Month: June 2025

George Russell defeated Max Verstappen to take his first victory of the season at the Canadian Grand Prix, while Lando Norris was forced to retired after making contact with his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri.

Mercedes driver Russell fended Verstappen off at the start after claiming pole and then produced a measured drive, with his lead never under serious challenge.

In a predicted two-stop Formula 1 race, Russell always had an answer to Verstappen’s pitstops and built up a decent gap over the second stint to delay his final stop until lap 43 of 70, which then allowed him to keep his rival at length until the chequered flag to take his and team’s first win of 2025.

Behind Russell and Verstappen, who settled for second, the battle for the final podium podium heated up over the final stint. Russell’s teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli produced his finest Grand Prix drive of his impressive career and even passed Verstappen right as the Red Bull driver went into the pits.

Verstappen’s earlier pitstop allowed him to keep position and, in the second half of the race, Antonelli’s challenge for second faded. The Mercedes rookie instead had to look in his mirrors to fend off McLaren’s Piastri, whom he had overtaken for third on lap one and held off until the finish to take a maiden Formula 1 podium and hand Mercedes a 1-3 finish.

Piastri and McLaren did not enjoy their usual race pace or tyre wear advantage in Canada, despite Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve being a track that focuses on rear tyre management.

As such Piastri was unable to benefit from having fresher hard tyres than Antonelli to find a way past the Mercedes driver, with the championship leader instead coming under pressure from McLaren teammate Norris.

After a disappointing qualifying session to seventh, Norris was having a strongest race pace following an alternative strategy as a way to fight his way back into contention.

Norris started on hards, extended his first stint and then put himself in a position to put pressure on Piastri. After pressuring Piastri for several laps, Norris initially passed the championship leader at the hairpin on lap 46 before the pair went towards the final chicane side by side.

Piastri kept the position by being later on the brakes, but on the main straight Norris then made an error of judgement as he attempted to pass his teammate on the left into a closing gap. The McLaren driver then drove into the back of Piastri and hit the pitwall to suffer terminal suspension damage and a missing front wing.

Norris immediately admitted his mistake on the team radio, saying it was “all on me”, as he suffered a big points loss in the drivers’ championship.

Ferrari suffered a disappointing afternoon, with Charles Leclerc furious as his team abandoned what appeared to be a manageable one-stop strategy and instead settled for sixth, which became fifth after Lando’s retirement.

Lewis Hamilton had a tricky afternoon with disastrously slow race pace, which undid a solid fifth qualifying position and saw him finish behind Leclerc in sixth. The seven-time world champion is believed to have suffered damage after he hit a groundhog, which cost him downforce.

Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg both produced another combative drive to grab their second consecutive points-scoring results in seventh and eighth respectively.

The final points went to the Haas of Esteban Ocon and Williams driver Carlos Sainz, who overcame a disappointing qualifying session where he started P16 on the grid.

Williams teammate Alexander Albon was less fortunate after having to park up on lap 48 with a Mercedes power unit issue, while Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson also retired to conserve engine mileage.

In the drivers’ standings Oscar Piastri extends his lead on Norris by 12 points to take a 22-point advantage heading into the Austrian Grand Prix, which takes place on the Red Bull Ring in two weeks’ time.

So congratulations to Mercedes with a double podium. George Russell winning the race and Andrea Kimi Antonelli scoring his first podium result. Defending world champion Max Verstappen finished between the Silver Arrows pair as the team’s home race is up next.

As for the McLarens, it was predicted that an on-track clash will take place at some point this season due to the highly competitive nature of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. This turned out to be true with the Papaya pair collided into one another. Lando was forced to retire and this has harmed his points in the drivers’ standings. Oscar was able to continue and took fourth but this is the first time this season that neither McLarens finished on the podium.

