Antonelli Wins A Nail-Biting Race in Canada

After a thrilling Sprint Race on Saturday, it was time for the Canadian Grand Prix. With a possible chance of rain during the race, eyes were on the sky. Showers has occurred before the race, and umbrellas around the circuit were up.

Starting from pole position was George Russell, who was looking to continue his good form from Saturday after winning the Sprint. His young teammate, Antonelli, would line up alongside him in a race to the first corner.

With home favourite Stroll starting from the pit lane, we look to see which teams have gone for what set of tyres. As the tyre blankets were removed, we saw a mixed range of compounds. Both McLarens, Audis, Cadillacs and the Williams of Carlos Sainz, opted for the intermediates. Liam Lawson, Arvid Lindblad, and Franco Colapinto all took on the mediums – and the rest of the field revealed their soft compound.

The formation lap began and it was heart break for Lindblad, who after a great qualifying session, stalled the car due to a clutch issue. Due to this issue, the cars went around for another formation lap – knocking off one lap from the race total.

There was controversy down at McLaren as they came to the realisation that the track was in fact too dry for inters. Oscar Piastri branded the decision as a “mistake”. As the 5 lights went out, Lando Norris had a super start, running alongside the Mercedes duo before taking the lead!

Russell couldn’t hold onto second place either, and dropped behind Antonelli and then was followed by Hamilton and Piastri. But it wasn’t long before the Aussie called it quits on the intermediate tyres. At the end of the first lap, he came into the pits and swapped them for medium tyres, therefore dropping towards the back of the field.

After the second lap around the track, the McLaren pit crew was once again busy, as their World Champion driver came in to swap his inters to mediums also. This allowed Antonelli to take the lead of this race, with Russell looking racy behind him. It wasn’t just McLaren who ditched the green-walled tyres… All of those who started on intermediates had gotten rid of them in the first few laps.

The Mercedes pair were jostling for the lead. Russell overtook his teammate before the last chicane after the young Italian locked up and flat-spotted his tyres.

After an okay start to the race, Max Verstappen reached third place after passing Hamilton who was struggling for power. After 5 laps, Russell led from Antonelli, Verstappen, Hamilton, and Leclerc. There was a lock-up from Russell and Antonelli momentarily stole the look, before the Brit retook the position.

Yellow flags were being waved on Lap 13 after Alex Albon came to a stop. There was contact between him and Piastri, where replays show the McLaren driver trying to overtake Ollie Bearman, but locking-up and ultimately crashes into the side pod of the Williams driver (through no fault of his own). Piastri has to come into the pits for a new front wing after the collision. Norris also pitted.

As Lap 18 came around, another lock-up from Russell allowed Antonelli to run side-by-side with his team mate. Russell again held on, forcing Antonelli to brake and back out from the fight. The Italian remained half a second behind - meaning that the fight was not over yet.

Behind them the Mercedes paid, Verstappen remained in third but with Hamilton chasing hard behind, while Leclerc was in fifth. An off-track moment for Hamilton saw him drop backwards.

On Lap 22 the battle at the front took another turn. Antonelli made a move into the last corner and made it stick, taking the lead. Just two laps later, Antonelli locked up and Russell returned to the lead. The Mercedes cars kept on battling between them. Antonelli tried another overtake but ran wide off the track and re-joined ahead which lead to the team to ask him to give the position back to Russell. The Italian did as told and gave the place back to Russell.

Due to his earlier contact with Albon, Piastri had been handed a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso retired.

There was a dramatic turn of events on Lap 30 when Russell slowed down and pulled to the side of the track with an issue. The sudden stop on track caused huge frustration for the Brit, who slammed his fists on his car before getting out and exiting to safety.

Out of frustration, Russell threw his headrest out of his car – and as a result, was going to be investigated after the race.

A Virtual Safety Car was deployed as we waited for Russell’s car to be cleared. This allowed most of the field to come into the pits to change their tyres. Antonelli was one of them. He went onto mediums and came out in front of Verstappen.

It went from bad to worse for team papaya as Norris retired from the race with a suspected gearbox issue. Also, Perez came back into the pits after something seemed to fly off his car.

Following a scrap with Leclerc, Isack Hadjar was handed a 10-second penalty for changing direction to many times trying to defend his position.

After begging for more power, Hamilton found his way past Verstappen to snatch second place from the Dutchman. But as the final laps came, it wasn’t over for Hamilton who found himself defending his second place podium finish from his fierce rival.

It was a great race for Antonelli though, who took his fourth consecutive victory with a lead of 10 seconds. Hamilton held onto second place, followed by 4-time champion Max Verstappen, Leclerc, Hadjar, Colapinto, Lawson, Gasly, Sainz, and Bearman.

Here is what Kimi Antonelli had to say about the race: "It was a really fun battle to be fair with George. We were pretty much in the limit and it was not easy today with the wind. Very gusty, Turn 10 was very difficult. I think one lap he locked up and then I went in front and locked up. It was very close and it was a shame for him to have the failure because it would have been a very cool battle but, I mean, we take it. Another win and I'm very happy, and a massive thanks of course to the team."

Formula 1 returns to the historic Monte Carlo next time around. Everyone will be routing for the home hero Charles Leclerc. Can he win at home again? Or will the usual bad luck strike?

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