George Russell and Kimi Antonelli have clashed for the first time this season as drama erupted during the Canadian Grand Prix sprint race on Sunday morning.
Pole sitter Russell kept a cool head as he made contact with his Mercedes teammate during the race and went on to win in another double podium finish for the Silver Arrows.
More drama was to come in qualifying for Monday morning’s race when Russell stole pole position away from Antonelli with his final lap.
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Russell thundered home to tip his teammate by just 0.068 seconds.
McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will start from the second row with the world champion tipping the Aussie by less than 0.05 seconds.
Sparks flew in the earlier sprint race.
Read on below for the full results from the Sprint Race and qualifying.
Russell, 28, came home 1.272 seconds clear of world champion Norris after resisting a spirited attack by the teenage Italian, who finished third.
Piastri came home fourth ahead of both Ferraris with Charles Leclerc finishing fifth ahead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton.
Piastri executed a classy overtake of Hamilton during the race which had fans in Montreal standing and applauding.
Four-time champion Max Verstappen finished seventh for Red Bull ahead of Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad.
It was the first sprint race held at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and was a memorable one, with the scrap between Russell and Antonelli requiring an intervention from Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, telling the precocious Italian to cool off and stop talking on the team radio.
The incident came on lap six when Antonelli, 19, tried a move around the outside of Turn One, but Russell defended stoutly forcing the Italian to run off with a muscular defence of his leading position.
You can watch the incident in the video player above.
“That was very naughty,” said Antonelli, who accused Russell of pushing him off.
“That should be a penalty. I was alongside the mirror.”
His experienced race engineer Peter Bonnington told him to calm down and concentrate, but Antonelli was still fuming after the race.
“If we race like that, it is good to know,” said the teenager before Wolff told him: “Kimi, we don’t talk about this on the radio — we do it internally.
“Kimi, concentrate on the driving, please, not on the radio moaning.”
“l need to review on that because I was quite well alongside him at turn one,” said Antonelli. “But it was a good battle.”
Russell, who won last year’s Canadian Grand Prix, re-established his seniority in the team with his drive and result.
“I was never really concerned. For me, Miami is a bit of a bogey track, but there was also this huge break in the calendar and lots of people had a lot to say (about me),” he said.
“I just wanted to get racing again and now I feel like this season is going to start now.” Antonelli’s aggression and mishap gave Norris his opportunity, having had a perfect view of the battle ahead of him.
“It was good to watch them go at it for a little while,” he said. “But we were there to pick up the pieces when it happened.”
Sky Sports analyst Jamie Chadwick noted the tussle has set a precedent for the rest of the year.
“It is the first time we have seen them wheel to wheel and the first time we have seen Kimi aggravated by George,” she said.
“In that sense, I think it is a critical moment in the championship.
“It was critical for George to make sure he had his elbows out as if he had let Kimi drive round the outside, I don’t think that would have boded well for the rest of the year.”
In a frantic race, Norris showed he had the speed and resolve to resist the clamour around Antonelli’s spectacular run of successes after three consecutive wins had lifted him 20 points clear in the title race after Miami.
The field was tightly packed with several close scraps, including the late moves that saw Piastri fight his way past Hamilton, who smacked the ‘wall of champions’ and slipped from fourth to sixth.
Antonelli also made a late bid to steal back into second place with another attempt to pass Norris on the outside of Turn One, but went off and had to give the place back after running through a run-off area.
Canadian GP Sprint Result Top 8
1) George Russell, Mercedes
2) Lando Norris, McLaren
3) Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
4) Oscar Piastri, McLaren
5) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
6) Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
7) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
8) Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls
Canadian GP Qualifying Top 10
1) George Russell, Mercedes
2) Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
3) Lando Norris, McLaren
4) Oscar Piastri, McLaren
5) Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
6) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
7) Isack Hadjar, Red Bull
8) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
9) Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls
10) Franco Colapinto, Alpine
George Russell shows class with pole lap
Russell celebrates denying teammate’s fourth consecutive pole
It was a third consecutive Canadian pole for Russell and he did nothing to hide his satisfaction in regaining the initiativ eafter Antonelli had reeled off three consecutive poles and wins at the previous events.
“It always feels great to pull a lap out of nowhere like that,” said Russell, who had a chat with Antonelli after the pair clashed in the earlier sprint race.
“We made some changes based on the forecast for tomorrow, which may have hurt us a little bit. It took the car out of sync a little and Kimi was more competitive than I was, but I managed to re-dial my driving.”
Antonelli said: “It was very difficult with tyres and putting them in the right window. There was a bit more on the table for me, but George did a great lap, butnow we have our eyes on tomorrow.”
With rain forecast for Sunday, the session had been given ‘rain hazard’ status that allowed teams to gamble on using a wet set-up, a factor that may have influenced some risk-takers in the pitlane.
— with AFP
