George Russell fended off Max Verstappen's charge to bring home Mercedes' first win of 2025 in a Canadian Grand Prix overshadowed by a dramatic McLaren clash. A late-race push from Lando Norris on teammate Oscar Piastri ended with the Briton in the wall and out of the race. The incident dented Norris' hopes of a maiden championship title and allowed both Russell and Verstappen to close in on the standings.
There has been a sense all year that a crash between the reigning Constructors' champions' two cars was a matter of when not if. However, the contact didn't come in a battle for victory with 25 points on the line, but rather during a subdued weekend for McLaren. Norris and Piastri were scrapping for fourth place after a lacklustre qualifying left them further down the grid in what proved their most disappointing outing of the season.
Russell and Verstappen locked out the front row, just two weeks after their dramatic clash in Spain, which left Verstappen with 11 penalty points on his super license. Although more fireworks would follow between the pair, the race start was clean, with Russell getting a superb launch to hold the lead. His teenage teammate, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, added further joy for Mercedes, launching around Piastri from P4 to snatch third from the championship leader. It may be too soon to declare Mercedes back in the title hunt, but this was undoubtedly their strongest showing of 2025.
Most of the opening lap action happened further back. Alex Albon and former teammate Franco Colapinto nearly collided at the Turn 8 chicane, with Albon forced onto the grass to avoid contact. The bouncing Williams somehow avoided any further drama as he rejoined, but Albon lost places to Colapinto, Nico Hülkenberg, and Isack Hadjar, who all swept through.
Although the race settled down in the early stages, the performance delta between Pirelli's Hard and Medium compounds created plenty of overtaking. Red Bull kicked off the pit stop phase by bringing in Verstappen early to undercut Antonelli, who was applying pressure. But it was Norris—starting from P7—who looked the most threatening. Running Mediums in his first stint, he used the tyre's extra grip to pull off moves on Fernando Alonso and then Lewis Hamilton at the hairpin, climbing to P5 behind Piastri.
Tyre variance brought intrigue further down the order too. Williams attempted a one-stop strategy for Albon, extending his Medium stint in hopes of regaining his lost positions. However, the tyres dropped off dramatically, and he was swallowed up in a string of overtakes before eventually boxing. Things then worsened when engine failure made Albon the race's first retirement, meaning back-to-back DNFs for the Thai driver, despite his strong start to the season.
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More drama unfolded at the front. Another early stop for Verstappen forced Mercedes to respond with Antonelli. The Italian emerged from the pit lane side-by-side with the Red Bull, but the outside line at Turn 2 didn't offer the grip required to reclaim P2, allowing Verstappen to stay ahead and deny Mercedes a 1–2 finish.
Antonelli, however, played a crucial role in the most controversial sequence of the race. Following McLaren's final stops, Norris appeared quicker than Piastri on his second set of Hard Pirellis. Piastri needed DRS from Antonelli to help defend from his charging teammate. While the Australian edged closer to the Mercedes, Norris kept the pressure on.
Several probing attacks from Norris didn't unsettle Piastri, but a bold lunge at Turn 10 saw the Briton get through. Piastri struck back down the back straight, retaking the position at the final chicane. The duel spilt onto the start-finish straight, where Norris misjudged a move to the inside of Turn 1, clipping the rear of Piastri's car. The contact shattered his front wing and fired him into the wall. Piastri escaped undamaged, but Norris' afternoon was over with his first non-score of 2025.
The resulting Safety Car led the field to the chequered flag, but even that came with controversy. Stop-start driving from Russell allowed Verstappen to briefly pass him at low speed, prompting immediate complaints over the Red Bull team radio. A post-race protest delayed the final classification for over five hours, but the stewards upheld the result.
It was a chaotic end to the Canadian GP and has set the stage perfectly for the upcoming doubleheader in Austria and Great Britain. Even on a poor weekend, Piastri extended his title lead—but with Mercedes and Verstappen rediscovering form, the championship battle is only getting hotter. Fans at Spielberg and Silverstone are in for a thriller when Formula 1 returns in two weeks' time.
