Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nLap 6 of the sprint is when those rules were written.<\/p>\n
Russell, after having held the lead off the line for the first time this season, got a poor exit from the hairpin, giving Antonelli a golden chance to slipstream him down to the chicane.<\/p>\n
He forced the Englishman onto a slightly narrower line that ensured the following Mercedes would get a better exit, giving himself an opportunity to make the pass into the first turn.<\/p>\n
Russell covered the inside line, as he was always going to do. Antonelli, though, had the speed to pull fully alongside in the braking zone.<\/p>\n
Was he really going to overtake around the outside of his teammate?<\/p>\n
Russell had no intention of finding out if he could pull it off. Drifting wide through the corner to assume the normal racing line, he ran his teammate out of room, and Antonelli suddenly found himself skidding across the grass.<\/p>\n
Avoiding what would have been embarrassingly clumsy contact in the middle of turn 2, Russell cruised past his teammate to hold the lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was very naughty,\u201d Antonelli declared over team radio.<\/p>\n
Obviously agitated, the Italian teenager continued protesting over team radio until team boss Toto Wolff stepped in.<\/p>\n
\u201cKimi, concentrate on the driving please and not on the radio moaning.\u201d<\/p>\n
But by the end of the race he clearly still had the first-turn incident on his mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we need to race like this, then it\u2019s good to know,\u201d Antonelli radioed on the cool-down lap.<\/p>\n
It prompted another rebuke from Wolff.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talk about this internally and not on the radio, okay?\u201d<\/p>\n
But Antonelli\u2019s final radio message went to the nub of the issue.<\/p>\n
This championship was never going to be fought entirely in parallel phases of form, with the drivers taking it in turns to win races easily while the other struggled.<\/p>\n
At some point it would come down to combat \u2014 and when that moment came in the sprint, both drivers intended to make a point.<\/p>\n
Heimgartner claims first win in 2 years | 01:28<\/p>\n
RUSSELL ARGUES THE VIBE<\/p>\n
Russell needed the victory. It wasn\u2019t about the score \u2014 the difference between first and second is a solitary point \u2014 but about the momentum. Having been beaten by Antonelli three grands prix in a row \u2014 including a belting in Miami \u2014 he needed to take back some control in Canada, a circuit at which he\u2019s been historically strong.<\/p>\n
But the sprint qualifying margin \u2014 just 0.068 seconds \u2014 told us that Antonelli wouldn\u2019t be beaten easily, and the Italian kept up the pressure in the sprint, where he looked like the quicker driver, even if only marginally.<\/p>\n
Overtaking is deceptively difficult in Montreal even with the long straights and big braking events, and even an inherently quicker driver usually needs to get creative on the outside line to make a move. Russell wielded that knowledge well to force Antonelli to exert himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs kids in karting we know overtaking on the outside, there\u2019s a certain element of risk that comes with that,\u201d he said. \u201cThere are amazing overtakes when they come off, but the chances are quite slim.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s only one direction I was going, and I was going to close the line because it\u2019s my right to do so.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never get overtaken around the outside of that corner, and so I knew it was pretty safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m glad that we\u2019re both sat here now. It could have been something different, but it wasn\u2019t, and that\u2019s how racing should be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russell\u2019s arguments are clear. He had right of way, and the team was lucky that Antonelli\u2019s behaviour didn\u2019t trigger a crash.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is clear that between teammates we race hard and fair and no contact, and that\u2019s always the objective,\u201d he continued. \u201cI wasn\u2019t racing Kimi any harder than I would have raced Lando in the same position.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re both here fighting to win, and always in the past, even last year when we battled, I always gave Kimi a bit more room compared to anyone else.<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to review it. There was nothing untoward with the driving and, as I said, I don\u2019t think it was even investigated. I think that says enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Norris is an interesting counterfactual here.<\/p>\n
On the final lap of the race, Antonelli attempted a similar overtake on Norris for second place \u2014 he\u2019d fallen behind on lap 6 after botching the brakes at the turn 8-9 chicane.<\/p>\n
Though Antonelli carried too much speed into the corner against Norris and had to bail off the track, onboard footage suggests the McLaren driver was at least a little more generous in the room he left to his outside in case the Mercedes managed to hang in there.<\/p>\n
But even without that comparison, it was hard not to come away with the feeling that Russell had made a statement on lap 6.<\/p>\n
