Russell wins as McLarens collide in late Canadian chaos

What began as a subdued affair in Montreal exploded into late-race chaos as George Russell seized victory, Kimi Antonelli made history, and an all-too-predictable McLaren collision finally came to a head at the Canadian Grand Prix.

The first 60 laps of the Canadian Grand Prix lent to the fact that this race would fall to the back of everyone’s minds, however, that notion was completely flipped on its head when history repeated itself and an inevitable collision between the McLaren teammates shook up the race in the dying moments. 

Not quite living up to the heated expectations that a George Russell-Max Verstappen front-row start had promised, the run to the first corner was surprisingly tame when the Mercedes driver got a better launch off the line, clearing Verstappen instantly.

Instead, the battle for third was the focus at lights out when Oscar Piastri was forced into relinquishing his position to Kimi Antonelli, with the Mercedes rookie sliding down the inside of Turn 3 to join his teammate in the podium positions — a move that all but cemented Antonelli’s first ever podium finish in Formula 1. 

Further down the relatively unchanged order, first lap action saw Alex Albon bouncing across the grass at the Turn 8 chicane after his side-by-side tussle with a confident Franco Colapinto forced him off the circuit.

Spraying dirt and debris back onto the track, an out-of-control Albon rejoined the circuit as he tried to wrangle his Williams machine, losing three positions in the process. 

That was just the start of a disappointing day out for the Williams driver, who was later forced to retire to the escape road by the Turn 10 hairpin due to an ongoing power unit issue.

After the first lap, Verstappen stuck like glue to the race leader’s gearbox, running five-tenths behind Russell as the laps ticked by in Montreal.

Soon, however, Russell put his foot to the floor and broke free of DRS threat, allowing his teammate to make up ground on Verstappen before the Red Bull pit wall called its driver in for an early first pitstop.

It was in the pits that the majority of the action happened, with Mercedes reacting to the attempted undercut by pitting both Russell and Antonelli across the next two laps. 

McLaren followed suit by pitting Piastri on Lap 16, while Lando Norris found himself as the new race leader, running an alternate strategy after starting on the hard compound tyre.

Willed on by his race engineer, Norris was instructed to push his concerns regarding front left tyre graining issues aside as he was handed new lap time targets to adhere to, with Charles Leclerc hot on his heels on a similar strategy. 

By Lap 25, however, Russell was back in contention to reclaim the lead with the aid of DRS from the Ferrari ahead, passing Leclerc with ease on the run into the final chicane before setting his sights on Norris.

His job was made all the more easier when the McLaren driver pulled into the pits shortly after, responding to Leclerc’s pitstop where the Monegasque was left in a state of confusion as the team’s strategy went against his one-stop wishes.

Clear air allowed Russell to extend his lead to over four seconds during his second stint, leaving Verstappen under DRS threat from Antonelli, however, as was the case 25 laps earlier, the Dutchman backed out of the fight by retreating to the pitlane, swapping his overworked hard tyres for a fresh set. 

Rejoining in P6, that left Mercedes running with an encouraging 1-2 status ahead of a McLaren 3-4 as the race ticked over the halfway mark.

The second round of pitstops followed for the rest of the top ten, with Russell holding his lead over the Red Bull driver, while his rookie teammate clung to the final podium position.

Piastri wasn’t letting Antonelli end his eight consecutive podium finishing streak without a fight, however, making his intentions clear when he set the then-fastest lap with 20 laps to go.

Running six-tenths behind the #12, Piastri formulated an attempt into the first corner, however, even with the aid of seven-lap fresher tyres, he was forced to hold out for a little while longer — a fact that ruined his charge as they approached the unmoving back-markers.

Piastri dropped over a second behind the Mercedes driver, bringing Norris back into contention as they cleared the likes of Isack Hadjar and Esteban Ocon, resulting in the #4 having the DRS advantage over the #81. 

Despite having a slight look down the back straight, Norris wasn’t able to capitalise on his teammate’s vulnerability, instead forced to follow Piastri back up to the Italian’s gearbox as he closed the margin back down to five-tenths with five laps to go. 

The three-way battle was the highlight of the otherwise plain race, with the competition so tight, a minor error from the Australian through Turn 2 allowed Norris to momentarily get the edge over Piastri.

He made his move into the Turn 10 hairpin, braking late to fly ahead of his McLaren teammate which resulted in Norris taking a wider line — placement that allowed Piastri to bring his MCL39 back alongside Norris on the run to the final chicane. 

Replicating his teammate’s technique, Piastri was the last of the duo to slam the brakes on, steaming down the inside of Turn 13 as the Brit was forced to back off.

Growing impatient, the battle came to a grinding halt on the start/finish straight, with Norris misjudging the gap between Piastri and the wall as he attempted to sneak down the inside, ramming into the rear of the #81 as he collided with the wall. 

Leaving his front wing and plans of a points finish in Montreal, Norris’s wounded McLaren came to a stop just metres down the road, with the shame-filled Brit scurrying away from the scene of the accident after admitting he was solely to blame for the collision the McLaren pit wall was always anticipating this season. 

As a result, the race finished behind the safety car, freeing Antonelli of the stress of losing his maiden podium to the championship leader as he crossed the line to share the podium with Russell — taking his fourth career victory and first win of the season — and Verstappen. 

The Italian etched his name into the history books as the third youngest driver ever to finish on the podium, with his efforts applauded by fans as he was voted ‘Driver of the Day’ in Canada. 

Finishing in fourth, Piastri’s podium streak may have just come to an end one result before matching Lewis Hamilton’s all-time McLaren record of nine consecutive podiums, however, it wasn’t a bad day on the championship front, with Norris’ retirement from the race allowing the #81’s WDC lead to grow to 22 points.

Behind Piastri, the sombre Ferrari duo took the flag in P5 and P6, with strategy and an unfortunate run-in with an even more unlucky groundhog ruining the Italian squad’s hopes of a sneaky top-sxthree finish.

Fernando Alonso finished one place lower than where he started, earning his first back-to-back points finish of the season ahead of Nico Hulkenberg who experienced the same phenomenon in P8.

Separated by just four-tenths of a second when they took the chequered flag, Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz rounded out the points-finishing positions after successfully completing a one-stop strategy at the Canadian Grand Prix.

The field will have one week away from the race track before heading to Styrian Hills for the Austrian Grand Prix, with the European leg picking back up cross June 27-29.

Image: Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool.

Canadian Grand Prix Results:

2025 Canadian Grand Prix Schedule (AEST):

Saturday, June 14th:

FP1: 03:30 – 04:30

FP2: 07:00 – 08:00

Sunday, June 15th:

FP3: 02:30 – 03:30

Qualifying: 06:00 – 07:00

Monday, June 16th:

Race: 04:00

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