Genius and madness at Mercedes: Kimi Antonelli has won the next wild battle in the new “Star Wars” and has become the top favorite for the world title with his fourth victory in a row.
George Russell fought hard against the teenager in Montreal, but then had to retire with engine failure. Lewis Hamilton came second and celebrated his best result to date in a Ferrari, while Max Verstappen came third in a Red Bull.
“I’m at a loss for words,” said Russell on Sky, “it was actually a good weekend.” He “really enjoyed the intense duels, it was hard, that’s what this is all about.”
Both Mercedes drivers fought each other on the track, but both also made driving errors and almost had an accident more than once – similar scenes on Saturday in the Montreal sprint resulted in a detailed, clarifying three-way conversation with team boss Toto Wolff.
The defect in Russell’s car ultimately decided the duel; it came at an inopportune time for the Englishman: after difficult weekends, he had actually gotten himself back into position in Canada with a sprint victory and pole position. Before the next race in Monaco (June 7th), Antonelli is now 43 points ahead.
Again no points for Nico Hülkenberg
Charles Leclerc came fourth behind Ferrari team-mate Hamilton, while Nico Hülkenberg missed the points again in the Audi. For McLaren, however, it was a completely ruined race. Oscar Piastri only finished eleventh, world champion Lando Norris did not see the checkered flag after a defect. For both of them, the disaster had already begun before the start.
For days in Montréal the weather had played a big role on race Sunday, rain actually seemed inevitable – as was the case recently in Miami after similar announcements, everything wasn’t as bad. It had rained in the morning, the track then dried out, and yet the weather forecast continued to cause uncertainty.
There were a few drops before the start, and so many teams opted for intermediate tires, including McLaren – a big mistake, as it would soon become clear. Although Norris overtook both Mercedes after an excellent start from third position, he had to correct his tire choice a little later and came into the pits for slicks. The same applied to Hülkenberg in the Audi, who fell far back from eleventh place on the grid.
Tough Mercedes duel between Antonelli and Russell
The Mercedes duel was now open at the front. Already on the eighth lap, Antonelli made a hard attack, but braked and only narrowly avoided an accident. The teenager was clearly the quicker at this stage, literally chasing Russell around the track and trying to force him into making a mistake.
Russell defended himself hard, but also repeatedly braked and had to let his teammate go after 22 laps. But instead of driving away, Antonelli made the next mistake, Russell was close again, and in the next duel the Italian cut through a chicane.
“Give the position back,” his race engineer advised him, “why?” Antonelli snapped, “he pushed me away!” Russell was now in the lead again, but the next maneuvers didn’t happen – because the Englishman coasted to a stop about halfway through the race. This meant that Antonelli had lost his opponent and the rest of the competition could not keep up.
