George Russell claimed maximum points in the Montreal sprint race after a tense clash with his team mate and championship rival.
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Andrea Kimi Antonelli ran off track twice on lap six while contesting the lead and ultimately finished third, behind Lando Norris. Russell’s victory reduces the championship deficit to 18 points.
The short run to the first corner at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve produced one of the cleanest starts of the season. The top 10 largely held position, with the notable exception of Lewis Hamilton, who moved ahead of Oscar Piastri to take fourth behind Norris.
Russell absorbed early pressure from Antonelli and then began to pull away. On lap five he ran slightly wide at the turn 10 hairpin, which gave Antonelli an opening. Approaching turn 13 Antonelli looked to the outside, fell back briefly, then launched another attack into turn one. He got significantly alongside Russell but the Williams driver maintained his line and the two made contact, sending Antonelli across the run-off area. Antonelli protested that Russell had not left sufficient room under racing guidelines, but the stewards declined to investigate the incident.
Half a lap later Antonelli closed rapidly on Russell approaching turn eight and attempted a move on the inside, only to run wide again and lose second place to Norris.
The race finished with Russell first, Norris second and Antonelli third. Antonelli tried one final outside pass on Norris into turn one on the last lap but went off track for a third time and could not reclaim the position.
Piastri recovered fourth from Hamilton late in the race, forcing the Ferrari driver wide at turn 14 as he passed. That allowed Charles Leclerc to get past his team mate and then press Piastri, nearly making a move on the line.
Max Verstappen finished seventh in an otherwise uneventful race; the stewards reviewed whether he had failed to respond appropriately to yellow flags but concluded he was compliant. Arvid Lindblad inherited the final championship point after Isack Hadjar pitted with a power unit issue.
Sergio Perez crossed the line 11th for Cadillac behind Franco Colapinto and Carlos Sainz Jnr, but a penalty for an incident with Liam Lawson dropped him to 14th.
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