Kimi Antonelli, the 19-year-old Mercedes driver, claimed victory in the Canadian Grand Prix held at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on May 24, 2026, marking his fourth consecutive win in Formula 1 races [1, 2, 3, 4].
Antonelli's teammate George Russell had won the Sprint Race the day before, on May 23, but was unable to score World Championship points in the main Grand Prix [1, 2, 3, 4]. During the race, Russell briefly took the lead after Antonelli overshot Turn 14 on lap 6, but Antonelli reclaimed the position by slipstreaming and overtaking Russell on the outside of Turn 1 on lap 21 — a move previously considered impossible by Russell [1, 2, 3, 4].
Russell retired from the race on lap 30 due to a battery pack failure after regaining the lead earlier, forcing him out of contention [1, 2, 3, 4]. McLaren's Lando Norris started the race on intermediate rain tyres but lost the early lead and pitted early to switch to soft dry tyres [1, 2, 3, 4].
Lewis Hamilton, driving a Ferrari with improved chassis setup guided by his new race engineer Cedric Michel-Grosjean, initially ran in third place. However, he later lost that position to Max Verstappen in a Red Bull [1, 2, 3, 4]. Hamilton expressed delight over the chassis improvements worked on prior to and during the race [1, 2, 3, 4].
Antonelli's victory further solidified his rising status in the sport as he continues to dominate at just 19 years old [1, 2, 3, 4]. The next race will present fresh challenges for Mercedes, especially with Russell looking to recover points lost due to his battery pack failure earlier in the season [1, 2, 3, 4].
