Canadian GP 2026: Antonelli wins as Russell's Mercedes fails

Kimi Antonelli won the Canadian Grand Prix from second on the grid, crossing the line 10.768 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. Max Verstappen was third, half a second behind the Ferrari. The race was settled just before half distance, when George Russell's Mercedes lost power while leading and ended a straight fight between the two team-mates.

How Antonelli won the Canadian GP

Russell started from pole after beating Antonelli by less than a tenth in qualifying, having already won the sprint. The track was damp and McLaren put both cars on intermediates. Lando Norris used the extra grip to lead the first lap, but his tyres overheated and he pitted for slicks at the end of lap 2. A problem on the grid for Arvid Lindblad's Racing Bulls had already forced two extra formation laps, and he never took the start.

That left the two Mercedes alone at the front, and they raced each other for nearly 30 laps. Russell passed Antonelli into the final chicane on lap 6, Antonelli took the lead back, and the order changed several more times, usually after a lock-up at the hairpin. On lap 24 they touched at the final chicane. Antonelli cut it, came out ahead and was told by the team to give the place back, which he did.

Then Russell's car stopped. "Everything just turned off all of a sudden," he said. The power unit failure handed Antonelli a lead he never lost. Virtual safety car periods followed, most of the field made their only stop under one of them, and the rain that had been forecast never came.

Behind, Hamilton reeled in Verstappen over the second half of the race and went around the outside of the Red Bull into Turn 1 on lap 62. Verstappen, who had complained that his mediums were slow to warm up, still took Red Bull's first podium of the season.

McLaren left with nothing. Oscar Piastri hit the back of Alex Albon's Williams at the hairpin, which ended Albon's race on lap 11, then needed a new front wing and collected a 10-second penalty. He finished 11th, two laps down. Norris had climbed back to eighth when a suspected gearbox problem put him out. Fernando Alonso retired on lap 23 with discomfort from his Aston Martin seat, and Sergio Pérez's Cadillac did not finish either.

Antonelli vs Russell, Hamilton vs Leclerc and the other duels

Mercedes. Russell won Saturday's duel by 0.094% of a lap and was leading on Sunday when the car failed. A mechanical failure is not a defeat in our model, so the race does not count. Their 2026 head-to-head stands at 3–2 to Antonelli in qualifying and 3–1 in races on F1 Duels, which is closer than the points table suggests.

Ferrari. Hamilton was the stronger Ferrari driver all weekend. He out-qualified Charles Leclerc, fifth against eighth, and finished 33 seconds ahead of him. Leclerc spent much of his race in a scrap with Isack Hadjar and only cleared the Red Bull after a mistake from Hadjar. Hamilton now leads their race count 3–2, while Leclerc is still 3–2 up on Saturdays.

Red Bull. Verstappen beat Hadjar in qualifying by 0.038% of a lap, then by a full lap on Sunday. Hadjar's fifth place came despite two penalties: one for moving more than once in defence, and a stop-and-go for ignoring yellow flags. In our count Verstappen leads 2–0 in races.

Alpine. Franco Colapinto beat Pierre Gasly on both days: tenth against 14th on the grid, sixth against eighth at the flag. It is Colapinto's first race win over his team-mate this year in our count, and Gasly still leads that side of the duel 3–1.

What it means for the championship

Antonelli has now won four races in a row and leads Russell by 43 points. Russell lost those points to a power unit, not to his team-mate, and our duel model does not hold the race against him. The championship table has no such filter. Ferrari moved ahead of McLaren into second in the constructors' standings. Every head-to-head from Montreal is on our Canadian GP duels page.