Kimi Antonelli wins the Canadian Grand Prix from the front row ahead of world champions Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
Highs and lows at Mercedes
A stellar race from young driver Kimi Antonelli sees him take his fourth victory in a row this season and become the first driver ever to take his first four Grands Prix wins in a row. If Antonelli manages to keep up this momentum he’s found himself with so far this season, then his bid for the championship will certainly be a strong one.
If you’re a fan of George Russell, however, this race is definitely one to forget. After dropping down to P3 from pole at the start of the race, Russell clawed his way back up into the lead and maintained his position from that point. Though he engaged in some very close battles with his teammate, with the two of them even coming into contact at one point, Russell’s pace seemed strong and his chances for the win were high. Unfortunately, on lap 30 of the race, the British driver suffered a race ending technical issue and was forced to retire the car. With a gap of now 43 points between him and his teammate in the drivers’ championship, it seems as though Russell is the one being subjected to all the bad luck Mercedes has to offer this season.
A lack of points for McLaren
McLaren made a bold strategy call by having both drivers start on the intermediate tyre, and it’s safe to say a worse decision could not have been made. A phenomenal start to the Grand Prix saw Lando Norris take the lead at the first corner, however both him and Oscar Piastri were forced into an early pitstop merely a few laps into the race as their tyres were not suitable for the race conditions.
The problems didn’t end there. Piastri made a risky move in an attempt to overtake the Williams of Alex Albon and subsequently caused contact between the two. Albon retired from the race while Piastri pitted yet again due to front wing damage. Therefore, despite his best efforts, Piastri finished the race in P11, just outside of the points.
In the case of Lando Norris, things went from bad to worse. After climbing his way back up the grid, Norris suffered from a gearbox failure on lap 40, forcing him to retire from the race. Off the back of a positive weekend last time out in Miami, this is certainly not the race McLaren would have hoped for.
Ferrari on the climb
A superb race for Ferrari saw driver Charles Leclerc finish in P4 after starting down in P8, while teammate Lewis Hamilton drove an exceptional race to finish on the podium in P2. Hamilton had some excellent battles with old rival Max Verstappen and managed to hold him off in the last couple of laps to finish in the one podium spot he’d yet to claim in Canada. After various ups and downs so far this season, this race proved to be a step in the right direction for the team in red.
Red Bull’s first podium
It was a very positive race for Red Bull as Max Verstappen finished P3 to finally score them their first podium of the season. Verstappen was in P2 for a large part of the race until late battles saw him lose the place to Lewis Hamilton, however this does not diminish the great race he had. In addition to this, his teammate Isack Hadjar, despite having penalty after penalty thrown at him, came home in P5.
The rest of the grid
Alpine had a superb race this weekend as both Colapinto and Gasly finished well within the points, with Colapinto being as far up as P6. Currently P5 in the constructors’ championship, Alpine are serving to be the best of the rest so far this season, and it’ll be nice to see this momentum continue throughout.
It was an unfortunate day for rookie Arvid Linblad who classified as a DNS due to his car suffering a clutch issue where he couldn’t change gear before the race had even started. However, in lighter news for Racing Bulls, driver Liam Lawson brought home 6 points for the team after finishing in P7 in what served to be a very positive outing for the Kiwi.
After a disappointing qualifying, Haas driver Ollie Bearman was able to climb his way from P16 to P10, finishing just inside the points, while the Williams of Carlos Sainz went from P15 to P9.
Feature image courtesy of Formula 1