George Russell recorded a pole-to-flag finish in the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday as his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli ended ip third to become the third-youngest podium finisher in Formula One at 18 years, 9 months, and 22 days.Reigning world champion Max Verstappen finished second, as Lando Norris recorded a DNF by clashing with McLaren championship leader and teammate Oscar Piastri in the final stint of the race.
Russell had grabbed the pole position with an impeccable qualifying session on Saturday, completing his lap in Q3 at 1:10.899, whereas Verstappen did so at 1:11.059. With the duo occupying the front row, fireworks were expected on the opening turn given their collision in Barcelona.
Russell. Verstappen. Antonelli ????After all that late-race drama, here’s your top ???? in Canada ????#F1 #CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/iz9qVuIdBC— Formula 1 (@F1) June 15, 2025
However, it was a relatively safe start from Russell, whose reaction time of 0.24 seconds was marginally better than that of Verstappen, i.e. 0.30 seconds. It helped him prevent the Dutchamn from overtaking him, like the one that he had pulled off over Oscar Piastri in Imola.Behind Verstappen, Antonelli, starting from the fourth place on the grid, rounded off a slick move to edge past Piastri and get to the third place. That early advantage helped his cause as the teenager managed to grab his first podium finish despite losing the track position a few times owing to his pit stops.Piastri wrapped up his race at the fourth spot, grabbing 12 points, but it was his mishap with Lando Norris in the final stint that grabbed all the headlines. Norris was trailing Piastri by 10 points in the drivers’ championship before this race began.As the latter struggled to get a move on with his hard tyres, Norris kept pushing at him hard to overtake and secure a finish behind Antonelli, or even challenge the Italian for a podium spot. Piastri didn’t concede an inch though.They went wheel-to-wheel on more than one instance, and eventually Norris ended up challenging his teammate by trying to surpass him with the exploitation of a pocket of space that didn’t exist in the first place. The front-left of his car hit the rear of Piastri’s car, which resulted in the Brit bowing out of the race. Now, he trails Piastri by 22 points in the leaderboard, whereas Verstappen has cut the distance with him to 21 for the second spot.Norris admitted on the team radio that it was all his fault, as the Canadian GP was the first race of the season where none of the McLaren drivers managed to step up on the podium. Formula One returns later this month on June 29 with Austria hosting the 11th race of the season.First Published: Jun 16, 2025 1:16 AM IST
