George Russell won the Canadian Grand Prix with a fine drive but contact between the two McLaren drivers overshadowed his performance.

Lando Norris crashed out of the race with three laps remaining after making contact with Oscar Piastri while battling for fourth place.

Championship battle heats up as McLaren drivers make contact

Norris nosed into the rear of Piastri’s left-rear tyre, plucking his front wing and sending him into the pit wall and into retirement.

Kimi Antonelli completed the podium with his first career win, a result set up on the opening lap, with Piastri fourth at the line.

At the race start, Russell jumped well to remain clear  Verstappen off the line to head the pack into Turn 1. Verstappen slotted into second to come under pressure from Piastri, who lost out to  Antonelli as they fed into Turn 3.

Then came Hamilton and Fernando Alonso with Norris safe in seventh from Charles Leclerc, Nico Hulkenberg, and Franco Colapinto.

Midway around the opening lap, Alex Albon bounced through the grass at the Turn 8 chicane, the field scattering to avoid the Williams as he rejoined, losing three places in the process.

In second, Verstappen remained in hot pursuit of the race leader while Piastri had dropped back from Antonelli, around 1.5s between the championship leader and the Mercedes ahead.

There was no such margin for Russell to enjoy as the Red Bull behind him pursued relentlessly in the early laps, the Dutchman comfortably in DRS range as they eked away from the rest of the pack.

Verstappen was unable – or unwilling – to get close enough to truly attack, pulling out of the slipstream to get extra airflow into his RB21 with air temperatures soaring at 50 degrees.

After six laps, the imminent threat Russell found himself under initially had abated, Verstappen dropping out of DRS range to sit 1.3s back.

The high temperatures led to drivers managing their cars through the early laps, with the leaders quickly spreading out as a consequence.

Running 11th, Isack Hadjar ran within half a second of Colapinto ahead, the Alpine driver at the head of a DRS train that stretched back to Carlos Sainz in 16th.

Having to do more management than the McLaren behind him, Alonso soon began to lose contact with Hamilton ahead and soon found himself under pressure from Norris.

A mistake at the Turn 10 hairpin on Lap 11 was enough to allow Norris to ease up the inside, the Aston Martin driver not challenging the move as the McLaren quickly skipped away.

Meanwhile, Verstappen was also beginning to struggle and, on Lap 12, was under attack from Antonelli before diving into the pits at the end of the lap.

He’d noted his medium tyres he’d started on were extremely fragile, the four-time champ feeding back in ahead of the Colapinto crocodile.

Mercedes covered off the threat of the undercut next time around, boxing Russell to send him back out in seventh on the road – Hulkenberg between he and Verstappen behind.

Antonelli was in at the end of Lap 14 to complete the opening round of stops for Mercedes, the Italian rejoining ninth on track, behind Verstappen having lost some ground in the intervening laps.

Norris cleared Hamilton at the end of Lap 15, breezing by with DRS as Ferrari called the Brit into the lane.

Norris was one of two drivers to have started on the hard tyres, together with Leclerc, as he found himself second on road behind Piastri.

That lasted only until the Australian pitted at the end of Lap 16, the team turning him around in 2.1s.

Norris assumed the race lead as a result, with Leclerc second, while early race leader Russell sat third, the first driver on track to have taken his first stop.

Hamilton rejoined following his first stop in traffic, caught among Esteban Ocon and Albon to lose a second a lap versus those he was racing earlier.

He finally cleared that queue on Lap 20, though the time he’d spent behind the Haas and Williams had cost him around 10 seconds.

It was Leclerc’s turn to stop after 27 laps, taking on a second set of hard tyres that left the Monegasque driver confused over the choice of compound.

McLaren responded by calling Norris in from the race lead, though the Woking squad fitted the medium tyres to open up a potential one-stop strategy.

Conversely, Ferrari had bolted on hards for Leclerc, much to his consternation.

However, with more than 40 laps remaining, it was a significant ask to drag the tyres to the chequered flag – Alonso had managed only 24 on the mediums in the opening stint, which saw him drop considerable time in the final laps before his first stop.

The alternate strategy worked well for Norris as he quickly reeled in Piastri ahead during the middle third of the race.

The McLaren duo ran fourth and fifth, Piastri on hard tyres versus the mediums on Norris’ MCL39. Unlikely to reach the end, he was effectively obliged to push on – he was the only driver on the yellow-walled rubber during the middle stint.

