time in Formula 1 history, a driver’s first four career wins have come in consecutive order as Kimi Antonelli has won the Canadian Grand Prix. That’s not to say he had it all his own way as Lando Norris shot into the lead off the start. McLaren was the only front-running team to start both its drivers on intermediate tyres, and once Norris came in for an early stop on lap two, Antonelli inherited the lead but was immediately under attack from his teammate.
George Russell passed Antonelli at the final chicane on lap four and resisted the teenager’s advances on lap 12 to retain the lead. Antonelli made the move stick on lap 22 but locked up at the hairpin two laps later. Russell regained the initiative but ground to a halt with engine issues on lap 29. Antonelli ran untroubled from that point on and cruised home 10.7s clear of the field.
Russell later admitted to being “lost for words” but expressed pride at his weekend, given the pace he has shown throughout. With this DNF, Russell is now 43 points off the championship lead. While that gap is by no means insurmountable, it does leave the Mercedes driver with a lot of work to do if he’s to have any hope in catching his teammate.
While Russell faltered, Hamilton prevailed. The seven-time world champion leapt up to fourth off the start and, once Norris peeled into the pits, found himself in third place. Despite complaining of a lack of power, Hamilton was able to pressure Max Verstappen for second in the latter half of the race. The Ferrari driver passed Verstappen around the outside of turn one with six laps to go and, despite failing to break away from the Dutchman, hung on for P2. His second podium of the season and his best result for Ferrari so far.
Having endured a frustrating weekend, Verstappen was content with third. After making a clean getaway and benefiting from McLaren and Russell’s misfortune, Verstappen capitalised on the resulting virtual safety car to run in second. Despite losing out to Hamilton, Verstappen was able to stay with him in the closing stages and secure his first podium of the season.
In contrast to Hamilton’s jubilation, Charles Leclerc had what he described as “a nightmare of a weekend”. After struggling for pace throughout, Leclerc found himself embroiled in a battle with Isack Hadjar after the virtual safety car and managed to secure fourth on lap 40, 34 seconds behind his teammate. Despite the decent result, Leclerc was clearly frustrated at his lack of pace relative to Hamilton. With his home race up next, Leclerc will be looking to put this weekend behind him.
Behind him, Hadjar was another beneficiary of the virtual safety car and eventually secured fifth despite two separate ten-second penalties and arguably aided his teammate’s cause by holding up Leclerc.
Having begun his weekend with a curtailed FP1, Franco Colapinto was able to recover in full and secured his best result of the season so far in sixth. Liam Lawson finished seventh after a memorable tussle with Pierre Gasly, who managed to make up six places.
Carlos Sainz had a quiet but credible run to ninth ahead of Oliver Bearman and Oscar Piastri, who found himself on the wrong end of a strategic gamble by McLaren. After deciding to start both drivers on intermediate tyres, the reigning constructors' champions were caught out by the lack of rainfall, something Piastri pointed out on the formation lap. He pitted for slicks after just one lap, with Norris following him a lap later. Piastri was later awarded a ten-second penalty for colliding with Alex Albon on lap 13 and finished out of the points in 11th, while Norris was forced to retire with gearbox issues on lap 38.
Nico Hulkenberg suffered a major spin at turn one en route to 12th ahead of his teammate Gabriel Bortoleto. Esteban Ocon finished 14th ahead of Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas. Sergio Perez suffered a dramatic suspension failure on lap 39, problems with the seat ruled Fernando Alonso out of the running, while Arvid Lindblad was unable to take the start due to a gearbox issue.
With seventeen races still to go, this championship is anything but settled. However, with Russell’s misfortune, there’s little denying that it is currently advantage: Antonelli.
