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FIFA World Cup 2026 posterGreat day for Russell, but the gloves are off
Ian Chadband, AAP • May 24th, 2026 11:17 am
George Russell had a big day, winning the sprint and taking pole in qualifying for the Canadian GP | Photo: AP
It was a great day for Mercedes driver George Russell, winning the early sprint race and then claiming pole for Sunday's Grand Prix.
But there was an extraordinary bust-up between Russell and his Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli, who he beat into third place in the sprint race.
The real drama of the day in Montreal was that the gloves really looked to be off at Mercedes after 19-year-old Antonelli ended up raging about what he called a "naughty" move from Russell which he felt had shoved him off the track.
The furious teenager, who went off the track twice while battling for the lead with Russell, even demanded his teammate get a penalty, and ended up being scolded by team principal Toto Wolff to "stop the radio moaning".
Ultimately, though, Russell took the victory and the eight points to Antonelli's six, which reduces the Italian's championship lead to 18 points.
World champ Norris had to settle for the runner's up spot with Oscar Piastri not too unhappy with fourth.
New Zealand driver Liam Lawson recovered from the very back of the grid after a hydraulic issue in sprint qualifying to finish outside the points in 11th place. His Racing Bulls teammate Arvid Lindblad finished in 7th position and claimed 1 point in the Championship.
The sprint drama had begun when polesitter Russell was being put under pressure from Antonelli on lap six. On turn one, the teenager swept round the outside, only for the pair to make contact as the Italian was forced across the grass and Russell stayed ahead.
"That was very naughty. Not fair, he pushed me off," Antonelli fumed over the radio, adding: "That should be a penalty, I was alongside the mirror."
Wolff intervened to tell Antonelli to "concentrate on the racing please and not the radio moaning".
Later in the lap, the youngster locked up as he tried to move past on the inside, moving on to the grass, allowing Norris to take second, a position he held despite one last lunge from the Italian.
"If we need to race like this, that's good to know," Antonelli muttered on the radio, with Wolff responding: "Kimi, now is not the time to talk about this. We talk about this internally and not on the radio, OK."
Afterwards, on the press conference sofa next to Antonelli, Russell was unapologetic.
"I was going to close the line because that is my right to do so. A good, hard battle. Came out unscathed," he said.
"Glad we are both sat here now, could have been something different and that is how racing should be."
And after grabbing the pole for the Grand Prix, he revealed: "We've had a good chat since this morning. We're both racing drivers, we both respect one another.
"We'll go racing and we're just battling, the two of us."
Wolff tried to play it all down, telling Sky Sports: "We don't want to start race five with headlines like 'Star Wars' or 'this is escalating', as it's not. It's emotion and he is a young driver."
In qualifying Russell snatched a dramatic pole by 0.064sec from Antonelli at the last gasp. The McLaren pair of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will start from the second row, while Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top 5.
Liam Lawson missed the third session of qualifying by 0.04 seconds and will start the race from 12th while his teammate Arvid Lindblad will start from 8th.
Additional reporting by Sport Nation
