{"id":696390,"date":"2026-05-27T04:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T04:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/696390\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T04:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T04:34:11","slug":"what-if-george-russell-had-kimi-antonellis-luck-plus-lando-norris-indy-500-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/696390\/","title":{"rendered":"What if George Russell had Kimi Antonelli\u2019s luck? Plus: Lando Norris\u2019 Indy 500 interest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Tire Newsletter | This is The Athletic\u2019s F1 newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive Prime Tire directly in your inbox twice a week during the season and weekly in the offseason.<\/p>\n

Welcome back to Prime Tire, where we now know that even the track marshals at the Canadian Grand Prix act like groundhogs:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The championship seems like it turned last weekend. Or it just got started. I\u2019m Patrick, and Luke Smith will be along shortly. Let\u2019s talk about it.<\/p>\n

George Russell vs. racing gods<\/p>\n

After winning the Canadian GP on Sunday, Kimi Antonelli leads the Formula 1 championship by 43 points over second-place teammate George Russell. But strip away three specific moments of misfortune, and the standings would look quite different.<\/p>\n

As Madeline Coleman noted in her story<\/a>, China, Japan and Canada handed Antonelli some gifts. Let\u2019s dive into all three and map out exactly what this title fight would look like if the racing gods were just a little kinder to the preseason favorite (Russell):<\/p>\n

China: The qualifying breakdown<\/p>\n

After reporting a loss of power and battery in Q3, Russell managed to limp back to the pits in first gear. The team got him back out with seconds to spare, but he only had one shot. He ended up second, just 0.222 seconds behind Antonelli, who dominated from the start to claim\u00a0his first Grand Prix victory<\/a>.
\nAlternate ending:\u00a0Russell starts from pole with a car that actually works, and wins. Russell gains at least 14 points on Antonelli and keeps the championship lead.<\/p>\n

Japan: The one-lap safety car<\/p>\n

Brutal timing. Russell pitted moments before Oliver Bearman crashed, bringing out a safety car. Antonelli, yet to pit, gained a cheap stop and the lead,\u00a0jumping Russell and winning<\/a>. Russell later remarked that the safety car cost him by appearing just one lap too early.
\nAlternate ending:\u00a0Without that safety car, Russell wins and Antonelli finishes fourth. Russell\u2019s lead extends again.<\/p>\n

Canada: The engine failure<\/p>\n

Russell was right in the thick of it, locked in a proper scrap for the lead with Antonelli, until\u00a0his Mercedes gave up the ghost<\/a>. A power unit failure on Lap 30 forced him to pull over. The final scorecard: 25 points for Antonelli, and a big fat zero for Russell.
\nAlternate ending:\u00a0Russell\u2019s engine holds together for the win, and Antonelli either crosses the line in second, leading to a 25-18 points split, or \u2014 as\u00a0his racing vibes last weekend suggest<\/a> \u2014 crashes his car trying to take the lead. Russell gains between seven and 25 points on his teammate.<\/p>\n

The bottom line:\u00a0Add it all up and you get something like a 72-point swing in Russell\u2019s favor across three races, if the cards fell his way. Russell could be leading by more than 20 points heading into the Monaco GP next weekend, comfortably in the driver\u2019s seat of a championship race most expected him to dominate.<\/p>\n

It \u201cfeels like the gods don\u2019t want me to be in this fight,\u201d\u00a0Russell said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yeah. It kinda does. Read more from Madeline on\u00a0the fickle nature of F1 deities here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Reckoning with what is<\/p>\n

The good news for Russell fans:\u00a0Sebastian Vettel once stared down a 39-point deficit to Fernando Alonso with only seven rounds remaining and won the title by three points. Then there was Max Verstappen\u2019s charge last year,\u00a0closing a 104-point gap<\/a>\u00a0with half a season left, and against faster cars.<\/p>\n

By comparison, Russell\u2019s math looks positively manageable.<\/p>\n

The bad news for Russell fans: Russell is sitting in the exact same car as Antonelli, which makes it very hard to claw points back without bad weekends from Antonelli. And beyond that brutal 43-point gap, the mental game is starting to look even tougher.<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old essentially forced Russell into making mistake after mistake in Montreal, and after the race, Russell\u00a0sounded more resigned than determined<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For a driver trying to keep a maturing talent in his mirrors, that psychological distance might actually be bigger than the scoreboard deficit.<\/p>\n

Canadian GP vs. regulations<\/p>\n

Our mailbag comes out tomorrow, but here\u2019s one question that didn\u2019t make the cut:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems to me like the current (and controversial) engine rules were fewer important in the outcome of the race this weekend. Am I right? And did it have something to do with the layout of the Gilles-Villeneuve circuit?\u201d<\/p>\n

Respectfully, nope. The\u00a0layout of Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve<\/a>\u00a0sort of did the opposite.<\/p>\n

F1\u2019s\u00a0new engines<\/a> split output 50\/50 between the ICE and electrical deployment. The problem: drivers must constantly recharge the battery mid-lap. One of the best places to do this is under heavy braking.<\/p>\n

