title contenders come together as Russel wins canadian grand prix

Finlay McSporran
Published: 12:19, 16th June 2025

The Canadian Grand Prix was a race to forget for McLaren, as Mercedes took the spotlight with a double podium.

Race Report

A clean start for the front two saw Russel maintain his lead over Verstappen, as Antionelli in the other Mercedes tried to get passed Piastri for third.

With bigger things to think about, the championship leader was forced to concede the place, as Norris was only 10 points behind him coming into this race.

Speaking of Norris, he was down in seventh place on the hard compound tyre whilst the leaders were on the rapidly degrading mediums. Verstappen was the first of the leaders to pit, coming in on lap 12/70 for the hard tyre and forcing Russel in the next lap, as it became clear that this was a two-stop race.

That left the hard tyre runners of Norris and Leclerc in the lead, but they wouldn’t stay there for long. By the time they pitted around lap 30, Russel had already caught up to them, showing the importance of fresher tyres.

That was a concept Williams struggled to grasp however, as Alex Albon stayed out on the medium tyre until lap 24. When he finally did pit, the Thai driver came out in last, having spent so much time on the fragile medium tyre.

Unfortunately his day was about to get even worse, as he was forced to retire on lap 48 due to a power unit issue. He wasn’t the only retirement from the race however, as on lap 59 Liam Lawson, who was running 18th at the time, was told to box and retire the car which was also down to PU issies.

By that point the leaders had all made their final pit stops, with Russel still leading from Verstappen, Antionelli, Piastri and Norris, who were covered by just five seconds with ten laps still to go!

With the top two breaking away, 18 year-old Kimi Antionelli who was en route for a maiden podium was coming under huge pressure from championship leader Oscar Piastri.

The Australian was finding it difficult to get passed however, and was becoming more and more focused on defence as his mirrors were full of Lando Norris who was being held up by this battle, and what happened next was almost inevitable.

On lap 66 Norris made a lunge down the inside at the turn 10 hairpin, which left the two tile protagonists side-by-side as they barrelled down towards the final corner.

Piastri braked later to maintain the place, but that left him with a poor exit as they began the next lap. As he closed in on his teammate Norris went for a gap that, well, wasn’t really there, and made contact with Piastri sending him into the barriers and out of the race!

THE MCLARENS COME TOGETHER AND LANDO NORRIS IS OUT OF THE RACE! 😱🟠 pic.twitter.com/aFRdK2Lqdo
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) June 15, 2025

The incident between the two McLarens left Antionelli with some space to breathe in third as the safety car was deployed, bringing an end to the race.

Russel led home Verstappen to take what is only his fourth win in F1, whilst his teammate Kimi Antionelli becomes the third youngest driver to stand on an F1 podium at 18 years and 294 days old

Drivers Reaction

Race winner George Russel said: “I am really pleased to take the team’s first victory of the season. I felt in control throughout and was able to manage the race to bring home the win.”

Second place Max Verstappen said: “Today we definitely maximised everything that we had available. We drove quite a defensive race today and it was quite tough out there.”

Kimi Antionelli said: “That was a very intense and stressful race! I am really happy to take my first podium in F1 though. The start was the key to achieving that. I managed to get track position on Piastri and that enabled us to show our pace.”

After the incident with his teammate, Norris said: “Our number one rule is to not make contact with your team-mate, and unfortunately that is what happened today. I apologise to Oscar and the team. I thought I had a small opportunity, but with hindsight, I should never have gone for that move.”

Impact on the Championship

Having scored no points this weekend, Norris loses even more ground to Piastri who finished fourth to extend his title lead to 22 points. In fact, Norris is now closer to Verstappen that his teammate, as the Dutchman takes 18 points with second place to keep himself in the title fight.

And what about George Russel? His win today sees him close in on the championship leader, albeit still 62 points away. However the next three tracks are all one where Mercedes won at last year, so if he can keep up this form then he might find himself in the title fight as well.

Race Result:

Pos	Driver	Car	Time	Pts
1	George Russell	Mercedes	1:31:52.688	25
2	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	+0.228s	18
3	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+1.014s	15
4	Oscar Piastri	McLaren Mercedes	+2.109s	12
5	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+3.442s	10
6	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+10.713s	8
7	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	+10.972s	6
8	Nico Hulkenberg	Kick Sauber Ferrari	+15.364s	4
9	Esteban Ocon	Haas Ferrari	+1 lap	2
10	Carlos Sainz	Williams Mercedes	+1 lap	1
11	Oliver Bearman	Haas Ferrari	+1 lap	0
12	Yuki Tsunoda	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	+1 lap	0
13	Franco Colapinto	Alpine Renault	+1 lap	0
14	Gabriel Bortoleto	Kick Sauber Ferrari	+1 lap	0
15	Pierre Gasly	Alpine Renault	+1 lap	0
16	Isack Hadjar	Racing Bulls Honda RBPT	+1 lap	0
17	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	+1 lap	0
18	Lando Norris	McLaren Mercedes	DNF	0
NC	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls Honda RBPT	DNF	0
NC	Alexander Albon	Williams Mercedes	DNF	0