Canadian Grand Prix, race results:
1 George Russell Mercedes 1:31:52.688
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull+0.228s
3 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +1.014s
4 Oscar Piastri McLaren +2.109s
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +3.442s
6 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +10.713s
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +10.972s
8 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +15.364s
9 Esteban Ocon Haas +1 lap
10 Carlos Sainz Williams +1 lap
11 Oliver Bearman Haas +1 lap
12 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull +1 lap
13 Franco Colapinto Alpine +1 lap
14 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber F+1 lap
15 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1 lap
16 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +1 lap
17 Lance Stroll Aston Martin A+1 lap
Lando Norris McLaren DNF
Liam Lawson Racing Bulls DNF
Alexander Albon Williams DNF

George Russell grabbed pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix and will start on the front row alongside his Barcelona rival Max Verstappen.

The Red Bull driver was hit with a ten-place penalty and three penalty points after colliding with Russell’s Mercedes during the Spanish Grand Prix. Now, the duo’s battle will head to extra time as the pair will start on the front row in Montreal.

Russell looked strong all weekend and took his first pole since the Las Vegas Grand Prix, a race he went on to win, with a lap time of one minute, 10.899 seconds.

Verstappen had early topped the leaderboard until Russell’s final run upstaged the defending champion, while championship leader Oscar Piastri will start third for McLaren.

Piastri’s title challenger and teammate Lando Norris suffered a tough afternoon and is down in seventh, starting on the fourth row alongside the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli will start fourth, with Lewis Hamilton fifth and Fernando Alonso taking an excellent sixth for Aston Martin. Isack Hadjar and Alex Albon round out the top ten.

Yuki Tsunoda was take a ten-place grid drop and three penalty points during the session after the race stewards ruled on a red flag infringement during FP3. This means he will start from the back of the field having been P11 in Q2.

Franco Colapinto improved on his weekend so far and will start in the P11 vacated by Tsunoda, with Nico Hulkenberg and the Haas pair of Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon following close behind.

There were some surprising drivers out in Q1, with Pierre Gasly the slowest and Liam Lawson also knocked out in P19. Home favourite Lance Stroll struggled on his return from injury and is down in P18.

There was a delay during the session with a red flag needed after Albon’s Williams shed a large part of bodywork – engine cover – down the back straight.

His teammate Carlos Sainz was then left frustrated with Hadjar, who had clearly impeded the Williams driver as he narrowly missed the cut, with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto also eliminated.

So a great qualifying session for Mercedes and George. It will be interesting if Russell has the pace to stay ahead of his Spanish Grand Prix rival Verstappen and the championship leader Piastri. Bring on the race!

Canadian Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 George Russell Mercedes 1:10.899
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:11.059
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:11.120
4 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:11.391
5 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:11.526
6 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:11.586
7 Lando Norris McLaren 1:11.625
8 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:11.682
9 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 1:11.867
10 Alexander Albon Williams 1:11.907
11 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:12.142
12 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:12.183
13 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:12.340
14 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:12.634
15 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 1:12.385
16 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:12.398
17 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:12.517
18 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:12.525
19 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull 1:12.102*
20 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:12.667
*Ten-place grid penalty due to overtaking under the red flag in FP3

Oscar Piastri extends his championship points lead following race victory at the Spanish Grand Prix, leading home to a McLaren 1-2 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, as Max Verstappen received a ten-second time penalty for clashing with George Russell.

Piastri led from pole into Turn 1, while Verstappen jumped Lando Norris by sweeping around the outside.

Behind them there was an intense battle between the Ferraris and the Mercedes cars, with Lewis Hamilton emerging ahead and seventh-starting Leclerc soon passing Russell as well to take fourth and fifth. Leclerc was soon ordered past Hamilton by Ferrari while the seven-time champion struggled from a lack of rear grip.

Verstappen couldn’t keep second for long, though, with Norris breezing past the Red Bull driver on lap 13 into Turn 1. At that point Lando’s gap to his leading teammate had extended to five seconds, a gap which Norris couldn’t reduce before the first round of pitstops.

Verstappen responded by making an early pitstop for another set of soft tyres, the tyre compound everyone bar his pitlane starting teammate Yuki Tsunoda had begun the race with.