The Canadian GP\u2019s Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve looks like the perfect fix on paper. The front half of the lap has more heavy braking zones, making harvesting easier. But the back half (the run down to the hairpin, the long Casino Straight, the Wall of Champions chicane) demands massive electrical deployment with almost nowhere to recharge. Drivers who deploy too aggressively in the first half of the lap arrive at the final straight with a drained battery, losing top speed exactly where it matters most.<\/p>\n

These problems had already forced the FIA\u2019s hand at the Miami GP in early May, when they introduced a package of rule changes, and sparked the agreement in principle to shift toward a 60\/40 split in 2027.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re onto something about the vibe, though \u2014 you got lots of\u00a0noise from drivers at the Japanese GP<\/a>, and seemingly less headlines about it last weekend in Canada. But the engine rules were still a major factor, bothering the drivers, whether they were noticeable on the broadcast or not.<\/p>\n

Inside the Paddock with Luke Smith<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been covering my first Indy 500 in the last few days. Still, yesterday, I saw F1 world champion Lando Norris.<\/p>\n

Norris flew to Indianapolis on Sunday night, spending the evening with Conor Daly and former teammate Daniel Ricciardo, before then going to Indianapolis Motor Speedway the following day.<\/p>\n

I got the chance to follow Norris through his day, which started with a tour of the IMS Museum with Roger Penske, the legendary owner of the track and IndyCar.<\/p>\n

He then played a bit of golf \u2014 yes, there\u2019s a full 18-hole course inside the track \u2014 before getting his first laps of the circuit in a Chevrolet sports car next to Tony Kanaan, McLaren\u2019s IndyCar team principal. After that, he was shown around McLaren\u2019s IndyCar shop by one of its drivers, Pato O\u2019Ward.<\/p>\n

Could it tempt Norris to attempt the Indy 500 someday?\u00a0\u201cYou never know,\u201d Norris said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to say no.\u201d<\/p>\n

Norris was careful to make clear it wasn\u2019t something he was actively pursuing right now, with Le Mans being a more likely event in his future.<\/p>\n

The trip certainly increased the odds, but even if he never races at the Indy 500, Norris\u2019 trip helped open his eyes to the magic of the event, with his appreciation clear to see throughout the day.<\/p>\n

More Indy 500<\/p>\n

Greatest race ever?<\/p>\n

Congratulations to Felix Rosenqvist for winning the\u00a0best Indy 500 ever<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But a big congratulations to our own Luke Smith, who finally completed his own personal Triple Crown (covering Indy, Monaco and Le Mans) last week!<\/p>\n

His verdict? Nothing in the racing world could have prepared him for the Indy 500.\u00a0Read his dispatch here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

My favorite stories we wrote from the Indy 500, presented without context:<\/p>\n

Remembering Kyle Busch<\/p>\n

Kyle Busch was never my favorite driver. In fact, I\u2019ll go so far as to say that as a fan watching on race days, I did not like Busch. I also wasn\u2019t a fan of Tony Stewart or Brad Keselowski. Aggressive, short-fused, polarizing. That kind of driver just wasn\u2019t my favorite.<\/p>\n

Busch died last Thursday due to a sudden illness. Everywhere you looked, at the Coca-Cola 600, at Indy and in Montreal, the news\u00a0rippled through the motorsports world<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I missed out on Kyle Busch. Not on\u00a0appreciating his greatness<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 that was apparent, impossible to deny. But on taking time to learn who he was beyond the track. I think it\u2019s easy for fans to see a sports villain and assume they\u2019re like that behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

But from Daniel Suarez, who\u00a0won the Coca-Cola 600<\/a>\u00a0on Sunday, to Bubba Wallace, I was most struck this weekend by the drivers\u00a0whom Busch advocated for<\/a>, mentored, helped climb the ladder or simply expressed belief in when they needed it most.\u00a0His on-track rivals respect him, of course, but it\u2019s the ones he shepherded I hadn\u2019t thought to look for.<\/p>\n

Maybe I assumed there\u2019d always be time later to pay closer attention. To come back around and appreciate Busch, in his entirety, at the end of his career.<\/p>\n

When I found out Busch died, I was driving past Texas Motor Speedway. I saw him race there last year. I didn\u2019t think it would be the last time, especially for someone who felt so woven into the sport\u2019s fabric. But that was the last time.<\/p>\n

You take for granted two things about people: How long they\u2019ll be around and how much you think you know them.<\/p>\n

Take it from me: Don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

More on Busch\u2019s impact:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Outside the Points<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfce\ufe0f The cycle of pain continues for\u00a0McLaren at the Indy 500<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udea7\u00a0More than 100 sex workers and allies<\/a>\u00a0marched through the streets of Montreal during qualifying on Saturday, striking against bar fees and an inequitable club model.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udf70 Andrea Stella is staying at McLaren, and\u00a0he\u2019d very much like you to know<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb Love Prime Tire? Check out The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Tire Newsletter | This is The Athletic\u2019s F1 newsletter. Sign up here to receive Prime Tire directly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696391,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":["post-696390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}