MONTREAL (AP) — Kimi Antonelli went from furious to victorious.
A day after clashing with Mercedes teammate George Russell in a heated sprint race, the 19-year-old Italian star won a wild Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday for his fourth straight victory.
Russell dropped out with an engine failure after the title-chasing Mercedes duo put on a show in a thrilling fight through 30 laps, trading the lead several times and coming dangerously close to making contact.
Then trouble struck for Russell, giving Antonelli a clear path to the finish — and a commanding championship lead.
“It was a really fun battle, to be fair, with George. We were pretty much on the limit,” Antonelli said. 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 we’ll take it.”
Antonelli finished more than 10 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.
Antonelli opened a 43-point lead over Russell through five of 22 races. After Russell won the season-opening race in Australia, Antonelli won in China, Japan and Miami and now Montreal.
Russell’s exit marked a nightmare end to an otherwise stellar weekend for the Montreal winner last year. He took the sprint race from the pole Saturday and started first Sunday.
Once his power unit died, the 28-year-old English driver 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.
Russell said he wished he’d had “40 more of those laps” to battle Antonelli.
“I loved it. I thought it was great, and I’ve not had a battle like this in years,” he said. “Right now (the championship) is his to lose, so many points ahead. It feels like the gods don’t want me to be in this fight.
“Pressure’s off. Go out, enjoy every single race, try and win every single race and I’ve got nothing to lose.”
The spotlight shifted to two longtime rivals once Russell’s day ended, with Hamilton chasing down Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in a throwback to 2021.
The seven-time world champion finally overtook Verstappen for second with six laps to go in cold and windy conditions at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for his his best result since joining Ferrari last year.
“It’s been pretty tough for the past year and a bit, so to finally find our sweet spot and have a good weekend, it’s an amazing feeling,” the 41-year-old Hamilton said.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fourth, followed by Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar.
McLaren’s day turned ugly after both drivers started in the second row. Lando Norris was forced to retire with a gearbox issue on Lap 40, while teammate Oscar Piastri placed 11th after a team strategy to start on intermediate tires backfired.
It spat rain much of the day, but the inclement weather subsided before the race. Norris flew from third to first off an exciting start on the 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 overtake attempts five laps later.
The exchanges persisted until Russell’s engine blew.
“A couple of times it was maybe a little bit on the edge, but we were going at each other,” Antonelli said. “We were both pushing and we both wanted to win. And I think for everyone watching it was pretty entertaining.”
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 in the sprint race 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. Stewards did not investigate.
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AP Formula 1: https://apnews.com/hub/formula-one
