F1 2026: Canadian Grand Prix Sprint Recap: Russell wins Canadian Sprint after tight scrap with Antonelli
Mercedes’ George Russell converted his pole from Sprint qualifying to a win in the Sprint at the Canadian Grand Prix 2026 with the British driver beating his teammate and current Championship leader Kimi Antonelli and defending World Champion Lando Norris. Russell had an intense fight with his teammate, Antonelli, with the gloves almost coming off in the Mercedes camp. Lando Norris finished second behind Russell while Antonelli rounded out the podium for the Sprint event.
Russell got things going off the line with his teammate Kimi Antonelli sticking with him. Behind them, it was Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari with a better start as he picked off McLaren’s Oscar Piastri for fourth place. Further behind Audi’s Nico Hülkenberg had a close moment with Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, which dropped the German down the field. On lap five, the action got going as first it was Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar informed his team his engine had given out and he dropped to the back of the field before retiring a couple of laps later. The main action was at the front though, as Russell was pushed to the limit by Antonelli with them nearly coming together at Turn 1 with Russell having to get his elbows out to force Antonelli off track.
The two continued to fight as Antonelli was not giving up as Russell once again made a late move which saw Antonelli go off at Turn 8 and coming off the grass he ended up losing second place to Norris. An agitated Antonelli immediately complained to his team about Russell being unfair to him to push him off and it required Mercedes boss Toto Wolff to get on the radio with the young Italian to tell him to calm down and focus on the racing.
By lap 14, Antonelli tried to keep up with Norris who was falling off from Russell at the top while Hamilton, who had come close to Antonelli fell more than two seconds behind the Mercedes driver. Fernando Alonso was the first to pit on lap 17 as the Aston Martin veteran dropped right to the back of the grid. As the race entered its final five laps, the top three were separated by one second as Norris pressed Russell while Antonelli wasn’t giving up his fight to regain second place either. Pierre Gasly came in for his stop on lap 20 while on the track Hamilton and Piastri had an incredibly close moment on lap 21 which saw Hamilton end up hitting the Wall of Champions after coming out all wobbly due to pressure from the McLaren behind him.
Lando Norris locked up going into Turn 12 on the penultimate lap which let Antonelli off the chains and Antonelli squeezed past him but once again went off track and cut the final chicane which saw Norris keep his second place and behind them Piastri overtook Hamilton with Leclerc overtaking the seven-time World Champion as well. Russell held on for the win with the chaos in the last behind him as Norris finished second ahead of Antonelli while Piastri held off a late charging Leclerc for third.Lewis Hamilton was sixth ahead of Max Verstappen and Arvid Lindblad who rounded out the points for the Sprint.
The grid will be back on track in a couple of hours’ time for the Canadian Grand Prix 2026 qualifying.
