Kimi Antonelli wins breathless F1 Canadian GP ahead of Lewis Hamilton as George Russell suffers title blow
Kimi Antonelli makes it four wins in a row in Canada as George Russell suffers heartbreaking DNF.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli claimed victory in an action-packed Canadian Grand Prix after George Russell retired following a breathless battle between the Mercedes Formula 1 team-mates.
Having clashed in the Montreal sprint race, the Mercedes pair resumed their sparring in Sunday’s main event as they exchanged first place on several occasions during a tense battle that saw them come close to crashing.
After some intense wheel-banging, Mercedes warned both drivers to tidy up their hard racing, threatening to call off the fight if Russell and Antonelli did not calm things down.
2026 F1 Canadian Grand Prix: Full race results
Russell and Antonelli ran nose-to-tail throughout the first half of the race, with the thrilling duel only coming to an end when Russell’s Mercedes suddenly conked out with an engine failure on lap 29.
It marked a huge early blow to Russell’s title hopes as he lost further ground to Antonelli in the championship.
Russell’s first retirement since the 2024 British Grand Prix means the 28-year-old Briton is now 43 points behind Antonelli, who continued his incredible form to bag a fourth consecutive victory.
The 19-year-old Italian has become the first driver in F1 history to win claim his first four career victories on the bounce.
Lewis Hamilton claimed his second podium of the season with a strong drive to second place, having come out on top of a late tussle with his great F1 rival Max Verstappen.
The seven-time world champion hunted down Verstappen in the final stint, before sweeping around the outside of the Red Bull driver with a sweet move into Turn 1.
Charles Leclerc took a distant fourth in the other Ferrari, ahead of Isack Hadjar, who took fifth for Red Bull after being hit with a 10-second time penalty for moving under breaking in his defence against the Monegasque, and then a stop-and-go penalty.
Franco Colapinto claimed a brilliant sixth to score his best result in F1 for the second straight race, with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson in-between the two Alpines as Pierre Gasly bagged eighth to make it a double points finish for the French squad.
Carlos Sainz scored more points for Williams in ninth, while Ollie Bearman rounded out the top-10 to secure the final point on offer for Haas.
McLaren had a nightmare race after a gamble to start on intermediates spectacularly backfired, forcing both Norris and Oscar Piastri to make earlier-than-planned pit stops.
Reigning world champion Norris retired with a reliability problem, while Piastri had a race to forget, finishing outside of the points in 11th after picking up a penalty for clumsily crashing into Alex Albon, who retired with subsequent damage.
Six drivers failed to finish in total, with Fernando Alonso, Arvid Lindblad and Sergio Perez also retiring.
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Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for Crash.net around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
