Kimi Antonelli won his fourth straight race at the Canadian Grand Prix after a power unit failure ended George Russell’s pole-to-30th-lap bid. Lewis Hamilton finished second, Max Verstappen took third, and Antonelli’s points lead over Russell jumped to 43 afte
MONTREAL — The Canadian Grand Prix looked set to deliver another night of precision from Mercedes, right up until the moment George Russell’s car quit on him.
Starting on pole, Russell held the lead in a wheel-to-wheel fight with championship leader Kimi Antonelli. The battle lasted through 29 laps. Then, on the 30th of 68 laps at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Russell came to a halt by the side of the track after a power unit failure.
That forced the standings to shift in an instant: Antonelli went on to take his fourth win in a row, while Mercedes teammate and title rival Russell was left with only a retirement.
Lewis Hamilton finished runner-up, 10.7 seconds behind the 19-year-old Italian. It was Hamilton’s best finish for Ferrari in a regular grand prix, and he embraced his mother after crossing the line. Max Verstappen was close third, giving Red Bull its first podium of the season.
Antonelli’s timing couldn’t have been more striking. Before Sunday’s race, he led Russell by 18 points after five grands prix, all won by Mercedes. With this win, that margin widened to 43 points after also sweeping three Saturday sprints.
Speaking after the race. Antonelli said: “It was very close and the (retirement) was a shame for him as it would have been a very cool battle. But we will take it. Another win.” He added that when he was alone. his focus turned to managing the tyres as graining appeared on the front-left: “When I was on my own. I was trying to really manage the tyres as some graining started to appear on the front-left tyre.”.
He also made history. Antonelli is the first driver in the history of Formula One to take his first four wins consecutively. His streak is the first by an Italian since Alberto Ascari in 1952. The victory also marked a milestone for Mercedes: his podium was the 300th by a Mercedes driver since the team returned to Formula One as a works team in 2010.
Behind the front of the field, Charles Leclerc finished fourth as the last unlapped driver. Isack Hadjar took fifth for Red Bull, while Franco Colapinto continued to score big points with sixth for Alpine. Liam Lawson finished seventh for Racing Bulls. ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. Williams’ Carlos Sainz. and Haas’s Oliver Bearman.
With Russell’s retirement handing Antonelli a bigger cushion, the broader picture tightened quickly in the constructors’ standings. Mercedes now lead Ferrari by 72 points.
Kimi Antonelli George Russell Canadian Grand Prix Mercedes F1 Lewis Hamilton Max Verstappen Charles Leclerc Circuit Gilles Villeneuve power unit failure