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Key events
Lap 29/68: “Both cars need to race without risk” is the word from George Russell’s engineer as Kimi Antonelli gets a similar message.
Lap 28/68: Antonelli is still very close to Russell as the pair lead from Verstappen, six seconds back in third with Hamilton another five second back in fourth.
Lap 27/68: Fernando Alonso has retired from the race after a challenging the weekend. Apparently Mercedes have told their drivers to “tidy it up” – ie stop almost driving one another off the track. Russell leads Antonelli. For now.
“What’s the point?” Antonelli complains on the radio, but he gives back the lead to Russell. George isn’t happy about where Kimi gave him the place back!
The gloves are: off.
Lap 25/68: Russell retakes the lead as Antonelli locks up at the hairpin! Kimi charges to retake – do they touch?? Maybe not quite. Antonelli gets the lead back but is told to give back P1 as he went off to gain track position.
Lap 24/68: So Antonelli leads! Piastrai gets a 10-second penalty for that incident with Albon. The Mercedes cars both pass the world champion Norris. The McLarens are not having a fun race.
Lap 23/68: Antonelli is all over Russell like ants on a Snickers. He draws alongside him on the straight and this time makes it stick! It was coming – the teenage Italian is back in the lead.
Lap 21/68: The stewards and doling out penalties for yellow flag infringements but none effecting the leaders. The Mercedes come up to lap Norris.
Lap 20/68: Alex Albon is out of the race after that clash with Piastri. The Mercedes drivers are five seconds ahead of Verstappen in third. There’s barely anything between George and Kimi at the front.
Lap 18/68: The Mercedes at the front are giving us terrific entertainment as they joust for the lead. Antonelli is right on the back of his teammate.
Lap 17/68: Russell locks up on the corner, Antonelli can’t quite capitalise but they are wheel to wheel on the straight! Nothing in it! Russell just hangs on as Antonelli makes the smart move and backs off. But he is ready to pounce if Russell locks up again.
Lap 16/68: Lando Norris has to come in for an early second stop due to a mechanical issue. Junk in the sidepods, speculates Martin Brundle. He’s back out but down in 14th.
Lap 15/68: Russel is seven-tenths ahead of Antonelli as they spar for the lead. This is terrific stuff. Though you suspect Toto Wolff has everything clenched.
Lap 14/68: They’re changing Oscar Piastri’s wing, he’s clearly had some kind of incident. A collision with Alex Albon, apparently, the Williams driver an innocent party. The McLaren team get Piastri back out but he’s almost a lap down.
Lap 12/68: Antonelli overtakes Russell! Then Russell takes back P1 almost instantly! They’re almost wheel to wheel at the start of lap 13. Cat and mouse stuff as the Mercedes tussle at the front. Some debris on the track means we’re on a yellow card.
Lap 11/68: Oliver Bearman is up in ninth after starting in 16th. Norris is gradually making up places – he’s in 11th after that early pit stop. But he’s 33 seconds behind the leaders.
Lap 10/68: Russell has a one-second lead from Antonelli at the front. Verstappen is a further two second behind after passing Hamilton. Leclerc is fifth, a place behind his teammate.
Lap 9/68: Max Verstappen brakes late and overtakes Hamilton’s Ferrari to grab third spot! “I’ve got no power – come on guys,” says Hamilton on the radio.
Lap 8/68: Russell – who started in pole has slipped to third at the start – got back to second when Norris stopped, and is now in P1 after overtaking Antonelli. He’s starting to build a lead at front now.
Lap 6/68: Russell is in the lead! He goes up the outside of Antonelli, who locks up, goes off in a plume of tyre smoke – he recovers but Russell zooms ahead of him.
Lap 5/68: Norris goes over the chicane in 14th. He’s having an eventful race … Russell is half a second behind Antonelli at the front. Hamilton is keeping pace with them for now, with Verstappen in hot pursuit. Every driver who started on intermediates has changed them.
Lap 3/68: Antonelli leads from Russell, Hamilton third, Verstappen fourth. Both McLarens are down in the midfield after pitting. That rocket start from Norris was for nothing, though he is ahead of his teammate.
Lap 2/68: Antonelli also got ahead of Russell in that breathless start. He’s about to be leading as Norris is going to copy his teammate is pitting to change tyres. Lewis Hamilton is third.
Lap 1/68: Remarkable start from Norris who overtook both Mercedes at the start! His teammate Piastri dropped back, however. He’s going straight into the pits to change tyres.
Lights out!
We are go in Montreal at the second time of asking. Lando Norris shoots into the lead!
We’re on the extra formation lap, which means we’ll have a 68-lap – rather than 70-lap – race. It looks reasonably dry on the track. Have McLaren made an error with the intermediates?
Arvid Lindblad’s car is being pushed off the grid, unlucky for him. He won’t start in ninth.