With the advantage of fresh rubber being huge at the tyre-hungry circuit, Verstappen quickly undercut Norris and after both McLarens pitted around lap 22 and 23 the Red Bull driver emerged in a net lead, despite with an important tyre life deficit.

Verstappen was vocally frustrated with the Red Bull’s lack of grip, compounded by clutch issues, as he quickly converted from a two to a three-stop strategy to drop behind the McLarens once more.

That second set of softs allowed the four-time world champion to stay in the mix by cutting into the second-placed Norris, who suffered from front-left tyre graining but still managed to keep the gap to his teammate stable. At the halfway point Piastri led from Norris by four seconds, with Verstappen another two seconds behind. Leclerc was a lonely fourth followed by a battling Hamilton and Russell.

Verstappen continued gaining on Norris until his mediums were past their best and both McLarens started upping their pace. The Red Bull final roll of the dice was another undercut attempt with a third pitstop for used softs, but both McLarens responded with stops of their own to keep the top three positions as they were.

Having battled past the lapped Alonso, Lawson and Bearman, the race was then neutralised following the retirement of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who went off with an apparent technical issue to bring out a full safety car.

Most drivers came in again – making it three stops for McLaren and four for Verstappen – with Red Bull’s lead driver dismayed by being put on the much slower hard tyres, having no other tyres left.

On the lap 62 restart, a hefty delay after letting lapped cars unlap themselves, Piastri controlled from Norris at the front.

Meanwhile, Verstappen had a huge slide out of the final corner that saw him lose momentum to allow Leclerc to jump ahead on the restart. Verstappen still struggled on the hard tyres into Turn 1 as Russell lunged down the inside, with Verstappen taking to the escape route.

Verstappen went into Mad Max mode when told to let Russell past by his race engineer and after appearing to give the position back into Turn 4 it then looked like he clashed the Mercedes out of the way deliberately, an incident that was then investigated by the stewards.

After the chequered flag, the stewards decided to apply a ten-second penalty for Max Verstappen. So the Red Bull driver drops down to P10.

At the front Piastri led Norris home by 2.4 seconds to take his fifth win of the 2025 season, extending his championship lead on Norris to ten points.

Leclerc took the final spot on the podium ahead of Russell and Verstappen, but the Red Bull man then received a post-race penalty that dropped him to tenth and a single championship point.

In the background Nico Hulkenberg was a brilliant fifth for Sauber after a late pass on Ferrari’s Hamilton. Isack Hadjar kept his nose clear to finish seventh, adding to his impressive run of results with Racing Bulls. Pierre Gasly lost out but still scored important points for Alpine in eighth.

Fernando Alonso finally got off the mark with his first points of the season in ninth, the last driver to be elevated ahead of an angry Verstappen.

As well as Antonelli, Williams driver Alex Albon retired from the race following contact with Liam Lawson. Aston’s Lance Stroll didn’t start the race, withdrawing on medical grounds due to recurring pain to his right hand and wrist.

So a crazy restart following a late safety car. Max’s bash against George was not ideal and even with the ten-second penalty, the four-time champion will receive further punishment.

As for McLaren, a double podium is fantastic for the constructors’ standings. Oscar Piastri scoring his fifth win is significant in terms of the championship.

Spanish Grand Prix, race results:
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:32:57.375
2 Lando Norris McLaren +2.471s
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +10.455s
4 George Russell Mercedes +11.359s
5 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +13.648s
6 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +15.508s
7 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +16.022s
8 Pierre Gasly Alpine +17.882s
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +21.564s
10 Max Verstappen Red Bull +21.826s*
11 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +25.532s
12 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber +25.996s
13 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull +28.822s
14 Carlos Sainz Williams +29.309s
15 Franco Colapinto Alpine +31.381s
16 Esteban Ocon Haas +32.197s
17 Oliver Bearman Haas +37.065s
Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes DNF
Alexander Albon Williams DNF
*Ten-second time penalty for causing a collision with George Russell