In a nail-biter of epic proportions, Kimi Antonelli secured his fourth consecutive victory on Sunday evening at the Canadian GP. The Mercedes driver is making excellent progress in the World Championship standings, especially since his teammate and title rival George Russell retired halfway through due to technical issues. Behind Antonelli, Max Verstappen returned to the podium: P3!

Time penalty for Isack Hadjar

Lap 46/68: Isack Hadjar has received a ten-second time penalty from the stewards for moving twice while braking in a duel with Charles Leclerc. Max Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate is still impressively running in P5, behind Leclerc.

Lap 44/68: Sergio Pérez also retires, the sixth of the day. The Mexican from Cadillac likely hit something on the way. At least his front right wheel looks a bit sad.

Lap 40/68: Lando Norris also retires! He parks his McLaren in a safe spot. The world champion reports over the radio that something is broken. Probably the gearbox, he thinks.

Lap 38/68: The mediums are not working very well for Verstappen in P2 so far. Lewis Hamilton is visibly closing in. Behind Hamilton follow Hadjar, Leclerc, and Colapinto respectively. Antonelli leads with a 6.5-second advantage over Verstappen.

Lap 33/68: Meanwhile, Max Verstappen has made his first pit stop. The mediums have been fitted. His gap from P2 to leader Antonelli is now 4.7 seconds, his lead over Hamilton is almost eight seconds. In terms of lap times, Verstappen is now faster than Antonelli. By the way, Fernando Alonso has also retired.

Race over for George Russell

Lap 30/68: George Russell retires! He seems to have locked up and pulls his Mercedes aside! Or is it a technical failure? His race is over! Antonelli is the new leader and apparently gets the win handed to him. Max Verstappen moves up to P2 as a result.

Lap 24/68: Pff, Kimi Antonelli locks up. Russell passes him, but Antonelli goes past again via the grass. He will have to give that position back. According to the Italian, he has been wronged again by Russell. What wonderful battles the two are fighting, nail-biting also for team boss Toto Wolff.

Lap 23/68: And yes, Antonelli outsmarts Russell and regains the lead in Canada! His attacking spirit has been rewarded!

Lap 21/68: Beautiful battles between Russell and Antonelli. The first defends, the latter lurks. And the fight for P3, between Verstappen and Hamilton, is also interesting with the first pit window approaching. Verstappen’s gap to Antonelli is now over seven seconds.

Lap 16/68: World champion Norris also has to pit for the second time due to a reliability issue. What a dramatic race so far for McLaren.

Lap 14/68: Antonelli attacks Russell, who also locks up but without success so far. Oscar Piastri is already in the pits with his McLaren, this time for a new front wing. And we have a yellow flag due to an incident involving Piastri and Albon. All functions fail on Albon’s Williams, his race is over.

Lap 12/68: Both Mercedes cars steadily pull away from the rest of the field. Meanwhile, Lando Norris has moved up to P9. Max Verstappen tries to keep Hamilton behind him.

Verstappen outsmarts Hamilton

Lap 9/68: Max Verstappen outsmarts Lewis Hamilton in turn 1 and settles into third place, behind the Mercedes cars. The gap to Antonelli in P2 is over three seconds.

Lap 6/68: George Russell takes the lead from Antonelli. The Italian then locks up and nearly crashes into the back of Russell. That is an expensive mistake. And Russell seems to be cruising early in the race.

Lap 3/68: Norris has also pitted for new rubber (mediums), so Antonelli holds the lead, ahead of Russell, Hamilton, and Max Verstappen respectively.

Lap 1/68: And we’re underway! Lando Norris has a great start and immediately takes the lead on his intermediates. Antonelli is in P2 after the first corners, ahead of Mercedes teammate and polesitter George Russell. Max Verstappen survives the first corners and quickly moves up to P5, as Oscar Piastri immediately pits to change his intermediates for mediums.

Multiple formation laps

FORMATION LAP 3: And we do an extra lap! Lindblad’s car was not off the track in time.

FORMATION LAP 2: The start is aborted. There will be an extra formation lap! Arvid Lindblad cannot get his Racing Bulls car running in P9, his car must be removed from the track.

FORMATION LAP 1: It is still drizzling nicely, so it promises to be a great race. The drivers go out for their formation lap and we see that several drivers, including both McLaren drivers on the second row, already choose intermediates, otherwise softs and mediums. Max Verstappen has chosen the soft compound.

21:45: The chance of rain during the race is estimated at forty percent. It is currently drizzling a little. Will intermediates and wets be needed? Click here for the starting grid for the Canadian GP.