George Russell tops Canada GP Sprint, leads Mercedes 1-3 finish

• Photo courtesy of George Russell

George Russell gave Mercedes a major boost at the Canada Grand Prix weekend after topping the Sprint in Montreal, leading a strong 1-3 finish for the Silver Arrows.

Russell crossed the line first with a time of 28:50.951, securing the full eight points from the Sprint. McLaren’s Lando Norris finished second, 1.272 seconds behind, while Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli completed the top three, 1.843 seconds off Russell’s pace.

The result gave Mercedes a combined 14 points from Russell and Antonelli, while McLaren also remained within reach as Norris collected seven points and Oscar Piastri finished fourth for five points.

Ferrari followed in the points-paying positions, with Charles Leclerc finishing fifth and Lewis Hamilton placing sixth. Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen settled for seventh, ending the Sprint 15.935 seconds behind Russell, while Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad completed the final points position in eighth.

Russell and Antonelli were also involved in a tense fight during Saturday’s Sprint, with the Mercedes pair making contact as Antonelli attempted to challenge for the lead.

Asked if the battle could happen again on Sunday, Russell said the two Mercedes drivers had already discussed the incident.

“No, we’ve had a good chat since this morning. We’re both racing drivers, we both know what to do, we both respect one another, so we’ll go racing,” Russell said.

Russell also noted that the team is preparing for a different challenge on race day, with possible wet conditions in Montreal.

“We hope it’s just battling the two of us, but we saw today how competitive everybody else is. Tomorrow looks to be wet — that’s going to be a whole new challenge as well, so to be honest so it’s not really what we’re thinking right now. We just want to ensure that we can be standing on the top step,” he said.

After the Sprint, Russell explained that it was difficult to return to qualifying mode after the earlier short-format race, saying the car felt different.

“It’s always challenging coming back from the Sprint race — the car feels very different, you’re obviously into the Qualifying format,” Russell said.

“We made some changes as a team, we need to review after if that was the right direction. Then obviously that last lap came from nowhere, and it was just a great feeling when it was such a challenging session,” he added.

Russell said the changes were influenced by the forecast for Sunday’s race.

“We made some changes based on the forecast for tomorrow — it may have hurt us a little bit for now,” Russell said. “It just took the car out of sync a little bit.”

“Kimi was definitely more competitive than I in that session, but we weren’t as clear ahead of everybody else like we were yesterday so it was definitely a challenge. But as I said, just managed to redial my driving for that last lap and put it together,” he added.

Further down the order, Franco Colapinto finished ninth for Alpine, followed by Williams driver Carlos Sainz in 10th. Liam Lawson, Gabriel Bortoleto, Esteban Ocon, Sergio Perez, and Nico Hulkenberg completed 11th to 15th.

Several drivers ended outside the lead lap, including Lance Stroll, Valtteri Bottas, Oliver Bearman, Alex Albon, and Pierre Gasly. Isack Hadjar was classified 21st, three laps down.

Fernando Alonso was listed as DNF for Aston Martin, marking the only non-finisher in the Sprint.

The Sprint result puts Mercedes in a strong position heading into the rest of the Canada Grand Prix weekend, while McLaren and Ferrari remain firmly in the fight for key points. Red Bull, meanwhile, will look to recover after Verstappen finished only seventh in the short race.