Race Report: Kimi wins his 4th in Canadian GP

Kimi Antonelli won his fourth grand prix in a row at the Canadian Grand Prix beating Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. Unfortunately, the intriguing battle between Kim and teammate George Russell came to a premature end with an engine failure for Russel.

Win

A win for Kimi who took his fourth consecutive win in F1. The team were having to engage in driver management all weekend with Kim and George going after each other and it brought to mind the recent McLaren Papaya rules and the past Mercedes duo pf Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

Unlike McLaren, Mercedes seemed to keep things more on the down low without the creation of some sort of rule set such as Papaya rules. It certainly does seem like Kimi has the outright pace but George has the outright skill and experience and that combination may produce enough fireworks to keep the fans engaged despite their dislike of the current 50/50 hybrid formula.

A win for Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton who looked quick all weekend and had a very good march toward the podium and a fun battle with Max Verstappen. Lewis was quicker than his teammate, Charles Leclerc, all weekend and really had a lot to be excited about with a return to form.

A win for Red Bull who had Max on the podium for the first time this season. That’s a move int eh right direction but is it enough to keep Max interested in F1? Time will tell but he did say he enjoyed the battle with Lewis and it was good to be on the podium again. Also a win for Isack Hadjar who had two penalties and still managed to come home in P5 which is a great result for him.

A win for Alpine with both cars in the points. It must be said that Franco Colapinto has had the measure of Pierre Gasly of late and it seems like a racing driver switch has been turned on for Franco. A great result for a P^. Pierre did well too with a P8 and if I am honest, given Friday and Saturday, I wasn’t expecting a great result for Alpine. Glad I was wrong.

A good result for Liam Lawson, Carlos Sainz and Ollie Bearman to claw their way into the points while their teammate’s struggled.

Fail

A fail for Mercedes and George Russell. George needed to turn his season around in Canada and a mechanical failure was not what he needed. Kimi threw everything at George but the wily veteran managed the youngster’s exuberance and seemed to be on target for a win but an engine failure place him 40 points adrift in the title run now.

A fail for McLaren who gambled by starting on Inters and it all went down hill from there with a mechanic failure of Lando Norris and Oscar a penalty for taking Alex Albon out of the race. I was curious why they didn’t split the strategy with one on inters and one on slicks? Seemed odd to me.

A fail for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who has been on his back foot against Lewis of late and his anger on the radio isn’t helping.

A fail for Racing Bulls as Arvid Linblad had a great weekend going only to suffer a DNS!

WTH

Not sure what happened to Sergio Perez’s suspension but thankfully that happened at slow speed. Reminded me of the time both front suspensions shattered on the Red Bull back in the day.

What was up with the start? Did they abort because they knew Arvid was stalled? Why the three formation laps?

Pirelli Report:

DARIO MARRAFUSCHI – PIRELLI MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR

It did not rain during the Canadian Grand Prix, but in the end rain was still, in some respects, a key factor in the race, at least as far as the start was concerned.

The decision by four teams, including McLaren, to fit Intermediates in anticipation of a sudden change in the weather was a gamble that did not pay off, as it became immediately clear once the lights went out that the race would be run on a dry track.

The low temperatures pushed the remaining teams to rely on the softest compound which, thanks to its greater grip, helped the tyres reach their operating window, despite the additional difficulties caused by the two extra formation laps.

As we described yesterday, the C5 was the joker of this Sunday thanks to its consistency, which allowed drivers to run until the first neutralisation, but the theoretically quickest strategy nevertheless confirmed its effectiveness. This is demonstrated by the positions gained by the two Alpine drivers, who started on the Medium and finished the race in the points on the Hard.

Graining, despite the cold conditions, was very limited and did not affect tyre performance over a stint, allowing the drivers to focus on on-track battles, which once again delivered an entertaining Grand Prix.

The fastest lap today, set by race winner Kimi Antonelli, was less than a tenth of a second slower than the quickest race lap recorded in 2025 by his team-mate Russell, a sign that car development is progressing at full speed and in the right direction.

Canadian GP Results: