MONTREAL (AP) — Italian teen star Kimi Antonelli charged to his fourth straight Formula 1 victory Sunday in a wild Canadian Grand Prix after Mercedes teammate George Russell was knocked out by an engine failure.
The title-chasing Mercedes drivers put on a show in a thrilling battle through 30 laps, trading the lead several times and coming dangerously close to making contact, until Russell ran into trouble.
That gave the 19-year-old Antonelli a clear
path to victory ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, who overtook Red Bull’s Max Verstappen for second with six laps to go in cold and windy conditions at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Antonelli opened a 43-point lead over Russell in the season standings through five of 22 stops. After Russell won the season-opener race in Australia, Antonelli won in China, Japan and Miami.
Hamilton had his best result since joining Ferrari last year, while Verstappen reached the podium for the first time this season.
After the engine failure, Russell threw his headrest across the track and slammed his fists into the front of the car before leaving the circuit, whipping his gloves to the ground in rage.
The Englishman’s exit marked a nightmare end to an otherwise stellar weekend for last year’s winner in Montreal, who took the sprint race Saturday from the pole and also started first Sunday.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished fourth, followed by Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto and Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson.
McLaren started with both drivers in the second row but Landon Norris was forced to retire from a gearbox issue on Lap 40. Teammate Oscar Piastri placed 11th after a team decision to start on intermediate tires backfired.
Norris flew from third to first off an exciting start on a drying track, only to switch tires three laps in. That ceded the lead to Antonelli, who’d also moved past Russell following the pole-sitter’s poor start.
Russell regained the lead on the seventh lap with a clean overtake as Antonelli nearly hit his teammate from behind after his wheels locked up, rolling off the track. The fighting continued into Lap 12 as Antonelli advanced to first, only for Russell to re-take his position before fending off multiple attempts on Lap 17.
Antonelli successfully pulled it off on the 22nd lap, but Russell again charged back into the lead when Antonelli veered off course two laps later. The exchanges persisted until Russell’s engine blew out.
The Mercedes drivers had gone head-to-head all weekend in the fastest cars on the grid, with Russell edging Antonelli by 0.068 seconds in both the sprint and race qualifying sessions.
Tensions reached a tipping point early sprint race Saturday when they made contact on Antonelli’s overtake attempt, as Russell kept his line and forced Antonelli into the grass. Antonelli lost his cool over the team radio, calling the move “very naughty” before demanding a penalty.
___
AP Formula 1: https://apnews.com/hub/formula-one
