Canada
ROUND RECAP
NORRIS AND PIASTRI COME TO BLOWS
McLaren have long been open about the fact that they may be faced with a strong intra-team battle between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri going forwards; indeed, during Thursday’s media day in Montreal, Norris admitted that “at some point, something is probably going to happen”.
That prediction came true just a few days later as the latter stages of the Canadian Grand Prix played out. While Piastri was trying to catch Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli for third place, Norris had closed in on his team mate as he looked to snatch fourth.
A move through the hairpin initially worked out for Norris – but Piastri had an answer, retaking the position into Turn 13. Norris then tried to make another move on the straight, only to brake late and hit the back of Piastri’s car. While the Australian was able to continue and finish in P4, Norris pulled his damaged MCL39 off the track, meaning that he leaves Montreal with no points.
Team Principal Andrea Stella praised Norris for taking accountability, whilst he also insisted that what happened does not change anything regarding the team’s approach going forward. Nevertheless, it will be fascinating to see how the Woking-based outfit regroup ahead of the next race on the calendar in Austria.
MERCEDES CLINCH DOUBLE PODIUM
It had been a solid start to the 2025 season for Mercedes, having put themselves into second place of the Teams’ Championship during the opening races thanks to several podium finishes for Russell and additional points results courtesy of rookie Antonelli.
However, their strong run took a bit of a hit during the European triple header, leading to them losing that P2 spot to Ferrari last time out in Spain. The Silver Arrows were in need of a good weekend in Canada – and that was exactly what they came away with.
After clinching pole position on Saturday, Russell put in a commanding drive on Sunday – in a race that featured different strategies across the field, as well as a late-race Safety Car following the aforementioned McLaren collision – to seal both his and Mercedes’ first win of the campaign.
To make things even better, Antonelli enjoyed an eye-catching outing at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, the teenager overtaking Piastri at the start for P3 before maintaining that position later on, thus scoring his maiden podium in Formula 1.
FERRARI EDURE ANOTHER TOUGH WEEKEND, BUT HULKENBERG SCORES AGAIN
From Charles Leclerc’s FP1 crash, to Lewis Hamilton’s unfortunate collision with a groundhog in the race, Ferrari seemed to have another unfortunate weekend.
The Monegasque missed out on a valuable hour of FP2 due to his earlier incident, leaving him scrambling to recover for Qualifying and ultimately saw him infuriated by his underwhelming lap which was only good enough for eighth on the grid.
Despite some broadcasted disagreements with his race engineer over whether they should go for the one-stop strategy (Leclerc’s choice) or the two-stop (Ferrari’s choice), he improved to P5, where Hamilton originally started the race.
Once again, the seven-time champion was left in no man’s land as he suffered a broken floor and ineffective brake pedal that led to him crossing the line over seven seconds adrift of his team mate, but he was satisfied to even score with all of the car’s issues.
Ferrari might not be over the moon with the result, but someone who should be pleased is Kick Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, who finished in P8 to score points for the second consecutive round and third time this season. A superb double overtake on the opening lap saw him gain two positions from Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto, and he kept the pace up until the chequered flag fell.
RUSSELL'S 'EXHILARATING' POLE LAP
Pole positions had eluded Mercedes this season until they came to Montreal, where Russell put together a remarkable lap at the last second to beat Verstappen and Piastri to the top spot on medium tyres.
The Brackley outfit have not hidden the fact that their car prefers cooler temperatures, but the truth of that was well and truly revealed this weekend as Russell repeatedly set the benchmark over their typically faster rivals.
After the initial runs in Q3, Verstappen was top of the timesheets having gone marginally faster than the lead McLaren, while Russell could only scrape third place ahead of his rookie team mate Kimi Antonelli.
The top two improved again on their final attempts, but they were toppled by the Briton as he swept past in the dying seconds to secure pole position by over a tenth to the Red Bull driver. For the second year in a row, Russell was able to surge to the most wanted grid spot thanks to a lap that he described as "one of the most exhilarating" in his life.
F1 ACADEMY SERVES UP PLENTY OF DRAMA
F1 ACADEMY was in action in Montreal, with three separate races across the weekend (due to one race being postponed at the previous round in Miami). It was the first of these that provided much of the drama though, with crashes galore amidst non-stop action.
McLaren were not the only team to see their team mates collide this weekend, the same fate befalling Chloe Chambers and Alisha Palmowski, who were battling for the lead. Doriane Pin subsequently won for Mercedes, one of very few to keep out of trouble in a race that featured a Safety Car and multiple other crashes and a car returning to the track in a rather hair-raising manner.
Emma Felbermayr was disqualified from the first race for a technical infringement, having originally finished third, but she bounced back in style to win the second race with a last-lap move on Nina Gademan. Then Chambers took the third win of the weekend to make up for her crash in the first race, having to negotiate not one but two Safety Cars enroute to her first victory of the year.
The action was non-stop, emotions were riding high but the women in F1 ACADEMY delivered three drama-filled races that had the fans on the edge of their seat throughout.
THE STARS COME OUT IN MONTREAL
Ben Stiller made an appearance in the paddock at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, the actor keen to get a taste of F1 action. He watched a thrilling Qualifying session on Saturday, as he was treated to Russell's aforementioned pole lap.
Russell’s Pirelli award was appropriately handed out by Canadian swimming star Summer McIntosh. The 18-year-old sensation, who won three gold medals at last year’s Olympic Games may well have inspired her fellow teenager Antonelli – the Italian of course delivering his first F1 podium.
NFL stars Sydney Brown, Chase Brown and Matthew Bergeron all came down for the show, but after embarrassing themselves with some dubious footballing skills in Miami, the Haas drivers opted to try out another Canadian pastime in Montreal – ice hockey.
Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman took turns as goalie, but neither look set to give up their day jobs just yet...
