News / 17 June 2025 / Staff Writer

2025 Canadian Grand Prix – Big day for Mercedes and disaster for McLaren

George Russell took a strong victory in the 2025 Canadian Grand Prix over the weekend, while his teammate Kimi Antonelli secured third spot to ensure a double-podium weekend for Mercedes.

Sandwiched between the two Mercedes drivers was reigning F1 Drivers Champion Max Verstappen – while Lando Norris did not finish after dramatically colliding with teammate Oscar Piastri.

The key highlights of the race are detailed, below.

Mercedes have a great weekend

Mercedes’ George Russell started the race on poll, and put in an excellent performance to secure the race win.

While strategies varied across the different teams, Russell never looked at any serious risk of losing his top spot.

This was highlighted by Mercedes not rushing to match Verstappen’s second pitstop as they had a sufficient buffer to not worry about the undercut.

The man voted as driver of the day, however, was Kimi Antonelli.

After overtaking Piastri at the start of the race to rise to P3, Antonelli put in a great drive to secure the final spot on the podium – the first of his young career.

McLarens come to blows

It was a less exciting outing for the McLaren drivers, as the Team Championship leaders were unable to threaten for the race win.

Further souring the weekend was the collision between Norris and Piastri towards the end of the race.

After a scintillating battle across the last few corners of the race – where Norris overtook Piastri, before Piastri retook the lead in a matter of seconds – Norris tried to make another overtaking move on the starting straight.

However, Norris misjudged the opportunity, and instead ended up driving into the back of his teammate – putting himself out of the race.

Fortunately for Piastri, he was able to complete the race under the safety car that was dispatched following the incident, holding onto fourth place.

To his credit, Norris immediately admitted that the incident was his fault on the team radio, meaning it is unlikely that this will spark the renewal of the intra-team rivalry that characterised much of McLaren’s last season.

Post-race drama

A major talking point after the race was perceived inconsistencies among the stewards’ decisions.

Yuki Tsunoda was issued a 10-place grid penalty because he passed the damaged vehicle of Oscar Piastri during a red flag moment in FP3.

Piastri had hit the famous Wall of Champions, flinging debris across the track and necessitating a red flag.

Under red flag conditions, drivers are not meant to overtake each other, but with Piastri’s vehicle heavily damaged (but still running) and spewing debris across the track, Tsunoda overtook him to avoid damage of his own.

Tsunoda was vocally critical of the decision, saying that he did the most responsible thing out on track – even if it wasn’t the correct one by the letter of the law.

This was drama enough – but after the main race ended under Safety Car conditions, several drivers overtook each other as part of the celebratory process.

While these overtakes are common and usually fine, by the letter of the law, the Safety Car was still out, meaning no overtakes are allowed.

However, none of these drivers were punished – leading to an outcry from the Red Bull team (and many fans) over this inconsistency.