"On the edge" - Kimi Antonelli's verdict on frantic F1 battle with George Russell

Kimi Antonelli has reflected that his titanic Formula 1 battle with George Russell at the Canadian Grand Prix was “on the edge”, as the Mercedes drivers duked it out for the race lead.

The heat of the F1 title battle was dialled up significantly in Montreal as Antonelli and Russell entered a fierce battle in the sprint race, before continuing under the ‘no space given’ mantra in the grand prix authorised by team boss, Toto Wolff.

“It was a tough fight,” said race winner Antonelli.

“I think a couple of times was maybe a little bit on the edge, but we were going at each other. We were both pushing and we both wanted to win.

“And it was, I think, for everyone watching, pretty entertaining. So definitely I think the stint was a lot of fun because we were both pushing on the limit and going for it.”

The battle ended prematurely on Sunday when, after a series of near-misses between the team-mates, Russell retired with a power unit problem.

In the sprint race, Antonelli believed that he had been forced off the track illegally and called for the stewards to penalise his team-mate, something that caused Wolff to jump on the team radio to put a pin in.

Reflecting on the weekend as a whole, after increasing his championship lead to 43 points, Antonelli added: “It was nice to end the weekend well.

“Of course, it was not really the way I wanted to win, because it was a close fight with George and I think would have gone all the way until the end.

“But of course we’ll take it and this time it went well for me and bad for him, and it might be another occasion where it goes bad for me and well for him.”

Had Russell not retired, Antonelli believes he may have had the upper hand, after seeming to have greater pace but being unable to find a way past on the track.

“I think at the end of the stint I had a little bit the upper hand because I had a little bit more pace,” he explained.

“I think he had a bit more pace initially but then he deg’d a little bit more, but it would have been very close. And of course it was not good to see him having the failure because, as I said, it would have been a very intense fight all the way until the end.

“It would have been interesting to see how it would have ended up but, yeah, definitely it was difficult to say.”