George Russell scored the first race victory of 2025 for both himself and Mercedes with a fine drive to win the Canadian Grand Prix.
The catalyst was a superb sixth career pole position which Russell described as “probably the most exhilarating lap I’ve ever done in my life because around this circuit you’ve got to be so committed”.
The 27-year-old Briton overcame the threat of the four-time world champion Max Verstappen, after the pair collided twice at the previous race in Spain, after which the Dutch driver received three penalty points on his licence, taking him to within a single penalty point of a one-race ban.
After beating Verstappen to pole in Montreal, Russell joked that he had a bit more leeway to get his elbows out at the start. After a better getaway, he didn’t need to, and fears that higher race‑day temperatures might hamper the Mercedes tyre wear proved unfounded. Verstappen was rarely more than two seconds behind Russell but was never close enough to launch an attack.
Behind them, the 18-year-old Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli became the third youngest driver to appear on an F1 podium after an accomplished drive that got him to the finish ahead of the hitherto dominant McLarens.
The McLaren team principal, Zak Brown, has conceded that with two evenly matched top-line drivers in a potentially championship-winning car, an on-track contact between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri was more a question of when, than if. The Montreal race proved the truth of his words as, three laps from the end while they battled over fourth place, Norris hit the back of Piastri’s car as he attempted to pass going down to turn 1.
Norris had looked the quicker McLaren driver all weekend but two mistakes in qualifying, when he missed the chicane and then clipped the wall at turn 7, put him seventh on the grid. It was not the first time this season that he had made an error under pressure. In the race, however, he ran an offset tyre strategy and had relentlessly closed down Piastri before their collision.
His opportunity came when Piastri caught traffic at an inopportune moment, allowing Norris to close to within DRS range. As they ran side by side down the main straight, Piastri successfully defended the inside, so Norris flicked back to try around the outside as they fought out the racing line into turn 1. Norris’s race was over when his front wing clipped Piastri’s left rear tyre.
Norris, honest and self-deprecating as ever, was quick to hold up his hands over the team radio: “All my bad, all my fault, stupid from me,” he said.
The incident brought out the safety car and there was insufficient time to resume the race. Russell, trying to get some heat into his brakes in anticipation of a restart, was illegally passed by Verstappen behind it, but the Dutchman claimed he was caught unawares by Russell’s aggressive braking. It was just the latest in a series of spats between the pair, but came to nought as time ran out.
The collision with Piastri dealt a blow to Norris’s world drivers’ championship challenge. Although McLaren could not challenge the Mercedes and Red Bull in front, Piastri’s fourth place increased his lead over Norris to 22 points, 10 races into the 24-race season.
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Charles Leclerc finished fifth for Ferrari, once again demonstrating stronger race pace than Lewis Hamilton, seven times a Canadian GP winner, although Hamilton’s car was damaged early in the race after it hit a groundhog with a subsequent loss of downforce. Hamilton was “devastated” after the race when he was told what he had hit.
Leclerc, who was in the fight for pole position until making a mistake, started eighth and ran a reverse tyre strategy that looked as if it might pay dividends until he became bemused and frustrated by Ferrari’s pit-stop strategy which required him to make a second stop.
The veteran Fernando Alonso proved that Aston Martin has improved its performance level by finishing seventh, with the final championship points going to Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz.
Russell’s victory puts him fourth in the championship, just 19 points behind Verstappen. The positive for Mercedes was that on a day when track temperatures were high, he had been able to maintain strong race pace without suffering tyre issues.
“I think that victory was all down to the incredible pole lap that meant I could run in clear air and control the race,” he said. “I want to thank the team and the factory for their efforts. Let’s see what happens in the upcoming races but I’m just going to enjoy this one for now!”
Russell has yet to ink an extension to his Mercedes contract but the team principal, Toto Wolff, claims that it is only a matter of time.