As he opened the wheel slightly to drift towards the kerb on exit, he seemed to be saying: \u2018I\u2019m your title rival first and your teammate second; don\u2019t expect space from me\u2019.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the sort of move so many great champions make at some point or other. Intimidating other drivers on track is a crucial weapon \u2014 one that forces rivals to second-guess their instincts in battle.<\/p>\n
The question for him, however, is whether Antonelli took away that lesson.<\/p>\n
Reynolds penalised after kostecki hit | 00:43<\/p>\n
ANTONELLI ARGUES THE RULES<\/p>\n
Though Antonelli had cooled down out of the cockpit, he clearly felt no less aggrieved after the fact to have been denied what he felt had been a valid move at the first turn.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if you are well alongside, you can overtake pretty much anywhere,\u201d he said, disagreeing with his teammate\u2019s argument that drivers \u201cnever get overtaken around the outside\u201d of the first turn.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously there are corners that are more difficult, but I don\u2019t think there\u2019s never been an overtake around the outside in turn 1.\u201d<\/p>\n
F1\u2019s racing guidelines say a driver should meet three criteria to be entitled to space around the outside.<\/p>\n
The first is that they have their front axle ahead of the other car\u2019s front axle at the apex.<\/p>\n
The second is that they\u2019re fully in control of their car.<\/p>\n
The third is that they\u2019re able to make the corner.<\/p>\n
Antonelli was certainly in control and looked all but certain to make the corner from his chosen trajectory.<\/p>\n
Whether his front axle was ahead, however, is up for debate \u2014 but if it wasn\u2019t, it was certainly close.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat should be a penalty, I was alongside the mirror,\u201d Antonelli argued.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, the matter didn\u2019t go to the stewards. It wasn\u2019t even noted.<\/p>\n
According to The Race, race control even inquired at one point whether the stewards were aware of the incident. They replied that they had seen it and \u201cat first glance\u201d had decided there was no issue with Russell\u2019s defence.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s despite Antonelli insisting there\u2019d been contact \u2014 and television pictures certainly suggest, contrary to Russell\u2019s insistence, that they did touch \u2014 which obviously goes against the fundamental rule inside any team that teammates don\u2019t hit each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do meetings before races and that\u2019s what we say in the room,\u201d Antonelli said. \u201cThen of course we race to win and we try to do our best to defend our position.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably I understood the significance of that meeting a bit differently [to Russell].<\/p>\n
\u201cFor sure we\u2019re going to talk about it and we\u2019re going to clarify on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Antonelli\u2019s statement, then, can be read slightly differently.<\/p>\n
As he pulled up at least alongside Russell at turn first-turn apex, he was saying: \u2018I\u2019m faster than you; it\u2019s up to you to let me through if you don\u2019t want to crash\u2019.<\/p>\n
Rather than being cowed by Russell\u2019s robust defence, Antonelli sounds emboldened \u2014 though the real test will come when they\u2019re next battling for position.<\/p>\n
Kostecki sets the pace in Tassie | 01:02<\/p>\n
WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THE RACE?<\/p>\n
The nature of sprint racing in Formula 1 means the narrative moves on quickly, but the nature of this weekend and of Mercedes\u2019s small but decisive pace advantage means that the coming-together in the short race felt a lot like one chapter of a weekend-long narrative \u2014 not always the case in under a format that sometimes feels disjointed.<\/p>\n
For a time it looked like Antonelli was going to get his revenge in qualifying. For much of the session he seemed by far the better prepared Mercedes driver.<\/p>\n
It took until Russell\u2019s final qualifying lap \u2014 after abandoning his first in a risky gamble on a new set of tyres \u2014 to pinch top spot.<\/p>\n
Just 0.068 seconds split them \u2014 exactly the same margin as in sprint qualifying.<\/p>\n
The tiny gap was made at the exit of the turn 8-9 chicane but also at the exit of the hairpin, where Antonelli\u2019s final lap had been weakest.<\/p>\n
Russell said his explosion of joy over team radio was because of the way his qualifying session suddenly and unexpectedly came together, but you can bet there was at least a little bit of relief in there for having been able to \u2014 if only just \u2014 shake his teammate at a circuit many wouldn\u2019t have expected the Italian to keep up the pressure quite so effectively.<\/p>\n
It puts the drivers in identical positions on the front row for the grand prix, setting up a rematch but with far more points on the table.<\/p>\n
