F1 Canadian GP: George Russell wins from pole as McLaren drivers collide

Mercedes driver George Russell defeated Max Verstappen at Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix to claim his first win of the 2025 season, while Lando Norris retired after contact with McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.

Russell fended Verstappen off at the start after claiming pole on Saturday and then produced a measured drive, with his lead never under serious threat. 

In a predicted two-stop race, Russell always had an answer to Verstappen’s pitstops and built up a decent buffer over the second stint to delay his final stop until lap 43 of 70, which then allowed him to keep his rival at arm’s length until the finish to take his and Mercedes’ first win of 2025. 

Behind Russell and Verstappen, who settled for second, the battle for the final podium spot heated up over the final stint. Russell’s team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli produced his finest grand prix drive of his fledgling career and even passed Verstappen right as the Dutchman peeled off into the pits. 

Verstappen’s earlier pitstop allowed him to keep position and, in the second half of the race, Antonelli’s challenge for second faded. The Italian rookie instead had to look in his mirrors to fend off McLaren’s Piastri, whom he had overtaken for third on lap one and held off until the finish to take a maiden F1 podium and hand Mercedes a 1-3. 

Piastri and McLaren didn’t enjoy their usual race pace or tyre wear advantage in Canada, despite Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve being a track that emphases rear tyre management. 

As such Piastri couldn’t benefit from having fresher hard tyres than Antonelli to find a way past the Mercedes driver, with the championship leader instead coming under pressure from McLaren team-mate Norris. 

After a disappointing qualifying session to seventh, Norris enjoyed arguably the strongest race pace of the pack as he made an alternative strategy work to claw his way back into contention. 

Norris started on hards, extended his first stint and then put himself in a position to put pressure on Piastri. After hounding Piastri for several laps, Norris initially passed the Australian at the hairpin on lap 46 before the pair barrelled towards the final chicane side by side. 

Piastri kept the position by being later on the brakes, but on the main straight Norris then made an error of judgement as he attempted to pass his team-mate on the left into a closing gap. The Brit then drove into the back of hPiastri and hit the pitwall to suffer terminal suspension damage. 

Norris immediately owned up to his mistake on the team radio, saying it was “all on me”, as he suffered a big points loss in the drivers’ championship. 

Ferrari endured a disappointing afternoon, with Charles Leclerc furious as his team abandoned what appeared to be a manageable one-stop strategy and instead settled for sixth, which became fifth after Norris’ retirement. 

Lewis Hamilton had a rough afternoon with disastrously slow race pace, which undid a solid fifth qualifying position and saw him finish behind Leclerc in sixth. The seven-time world champion is believed to have suffered damage after he hit a groundhog, which cost him downforce. 

Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg both produced another combative drive to grab their second consecutive points-scoring results in seventh and eighth respectively, coming out at the forefront of an entertaining midfield dogfight. 

The final points went to the Haas of Esteban Ocon and Williams driver Carlos Sainz, who overcame a disappointing qualifying session which yielded 16th on the starting grid. 

Team-mate Alex Albon was less fortunate after having to park his Williams on lap 48 with a Mercedes power unit issue, while Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson also retired from a hopeless position to conserve engine mileage. 

In the drivers’ standings Oscar Piastri extends his lead on Norris by 12 points to take a 22-point advantage into the Austrian Grand Prix, which takes place on the Red Bull Ring in two weeks’ time. 

F1 Canadian Grand Prix results

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Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Chassis	Engine
1	G. RussellMercedes	63		70	–			5	25		Mercedes	Mercedes
2	M. VerstappenRed Bull Racing	1		70	+0.228 0.228	0.228		5	18		Red Bull	Red Bull
3	A. AntonelliMercedes	12		70	+1.014 1.014	0.786		5	15		Mercedes	Mercedes
4	O. PiastriMcLaren	81		70	+2.109 2.109	1.095		5	12		McLaren	Mercedes
5	C. LeclercFerrari	16		70	+3.442 3.442	1.333		5	10		Ferrari	Ferrari
6	L. HamiltonFerrari	44		70	+10.713 10.713	7.271		5	8		Ferrari	Ferrari
7	F. AlonsoAston Martin Racing	14		70	+10.972 10.972	0.259		6	6		Aston Martin	Mercedes
8	N. HulkenbergSauber	27		70	+15.364 15.364	4.392		5	4		Sauber	Ferrari
9	E. OconHaas F1 Team	31		69	1 lap			4	2		Haas	Ferrari
10	C. SainzWilliams	55		69	1 lap			4	1		Williams	Mercedes
11	O. BearmanHaas F1 Team	87		69	1 lap			4			Haas	Ferrari
12	Y. TsunodaRed Bull Racing	22		69	1 lap			4			Red Bull	Red Bull
13	F. ColapintoAlpine	43		69	1 lap			4			Alpine	Renault
14	G. BortoletoSauber	5		69	1 lap			4			Sauber	Ferrari
15	P. GaslyAlpine	10		69	1 lap			4			Alpine	Renault
16	I. HadjarRacing Bulls	6		69	1 lap			4			RB	Honda
17	L. StrollAston Martin Racing	18		69	1 lap			5			Aston Martin	Mercedes
dnf	L. NorrisMcLaren	4		66				2		Collision	McLaren	Mercedes
dnf	L. LawsonRacing Bulls	30		53				2		Retirement	RB	Honda
dnf	A. AlbonWilliams	23		46				1		Power Unit	Williams	Mercedes
View full results

Photos from Canadian GP – Race