George Russell claimed the sprint race in Canada from pole position on Saturday evening, ahead of Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli respectively. Russell and Antonelli had quite a tussle in the early stages of the race at the Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal. This will certainly be discussed further at Mercedes. Max Verstappen finished seventh.

Read the live report below.

LAP 1/23: George Russell keeps the lead from pole at the start, ahead of Antonelli and Lando Norris. Max Verstappen maintains his position in P7. No notable incidents occur. Five drivers started from the pit lane: Stroll, Bearman, Gasly, Bottas, and Albon.

LAP 3/23: Russell and Antonelli immediately pull some distance from the rest of the field. Verstappen is meanwhile breathing down Charles Leclerc’s neck in front of him, in P6.

Trouble between Antonelli and Russell

LAP 6/23: Isack Hadjar falls back completely and reports an engine problem over the radio. Up front, Russell and Antonelli clash. Antonelli chooses to attack and twice has to go through the grass. The young Italian’s aggression costs him a place to world champion Lando Norris. Antonelli complains over the radio that his teammate deserves a time penalty: “He pushed me off.” This will have some repercussions behind the scenes at Mercedes.

LAP 10/23: Isack Hadjar has had to retire and Max Verstappen is still behind Leclerc in P7. Most attention, however, is on the front of the field, with Russell leading. The Brit sees Norris in his mirrors, the gap less than a second.

LAP 14/23: Antonelli has regained control after the trouble with his teammate and is the fastest on track. He is visibly closing in on Norris and Russell ahead of him. Verstappen is somewhat in no man’s land in P7.

LAP 18/23: Russell loses some time behind backmarker Albon, allowing Norris and Antonelli to suddenly be within a second of him. Fernando Alonso meanwhile retires with a technical issue. The stewards are investigating Max Verstappen for an alleged yellow flag violation, but no penalty is given.

‘Wall of Champions’

LAP 21/23: Behind the top three, and at a considerable distance, Lewis Hamilton is the best of the rest, ahead of Piastri, Leclerc, and Verstappen respectively. Hamilton reports over the radio that he has hit the famous Wall of Champions.

LAP 23/23: George Russell takes the sprint victory and thus gains two championship points on his teammate Antonelli, who finishes third. Lando Norris is flagged second. In the final lap, Antonelli still tried to outsmart Norris. It was an all-or-nothing attempt, which again ended with Antonelli going through the grass.

Max Verstappen takes two championship points from the sprint race. It is certain that a serious conversation will take place within Mercedes about the incident between Russell and Antonelli in the early stages of the race. To be continued!