Both Ferrari drivers had slipped off the pace, Leclerc running sixth ahead of Hamilton, the latter having picked up damage on Lap 13 which, according to the team, cost him 20 points of downforce.

It left him without the pace of his team-mate ahead, the seven-time world champion 8.5s off the back of Leclerc.

An increasing threat from Antonelli in third prompted Red Bull to bring Verstappen in for a second time after 37 laps.

It allowed him to rejoin in clean air, between the two Ferraris and with a straight run to the flag.

Mercedes reacted with Antonelli, though it wasn’t enough to get the drop on Verstappen.

He rejoined side by side with the Red Bull driver as they exited Turn 2, Verstappen taking the place to maintain the track position he’d enjoyed ahead of the stops.

Approaching a train of traffic, Russell was hauled in from the lead to take service for the second time.

It was a slower stop but such was his advantage that he was able to maintain track position ahead of Verstappen, holding a 3.5s advantage.

That left Piastri on track at the head of the race, though he was in battle with Antonelli, who ran in an effective third once pit stops were accounted for.

The Australian pitted at the end of Lap 47, taking on a new set of hard tyres as he emerged just behind Antonelli.

In the pack, a defensive move by Lance Stroll into the final chicane saw him squeeze Pierre Gasly into the grass.

While the Alpine driver was able to duck through the run-off area without great drama, officials opted to look at the incident.

At the end of Lap 47, Norris was in for his second stop, taking on a set of hard tyres for the run to the flag.

He fed out in sixth place, an effective fifth with Leclerc in the lead yet to stop.

A frustrating race for Albon came to an end on Lap 48, pulling his will behind the barriers at Turn 10.

Following his opening lap off, he’s endured power unit issues and a compromised strategy that left him out of contention and, ultimately, out of the race to become its first retirement.

As he did so, Stroll was handed a 10-second time penalty for forcing another driving off track in the clash with Gasly.

The race began to come together as Leclerc pitted at the end of Lap 53, taking to the lane as Piastri locked on to the gearbox of Antonelli in the battle for third.

Both on the hard tyres, Piastri’s were seven laps newer that the Italian he pursued.

With 15 laps remaining, Russell continued to lead by 2.1s from Verstappen, who was in turn only 1.4s ahead of the battle for third.

Norris in fifth was only 2.6s further back in sixth as the front of the race began to condense – the Ferraris having dropped out of the fight.

Lawson became the race’s second retirement when Racing Bulls called the Kiwi amid Honda power unit considerations.

Meanwhile, the leaders worked through traffic, Verstappen closing on Russell while Piastri lost time to Antonelli as they worked through the backmarkers.

That allowed Norris to also close the gap, transforming the battle for third into a three-way scrap once they’d worked their way through the two Haas’, Sainz, and Colapinto.

Having broken free of that gaggle, Russell had extended his advantage over Verstappen, the Red Bull without the pace of the Mercedes ahead in clean air.

As that battle extended, the two McLaren drivers began to engage one another as Piastri struggled to claw back the time lost to Antonelli he’d lost in traffic.

Without DRS, Piastri was vulnerable to Norris, who clearly enjoyed greater car pace in the closing laps.

The presence of Antonelli ahead proved something of a saving grace as the Australian managed to drag himself back into DRS range of the Mercedes – a valuable defensive tool against his looming team-mate.

Piastri got within the all-important one second of Antonelli on Lap 64, helping to cool but not extinguish the heat Norris applied.

A dive from Norris at Turn 10 saw him take the place, but he ran wide and Piastri squeezed alongside at exit.

In the drag race that followed, Piastri held the inside line and held the position.

It wasn’t done there as the McLaren pair made contact down the front straight.

Norris refused to give up and attacked Piastri, moving to the left of his team-mate into a gap that closed, eliminating the Brit from the race.

It damaged the left-front wheel and the front wing as he touched the pit wall.

Norris nosed into Piastri’s left-rear tyre, taking himself out of the race in a move he took immediately responsibility for.

The Safety Car was promptly deployed, McLaren hauling Piastri in for fresh tyres but, with only three laps remaining, the race would end behind Bernd Maylander.

That confirmed Russell a well-earned victory with a strong second place for Verstappen.

Kimi Antonelli picked up his first F1 podium in third as Piastri held on the fourth from Leclerc, Hamilton, Alonso, Hulkenberg, and Ocon.