Andrea Kimi Antonelli made history again at the Canadian Grand Prix, extending his streak of consecutive grand prix wins since his first victory to four. No other driver in Formula 1 history has won their first four grands prix in succession.
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With this result Antonelli joins a group of drivers who have recorded exactly four grand prix victories: rival Carlos Sainz Jnr, whose fourth win came at the 2024 Mexico Grand Prix and remains Ferrari’s most recent triumph; and earlier-era winners Dan Gurney, Bruce McLaren and Eddie Irvine.
This was the 55th running of the Canadian Grand Prix, but only the second won by an Italian driver. Michele Alboreto won in 1985 for Ferrari and, like Antonelli, left Montreal leading the championship.
It was the first time Antonelli did not win from pole. George Russell edged him to pole by 0.086 seconds — the same margin that separated them on the sprint race front row. After their setback in Miami, Mercedes claimed the front row lockout for the fourth time this season. Their 88th grid one-two extends their record and places them five ahead of nearest rivals Ferrari.
Russell claimed his 10th pole position, becoming the 38th driver to reach double digits (noting that FOM do not recognise his 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix pole). However, his personal streak of 20 consecutive points finishes ended when a battery issue forced his retirement.
The longest current streak of points finishes on the grid now belongs to Charles Leclerc, at eight races. Leclerc’s team mate, Lewis Hamilton, delivered his best result for Ferrari since joining the team at the start of last year.
Russell’s retirement allowed Antonelli to extend his championship lead to 43 points — a margin larger than any driver held at the same stage last season, when the biggest lead reached was 34. The only larger gap at the top in recent memory was when Max Verstappen secured the 2024 title 63 points clear of Lando Norris.
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Max Verstappen returned to the podium for the first time this year. It is the first season since 2018 in which he did not reach the podium until the fifth round. Notably, this was the first podium for Red Bull’s Milton Keynes-built Red Bull–Ford powertrain.
Isack Hadjar achieved his best finish since joining Red Bull, despite receiving one of the harshest penalties — a 10-second stop-and-go — plus an additional 10-second time penalty. Even so, he finished more than 14 seconds clear of Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, who recorded the best result of his career to date.
Hadjar’s result was the best finish by a team mate of Verstappen’s since Sergio Perez finished fourth at the 2024 Miami Grand Prix. Perez’s form that year earned him a new two-year contract soon after, though he did not improve on fourth place later that season. Perez is no longer at Red Bull and now races for Cadillac.
McLaren again experienced mixed fortunes: they collected a solid points haul from the sprint but failed to score in the grand prix. Earlier in the season in China they also scored in the sprint but left the grand prix empty-handed; in Canada the pattern repeated after they started from the second row in the race.
Arvid Lindblad matched his best qualifying position with ninth on the grid but, unlike the Australian race where he gained several places at the start, he did not take the start in Montreal.
Lindblad’s retirement led to two additional formation laps and shortened the race distance from the scheduled 70 laps to 68, making this the shortest Canadian Grand Prix since 2018, when the race was cut short after the chequered flag was waved early.
This edition of the Canadian Grand Prix was also the earliest in the event’s history: the race had never been held before June. Race day was unusually cool at around 12°C, though that felt warm compared with the inaugural Montreal event on October 8th, when temperatures were just 5°C and home winner Gilles Villeneuve collected his trophy wearing a heavy overcoat.
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Over to you
Have you noticed any other notable stats or observations from the Canadian Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
2026 Canadian Grand Prix
- Stats: Antonelli has larger points lead than any driver had last year, and more
- Power deficit is keeping Ferrari out of the fight with Mercedes – Hamilton
- ‘Actually an opportunity’: How McLaren answered drivers’ calls to ditch tyre gamble
- “He needs to back up”: How Mercedes managed Russell and Antonelli’s Canadian GP fight
- ‘It doesn’t feel like what motorsport should be’: Podium trio still unhappy with F1’s power units
Browse all 2026 Canadian Grand Prix articles