{"id":59159,"date":"2026-05-24T23:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T23:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/59159\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T23:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T23:38:12","slug":"george-russell-rages-after-engine-failure-as-kimi-antonelli-extends-f1-title-lead-in-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/59159\/","title":{"rendered":"George Russell rages after engine failure as Kimi Antonelli extends F1 title lead in Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A furious George Russell<\/a> retired from the Canadian Grand Prix<\/a> as Kimi Antonelli<\/a> claimed a fourth successive win to extend his championship lead after a pulsating battle with his title rival.<\/p>\n

The Mercedes<\/a> pair exchanged the lead multiple times throughout a breathless opening 30 laps, as they again made contact a day on from colliding during Saturday\u2019s sprint, before an electrical issue dealt a major blow to Russell\u2019s title hopes.<\/p>\n

Antonelli leaves an incident-packed weekend in Canada with a 43-point lead over Russell, who was left stood furious at the side of the track as he came to terms with the repercussions.<\/p>\n

Lewis Hamilton<\/a> claimed his best result for Ferrari in second as he overcame a battle with Max Verstappen<\/a>, who secured a first podium of the season.<\/p>\n

It was a miserable afternoon for McLaren as Lando Norris<\/a> retired from the race and Oscar Piastri finished only 11th.<\/p>\n

Russell and Antonelli clashed during Saturday\u2019s sprint, the Italian furiously accusing his teammate of a \u201cvery naughty\u201d move to push him off track, in the first major flashpoint of their title battle.<\/p>\n

Mercedes said talks post-sprint had ironed out how their pair would compete and that they are free to race each other, and that was put to the test a day on.<\/p>\n

The FIA declared a rain hazard but, while it was bitterly cold pre-race, the feared rain was merely a drizzle at lights out.<\/p>\n

McLaren sprung a surprise by starting Norris and Piastri from third and fourth on intermediate tyres, while all around them chose soft slick tyres.<\/p>\n

Two extra formation laps were needed due to Arvid Lindblad getting stuck and Piastri was already doubting McLaren\u2019s move, saying \u201cit might be time for the slicks\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"LandoLando Norris endured a day to forget<\/p>\n

But their roll of the dice worked for Norris, who flew off the line to take the lead up the inside of turn one, as Russell got bogged down and dropped to third behind Antonelli.<\/p>\n

It was a short-term gain however, Piastri pitting after the first lap and Norris in after the second to get rid of their tyres with the track bone dry.<\/p>\n

Russell made his first move on lap six, charging past Antonelli down the penultimate straight where the Italian locked up and missed the corner.<\/p>\n

\"LewisLewis Hamilton took second late on after a pass on Max Verstappen<\/p>\n

Verstappen, starting from sixth, claimed third on lap nine as he passed Hamilton into turn one.<\/p>\n

Russell and Antonelli exchanged the lead on lap 12, but McLaren\u2019s misery continued as Piastri pitted again and was lapped on lap 15 before Norris was called in due to a \u201creliability issue\u201d.<\/p>\n

TOP-10 – CANADIAN GRAND PRIX<\/p>\n

1. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)<\/p>\n

2. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)<\/p>\n

3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)<\/p>\n

4. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)<\/p>\n

5. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull)<\/p>\n

6. Franco Colapinto (Alpine)<\/p>\n

7. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)<\/p>\n

8. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)<\/p>\n

9. Carlos Sainz (Williams)<\/p>\n

10. Ollie Bearman (Haas)<\/p>\n

Battle resumed out front as Antonelli nudged ahead before the Mercedes pair were side-by-side down the back straight, Russell firmly shutting the door into the chicane to retain his lead.<\/p>\n

Toto Wolff told Antonelli to \u201cstop the radio moaning\u201d after the coming together on Saturday but later said that Mercedes \u201cdon\u2019t want a puppy\u201d and on Sunday he was like a dog with a bone in pursuit of Russell.<\/p>\n

Russell\u2019s struggles at the hairpin continued on lap 22 and Antonelli claimed the lead. The pair lapped Norris, but were soon tussling again.<\/p>\n

Mercedes\u2019 calming of the waters was tested on lap 25 as contact was made again, Antonelli hurtling around the outside as they banged wheels and the Italian was forced to cut the chicane.<\/p>\n

\"KimiKimi Antonelli claimed his fourth win in a row (Getty)<\/p>\n

He was immediately told to give the place back, but complained: \u201cWhy mate? He pushed me off and I was ahead. Like what\u2019s the point?\u201d<\/p>\n

Five laps later, Russell\u2019s championship hopes suffered a significant dent as he flew across the grass having failed to make a corner before coming to an abrupt halt.<\/p>\n

It appeared immediately to be a car issue, rather than driver error, as Russell began to express his anger.<\/p>\n

Norris had to retire on lap 40, ending up amongst the fans as he made his way back to the pits.<\/p>\n

Hamilton was pumped up in his pursuit of old foe Verstappen and got the move done with six laps remaining.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[14411,17,24859,22457,24855,22338,25658,24641,2956,5046,25660,19531,24860,50,22337,11323,24857,25654,241,25659,24065,3294,25656,25657,3533,25655],"class_list":["post-59159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-andrea-kimi-antonelli","tag-canada","tag-canadian-formula-one-grand-prix","tag-circuit-gilles-villeneuve","tag-color-image","tag-ferrari","tag-ferrari-f1-team","tag-formula-one-racing","tag-horizontal","tag-italy","tag-lewis-hamilton-racecar-driver","tag-max-verstappen","tag-mercedes-amg-petronas-formula-one-team","tag-montreal","tag-motorsport","tag-netherlands","tag-photography","tag-podium","tag-quebec","tag-red-bull","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-sport","tag-sports-race","tag-third-place","tag-uk","tag-winning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}