F1 Canadian Grand Prix 2026 Recap
Kimi Antonelli picks up win in Montreal as Russell suffers retirement
Mercedes’ Kimi Anotelli picked up his fourth win of the season and it was his fourth consecutive win as the young Italian eased to a relatively comfortable win in Montreal to win the Canadian Grand Prix 2026. Pole-sitter George Russell had an afternoon to forget as he had to retire after being involved in an intense battle with his teammate but once Russell retired, there was no one catching Antonelli as he was in a league of his own.
Lewis Hamilton gave Ferrari a second place finish with Max Verstappen finishing third to round out the podium places. Antonelli’s win also sees him now go 43 points clear of Russell in the Drivers’ Championship Standing while Leclerc and Hamilton have made ground as well to reduce Russell’s second place lead. It was also Max Verstappen’s first podium finish of the Formula One 2026 season. Antonelli’s win was also his first win of the season where he won from not starting on pole and it was also the first race of the season where the pole-sitter did not win.
Norris rejoined in P14 while Piastri had joined the track a couple of places behind but was making his way back through up the field. By lap five, Russell was less than half a second behind Antonelli with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton being a second behind Russell. Russell took the lead from Antonelli on lap 7 as he breezed past his teammate on the final chicane and the young Italian had to take evasive action to avoid collision with Russell and ended up locking up his front tyres. Verstappen meanwhile made a move of his own the next lap, picking off Hamilton for third place as he went on the inside of the Ferrari at Turn 1 to make the move stick. As there were overtakes at the front of the field, in the midfield, the two McLarens of Norris and Piastri were slowly making their way back into the points as Norris and Piastri were up to P11 and P13 respectively by lap 10.
Antonelli and Russell swapped the lead of the race again on lap 13 as Russell lost the lead heading into Turn 1 but went on the inside of his teammate to take back the lead as the two Silver Arrows had nothing between themselves in an intense scrap for the lead. Oscar Piastri meanwhile had a moment of his own as he went deep into the hairpin and ended up hitting Alex Albon’s Williams and dropped to the back of the field to P19. McLaren called in Norris for a second stop on lap 17 due to a reliability issue and Norris rejoined in P14. At the front, Russell went wide at the hairpin which saw Antonelli get all over him and just as it looked like Russell would lose the lead, he managed to hold on, on the main straight to keep his lead.
Antonelli finally made his overtake stick on lap 23 as he went around the outside of Russell moving out of Turn 13 to retake the lead. A couple of laps later, Antonelli had a massive lockup at the hairpin which saw Russell momentarily take the lead of the race before Antonelli retook the lead but gave the lead back as he came agonisingly close with Russell and had to cut the track to take the lead as being pushed wide by his teammate. In an anti-climactic end to the fight for the race lead, George Russell’s Mercedes gave up as his car stopped on track at Turn 9 on lap 30 which brought out the Virtual Safety Car. A flurry of cars dove into the pits for a cheap stop including the top five but slow stops for Ferrari saw them take a step back as Isack Hadjar overtook Charles Leclerc for P4.
Racing resumed on lap 33 with Verstappen being 4.5s behind race leader Kimi Antonelli while Lewis Hamilton was almost eight seconds behind the Red Bull driver. Leclerc and Hadjar almost came together on lap 35 as a late move from Hadjar nearly caught the Ferrari driver off but Leclerc managed to avoid contact as the two battled for fourth place. Leclerc finally got Hadjar for the fourth place on lap 39 while the next lap the race saw another retiree as Lando Norris’ McLaren went into the run-off area at Turn 10 with a mechanical issue costing Norris. Cadillac’s Sergio Pérez came into the pits on lap 43 with a broken front right suspension with the Mexican having to retire from the race as his suspension broke on track.
On lap 53, the Virtual Safety Car was deployed which saw Isack Hadjar and Oscar Piastri pit with the former also serving his 10 second penalty for his dangerous move earlier in the race during his battle with Leclerc. Hadjar rejoined in P5 while Piastri, who also served his penalty for his clash with Albon served his penalty and rejoined in P13. Racing resumed the lap later and it was Hamilton catching Verstappen with Hamilton cutting the gap to Verstappen to under a second by lap 55. Verstappen brought out his incredible defensive driving heading into the final 10 laps of the race as the Red Bull champion kept Hamilton at bay. Hamilton, after almost seven laps of fighting with Verstappen, picked off the Dutchman for second place after producing a stunning overtake, going around the outside of Verstappen at Turn 1 to move into second place.
Antonelli was untouched at the end as he finished over 10 seconds clear of Hamilton with Verstappen unable to catch Hamilton at the end that saw the Dutch driver finish in P3. Leclerc finished fourth with Isack Hadjar, Franco Colapinto, Liam Lawson, Pierre Gasly, Carlos Sainz and Ollie Bearman rounding out the points. Alpine leaves Montreal with a big double points finish even though it might not be a big haul of points while Williams and Haas picked up crucial points as well in their lower midfield battle. Racing will be back in two weeks as the grid will head to the Principality for the iconic Monaco Grand Prix with Kimi Antonelli almost two race wins clear of his title contender George Russell.
