Andrea Kimi Antonelli became the first Formula 1 driver to claim his first four grand prix victories consecutively by taking victory in the Canadian Grand Prix.
The championship leader was locked in a battle at the front of the field with his team mate until a power unit problem took George Russell out shortly before half-distance.
Antonelli took the lead off Russell at the start but neither led out of the first corner as Lando Norris mugged the pair of them. But McLaren had taken a surprising gamble to start both cars on intermediate tyres in the cold but dry conditions, and Norris came in on the second lap to switch to slicks.
Russell took the lead from Antonelli at turn 13 on lap six. However he repeatedly encountered problems slowing his car at turn 10 over the following laps, allowing Antonelli to attack him.
On lap 24 Antonelli regained the lead while going off at turn 13. His race engineer Peter Bonnington told him to relinquish the position, which he did immediately approaching turn eight.
But six laps later at the same point on the track Russell lost power and skated into the run-off area. He parked at the exit of turn nine, tossing the cockpit surround from his car before climbing out. Having looked in with a chance of taking seven points off his team mate, he instead lost 25.
The Virtual Safety Car was deployed while the Mercedes was retrieved, which the majority of drivers used as their opportunity to pit. With Russell gone, Antonelli enjoyed a six-second lead over Verstappen, who had passed Hamilton earlier.
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Norris’s hopes of running his set of medium tyres to the end of the race were scuppered when he was forced to pit to have debris cleared from his sidepods, having gone off at turn four. The VSC helped him rise to eighth place but on lap four he lost drive at turn 10 and coasted into retirement.
From the moment Russell retired, Antonelli’s victory was never in doubt. However Hamilton gradually crept towards Verstappen and passed him for second place into the first corner with seven laps to go.
Charles Leclerc passed Isack Hadjar for fourth place but was deeply unimpressed with the Red Bull driver’s late defensive move approaching turn 13. the stewards agreed, handing him a 10-second time penalty.
But the stewards were even less impressed with Hadjar’s reaction to yellow flags later in the race and issued him a stop-and-go penalty. But the midfield were so far behind neither of these penalties affected Hadjar’s finishing position: he took the chequered flag well over 10 seconds ahead of Franco Colapinto.
The Alpine driver secured sixth place, his best finish in a grand prix, despite hitting the barrier at the pit lane exit following his pit stop. Liam Lawson separated him from team mate Pierre Gasly.
Carlos Sainz Jnr was the only driver to start on intermediate tyres and score points: Oscar Piastri finished 11th behind Oliver Bearman on a point-less day for McLaren.
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2026 Canadian Grand Prix
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