An extra formation lap! The start was abandoned, I think there was a problem with Arvid Lindblad’s car – his car wouldn’t go into gear. Kimi Antonelli moved slowly off the line first but he won’t be penalised at all, as it’s an aborted start.
The formation lap is under way. Seven drivers are on intermediate tyres – including both McLarens – there’s plenty of tyre variety on the grid. The Mercedes are both on the soft compound.
It actually looks pretty misty in Montreal. Headlights up to full beam, lads? We’re just minutes away from the start!
“It’s a really hard choice between the intermediates and the slicks,” Sergio Perez tells Martin. “It’s gonna be slidey,” adds Lando Norris with a wolfish grin.
“Slippery when wet,” says Max Verstappen, four-time F1 world champion and (possibly) Bon Jovi fan.
Martin Brundle is doing his grid walk in a gusty Montreal. The teams are pretty occupied in heating their tyres.
“It feels like his kind of day,” says Brundle as he walks past Verstappen’s car in sixth place. “Max tends to have a sixth sense about where the braking is.”
“One of the best tracks in the world,” assesses Lewis Hamilton, who loves the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve and has a joint-record seven F1 wins here.
The rapid street circuit does tend to be popular with drivers, offering decent overtaking opportunities. Could be less popular today if it starts tipping it down, mind you.
Too early in the season for drivers’ championship standings? Perhaps. But here they are.
1) Kimi Antonelli 106pts
2) George Russell 88pts
3) Charles Leclerc 63pts
4) Lando Norris 58pts
5) Lewis Hamilton 54pts
6) Oscar Piastri 48pts
7) Max Verstappen 28pts
8) Oliver Bearman 17pts
George Russell is trying out the intermediates as the drivers in the warm-up test the best tyres for the conditions. It’s likely too dry for those right now, but there’s spots of rain about and it looks very chilly in Montreal.
“We had a meeting yesterday and it’s all good, everything is settled,” says a smiling Kimi Antonelli as he’s asked trackside about his flashpoint with George Russell during yesterday’s sprint race.
Toto Wolff will not want a repeat of Canada last year when two teammates – McLaren, not Mercedes – collided on the track.
“All the drivers will be nervous of this – it’s into the unknown,” says Martin Brundle on Sky, holding an umbrella above his head. “A magical mystery tour.” (All you need is wets?)
“This will be George and Kimi’s nightmare,” adds Jamie Chadwick of the conditions.
Call me Phil Connors because I’m bringing you the weather updates: it’s windy at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve but not raining. Yet. The start should be OK for just under an hour.
Pole to flag: all four races this season have been won by the pole-sitter (Russell first, Antonelli with the past three), though they’ve hardly been processions.
Good news for George … in theory. But that streak won’t last all season. Is today the day it changes? The weather could certainly add an element of chaos, especially as we don’t exactly know how these cars will behave in wet race conditions.
The grid in Montreal
How they will line up on the Île Notre-Dame. Start time is still 9pm BST (4pm local), weather permitting.
1) George Russell (Mercedes)
2) Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
3) Lando Norris (McLaren)
4) Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
5) Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
6) Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
7) Isack Hadjar (Red Bull)
8) Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
9) Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls)
10) Franco Colapinto (Alpine
11) Nico Hülkenberg (Audi)
12) Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
13) Gabriel Bortoleto (Audi)
14) Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
15) Carlos Sainz (Williams)
16) Oliver Bearman (Haas)
17) Esteban Ocon (Audi)
18) Alex Albon (Williams)
19) Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
20) Sergio Perez (Cadillac)
21) Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
22) Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac)
Weather update: it’s raining right now in Montreal, apparently. It may mean a delay in the race start or it could clear up and/or avoid the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. Any news on start times as we get it!
Preamble
Hold on, is that the sight of sparks flying in the Mercedes garage? Metaphorically, of course. George Russell and Kimi Antonelli have played the roles “the gent” and “tenacious teen” for the first four races of this F1 season. But with it becoming increasingly clear that it’s likely to be a straight shootout between the teammates for the drivers’ title, we’ve seen the first flash of friction between the pair in Montreal.
A clash during the sprint race when Antonelli attempted to overtake Russell left the Italian fuming and Toto Wolff had to intervene, telling him to “stop the radio moaning”. Russell held on for victory, Lando Norris splitting the Mercs, though it’s a Russell-Antonelli front row for today’s race after the Briton pipped his teammate by six-hundredths of a second in qualifying.
Antonelli, the championship leader by 18 points, has won the last three races of a stop-start season. But Russell likes this track – it’s his third pole in a row here. Plus there’s a 60% chance of rain and a chasing pack including Norris and Oscar Piastri in third and fourth, Lewis Hamilton starting fifth and Max Verstappen rounding off the top six. Intriguing!
The Canadian GP is due to start at 9pm BST – feel free to email in with your thoughts, hopes and dreams.
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