Wolff, who had admonished Antonelli twice over team radio during the sprint, sounded almost happy to have go the first flashpoint out of the way in the short race, giving him a first real look at how his two protagonists would deal with other on track.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really enjoy these moments because it allows us to learn and say, \u2018Okay, what are we doing with this situation? How are we handling that in the future?\u2019 because you don\u2019t want to lose a race, you don\u2019t want to crash into each other,\u201d he told Sky Sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes it needs a little moment to remind ourselves what our objectives are. This is not particularly against one or the other, but there\u2019s a framework that we want to establish, and I\u2019d rather have it in a sprint race where it\u2019s not about a lot of points than the main race.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want to start with race 5 and have headlines like \u2018star wars\u2019 or \u2018this is escalating\u2019, because it\u2019s not. It\u2019s the emotion, and he\u2019s a young driver, and I think George would have probably done the same, so we just need to see how we handle it.\u201d<\/p>\n
“Complete bulls**t!” Ocon on Haas split | 00:44<\/p>\n
McLAREN THREATENING WITH RAIN ON THE RADAR<\/p>\n
Mercedes, though, may not be on its own contending for victory.<\/p>\n
Lando Norris proved in the grand prix that he had the pace to be at least irritating for the silver cars when they started costing each other time battling \u2014 and with a Mercedes engine bolted in the back, he wasn\u2019t easy to pass once he got ahead.<\/p>\n
The one-lap margin also shrank on Saturday, with Norris just 0.151 seconds off pole \u2014 and with Oscar Piastri a negligible 0.052 seconds further back.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think to be as close as we were to the Mercedes is a good thing,\u201d Norris said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith them bringing upgrades, we thought it would be tough to beat them, and the fact we\u2019re not using some of our upgrades, I think we\u2019re very surprised to be even this close \u2014 a lot of good signs.\u201d<\/p>\n
A complicating factor, though \u2014 both in reading the qualifying results and predicting the race \u2014 is that the threat of rain on Sunday has increased as the weekend has gone on.<\/p>\n
The threat is significant enough that most teams appeared to have softened their set-ups in anticipation of at least some wet running.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re yet to have a wet session in 2026. No-one really knows how these cars will behave in the rain.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be an experience on way or another,\u201d Piastri said with a wry smile.<\/p>\n
In April the FIA pre-emptively made some rule changes for wet-weather running, reducing the amount of electrical power available.<\/p>\n
Because electrical power is instantaneous, the massive torque spikes available when the hybrid motor is at maximum output was thought to be a risk to driveability in low-grip conditions, so the thinking is that reducing output will help to keep the cars in check.<\/p>\n
But Max Verstappen \u2014 downtrodden in sixth with a car he found \u201cso confusing\u201d after his team apparently overruled him on set-up changes \u2014 was sceptical the rule tweaks would work.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be chaos regardless I think,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A fascinating backdrop to what will be an unmissable next chapter in the developing Mercedes rivalry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How significant will the Canadian Grand Prix weekend be to the resolution of the 2026 world championship? It\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":690782,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[2095,107506,64,63,689,143987,337114,2065,42656,337110,337116,229832,817,36333,18928,337108,141864,2755,813,816,235325,49580,337104,3875,841,14211,242698,90117,161442,337106,337109,5140,938,337107,2041,2067,677,337111,2111,260439,36257,337113,16205,147522,157083,154946,2643,94626,85,22301,22764,337112,2801,36772,337105,337115,4703,2614,25611,75918],"class_list":["post-690781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-america","tag-andre-heimgartner","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-braking-zone","tag-bringing-upgrades","tag-canada","tag-david-reynolds","tag-decisive-pace-advantage","tag-duo-clash","tag-electrical-power","tag-f1","tag-final-lap","tag-final-qualifying-lap","tag-final-radio-message","tag-first-turn-incident","tag-florida","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-french-driver","tag-front-axle","tag-fundamental-rule","tag-george-russell","tag-grand-prix","tag-grands-prix","tag-hybrid-motor","tag-italian-teenager","tag-low-grip-conditions","tag-massive-torque-spikes","tag-mercedes-tension","tag-miami","tag-montreal","tag-narrative-moves","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-pace-advantage-means","tag-quebec","tag-racing-line","tag-real-test","tag-reducing-output","tag-rule-changes","tag-rule-tweaks","tag-set-up-changes","tag-simmering-rivalry","tag-sky-sports","tag-solitary-point","tag-sports","tag-sprint-qualifying","tag-sprint-race","tag-sprint-racing","tag-tasmania","tag-team-radio","tag-television-pictures","tag-time-battling","tag-toto-wolff","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-wet-weather-running","tag-young-driver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=690781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/690782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=690781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=690781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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