MONTREAL, Canada — Fans of hockey and Formula 1 alike know that Montreal has long been home to fierce competition. The great white north delivered exactly that, with battles across the grid from start to finish. So with the track clear of groundhogs and broken cars, here is how it all went down as we saw great battles, resulting in both triumph and heartbreak.

Mercedes Teammates Battle

After a dud of a start, Arvid Lindblad’s car had a fault, and failed to get off the line, this resulted in two extra formation laps. However, despite the lackluster start, the ensuing laps were spectacular. The first 30 laps saw an intense battle between the Mercedes teammates. 

George Russell was looking to finish off an already promising weekend with a Grand Prix victory. Meanwhile, his young teammate Kimi Antonelli was fighting to continue his already three-race win streak. 

The battle was intense, with the two teammates trading positions several times as they fought for the race lead. There was a lot on the line here, but only one would come out on top. However, while the drivers likely wanted to let the fight go for the entire race, that just couldn’t be.

After going off track, George Russell’s car came to a stop beside the track, seemingly due to an issue with his power unit. A disappointing end to a promising weekend for the driver who hasn’t had a DNF since Silverstone 2024. It was also a sad end to what had been a truly spectacular fight.

Meanwhile Kimi Antonelli ran away with the race lead, going on to win his fourth consecutive Grand Prix and put a bit more padding on his lead in the drivers’ standings. The 19-year-old now leads the drivers’ championship by 43 points. 

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen Had a Battle For the Ages.

While the Mercedes battle may have come to an early end, the later laps still provided an entertaining spectacle as two of the greats duked it out for second place. The battle shaped up nicely, with Verstappen in second, and Hamilton catching up.

Both drivers seemed to be having a good race. Hamilton has had a great deal of success in the Canadian GP throughout his career, standing on the podium in Montreal 11 times in the past. Verstappen also had promise, having a much better race than he had in the first four rounds. 

The battle went into the late laps, with the two legends fighting wheel-to-wheel. It was only a matter of time before Hamilton found an opportunity, and took it. He slipped into second place, fighting for his best finish with Ferrari.

In the end, Lewis Hamilton was able to defend the position for the last few laps, and take home second place, giving him plenty to celebrate with his mother in attendance. Max finished in third, getting his first podium finish of 2026.

Lewis and Max’s respective teammates also finished up in the points. Charles Leclerc may not have had as great a race as Hamilton, voicing a bit of frustration with the pit lane as he requested there be no more talking until the final lap. However, he still managed to get a fourth place finish. 

Isack Hadjar may not have had the best season, but he has managed to salvage the race. In spite of a penalty, he was still able to round out the top five.

McLaren Struggles

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri seemed to get off to a good start, starting the race from third and fourth respectively. Lando Norris even managed to get off to a great start, getting past the two Mercedes off the start, but the rest of the race was not as glorious.

Well it actually soured off the start, when McLaren took a page out of Ferrari’s book, and messed up strategy. The team decided to take a gamble, and start the race on wet tyres, this gamble did not pay off. This is mainly because the track was cold and dry. 

This resulted in both drivers having to pit by the third lap, losing the work they had put into qualifying and starting well. This dropped the McLaren drivers behind the rest of the field, with a lot of ground to catch up on. But the issues didn’t end with the tyre situation, nor was it the penalties that dealt the heaviest blow, at least not for Piastri.

Piastri, who has already had a tough season despite finishing third in the drivers’ standings last year, had another disappointing race. As he tried to fight his way back through the pack, he collided with Alex Albon, severely damaging Albon’s car and sending him out of the race. This incident resulted in a 10-second penalty for Piastri. Still, it could be worse.

Later Piastri, still trying to regain ground after the tyre strategy failed, found himself the victim of mechanical failure. After the gearbox suddenly made a very expensive noise, Piastri found himself out of the race. 

The defending champion, Lando Norris, was still able to finish the race, but did so just outside the points in 11^th.

Six DNFs

George Russell and Oscar Piastri were not the only drivers to end the weekend with a DNF. Alex Albon had a disappointing weekend. Earlier in the weekend, the Williams driver crashed in practice after hitting a groundhog that tried to run across the track. Albon then ended Sunday’s race after colliding with Oscar Piastri, who later found himself out of the race with a transmission issue. 

The race got off to a rough start for Arvid Lindblad, whose car suffered a fault and failed to get off the line. Later in the race, Sergio Perez suffered suspension failure, ending the Cadillac driver’s race. Fernando Alonso also failed to finish the race in his Aston Martin.

In the end, the Canadian GP delivered plenty of thrilling moments, especially with some of the best battles in recent memory. Kimi Antonelli now takes a bigger lead in the drivers’ standings, continuing his impressive sophomore season.

Teams will now have yet another weekend off before Formula 1 returns in June with round six in Monaco. 

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