Antonelli makes it four straight with Canadian Grand Prix win as Russell retires from the lead battle

Antonelli wins, Russell's day unravels

Kimi Antonelli won the 2026 Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on Sunday 24 May, crossing the line in 1:28:15.758 over 68 laps, with Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari second, 10.768 seconds behind, and Max Verstappen's Red Bull third a further 0.508 seconds back, according to the FIA's final race classification. ⁷¹

The FIA timing sheet also credits Antonelli with the fastest lap, a 1:14.210 set on lap 68, while Charles Leclerc took fourth for Ferrari at +44.151 seconds. It was Antonelli's fourth consecutive Grand Prix victory, extending the momentum he had built through the early part of the 2026 season. ⁷⁸

The defining twist was the retirement of George Russell, who had started from pole and been battling his Mercedes team-mate at the front before stopping after 29 laps. Crash.net reported that a power unit issue put Russell out of Sunday's race and destroyed what had been a strong weekend for the British driver, whose promising Saturday had included Sprint victory and pole position. ⁸¹

Formula1.com's event coverage separately referenced Mercedes revealing the exact cause of Russell's Canada retirement, alongside a video noting team-mate Sergio Perez's suspension-failure retirement in the race for Cadillac, underlining a weekend of high attrition among the front-runners' rivals. ⁹

The race also punished McLaren, with both cars failing to score. Oscar Piastri was classified 11th, two laps down, while Lando Norris retired after 38 laps; Crash.net reported both McLarens had started on intermediate tyres and ran into strife. Red Bull's Arvid Lindblad did not start the Grand Prix at all, per the FIA classification. ⁷⁸

Further down the order, Isack Hadjar finished fifth for Red Bull — which Crash.net described as his best performance as a Red Bull driver despite taking a pair of penalties over the weekend — while Franco Colapinto took sixth for Alpine as the surprise package of the weekend, Liam Lawson seventh for Racing Bulls, Pierre Gasly eighth, Carlos Sainz ninth for Williams and Oliver Bearman tenth for Haas, completing the points scorers in the FIA classification. Bortoleto carried a five-second time penalty for a Virtual Safety Car infringement, per the race result note. ⁷¹⁸

Sprint: Russell holds off Antonelli after Turn 1 flashpoint

Saturday's Sprint, the first time the format was held at the Canadian Grand Prix, went to George Russell, who took the 23-lap race in 28:50.951 from Lando Norris (+1.272s) and Kimi Antonelli (+1.843s), per the official Sprint result. ³¹³

The race turned contentious on lap 6, when Antonelli attacked Russell for the lead at Turn 1 and ended up squeezed off the track. GPFans reported that the Italian bounced across the grass and lost out not only to Russell but also to Norris, who slipped through into second, while formula1.com noted Antonelli made multiple calls for his team-mate to be penalised and the stewards took no action. ¹¹¹²

Antonelli's frustration continued on the radio, with Crash.net reporting that team principal Toto Wolff intervened to tell the teenager such matters are dealt with behind closed doors, and formula1.com quoting Wolff's message to concentrate on driving rather than radio complaints. Despite the friction, Russell prevailed by 1.272 seconds over Norris. ¹⁰¹²

Oscar Piastri finished fourth for McLaren after passing Lewis Hamilton late on, with Charles Leclerc then displacing Hamilton for fifth, per formula1.com's Sprint report. Verstappen and Lindblad took the final points in seventh and eighth. ³¹²

The official result note records that Nico Hulkenberg received a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, and Sergio Perez a 10-second penalty for forcing another driver off the track, with both drivers classified 15th and 14th respectively on the road-time order. Fernando Alonso was the sole retiree, while Lance Stroll, Bottas, Bearman, Albon and Gasly, the last four having started from the pit lane, filled the lower positions. ³¹²

Qualifying: Russell sweeps both poles for Mercedes

George Russell claimed pole position for the Grand Prix with a 1:12.578 in Q3, edging Mercedes team-mate Antonelli by 0.068 seconds, with the McLarens of Norris and Piastri locking out the second row, per the official qualifying classification. Hamilton qualified fifth ahead of Verstappen, Hadjar, Leclerc, Lindblad and Colapinto. ⁴⁵

The starting grid largely mirrored qualifying, with one notable change: the official grid document notes Lance Stroll was required to start from the pit lane after his Aston Martin was modified under parc ferme conditions with additional power unit elements used. ⁵

Mercedes had already dominated Sprint Qualifying on the Friday, with Russell taking Sprint pole at 1:12.965 from Antonelli by the same 0.068-second margin, and Norris and Piastri third and fourth, per the official Sprint Qualifying classification. Fernando Alonso's SQ1 crash triggered a red flag that eliminated several drivers who could not complete final laps. ²¹³

The weekend's only practice session had also gone Mercedes' way, with Antonelli fastest at 1:13.402, 0.142 seconds clear of Russell, per Formula One History's session report, which noted three red flags disrupting running on a dusty, evolving surface. ¹³

Standings after Montreal: Antonelli 43 clear, Mercedes on top

Antonelli arrived in Montreal already leading the championship, having won the previous three Grands Prix to open up a 20-point advantage over Mercedes team-mate George Russell, according to Formula One History's race report, which framed Canada as a crucial chance for Russell to respond at the circuit where he had won the previous year. ¹³

The FIA's contemporaneous post-race championship points document, issued by the stewards on 24 May, lists Kimi Antonelli as championship leader on 131 points, with team-mate George Russell second on 88, Charles Leclerc third on 75, Lewis Hamilton fourth on 72, Lando Norris fifth on 58, Oscar Piastri sixth on 48 and Max Verstappen seventh on 43. ⁶

Crash.net's standings report after the race matches that picture, noting Antonelli's lead had been maximised in Montreal after Russell's retirement, and that Hamilton leapt to fourth with his best finish of the season while Colapinto more than doubled his points tally to 15 with a sixth place that improved on his previous best of seventh in Miami. ⁸

In the constructors' championship, the same FIA document lists Mercedes-AMG Petronas first on 219 points, Scuderia Ferrari second on 147, McLaren third on 106, Oracle Red Bull Racing fourth on 57, BWT Alpine fifth on 35 and Visa Cash App Racing Bulls sixth on 21. ⁶

Piastri's weekend was a case of contrast between formats: the Australian scored Sprint points with fourth place on Saturday but left the Grand Prix pointless in 11th, leaving him sixth in the drivers' standings on 48 points behind team-mate Norris, per the FIA points document and official results. ⁶³¹

Context: a first Sprint in Canada on a resurfaced, low-abrasion track

The 2026 edition was the first Canadian Grand Prix to host the Sprint format, and the event's revised May calendar slot brought the paddock to Montreal earlier than usual, according to Formula One History's race report, which also noted Pirelli brought its three softest 2026 compounds, with the C3 as Hard, C4 as Medium and C5 as Soft. ¹³

The circuit itself remained familiar: a 4.361-kilometre, 70-lap layout on Notre Dame Island that first hosted the Grand Prix in 1978, with formula1.com's event guide highlighting its stop-start character, heavy braking zones and the famous Wall of Champions at the final chicane. ⁹

The May date also raised the prospect of cooler temperatures and difficulty getting tyres into their operating window, with Formula One History noting the C5 Soft was expected to be the preferred Sprint and qualifying compound while a one-stop race remained the likely Grand Prix scenario on the resurfaced, low-abrasion track. ¹³