“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.”
Welcome to the biggest weekend of Motorsport in 2026. To kick off a stacked Double DRR for the day, here’s F1’s fifth round of the Championship, and my personal favourite – The Canadian Grand Prix from Montreal. And with it, we got what we’ve been waiting for in the 2026 Championship, equal footing and beef between George Russell and Kimi Antonelli and it shaped the weekend and quite possibly the Championship at large. Let’s talk about it.
First Contact
George Russell’s in a really interesting place in his career right now. If he was a boxer, he’d be a slugger. George Foreman. Taking a lot of punishment, having an iron jaw, and winning through perseverance. It’s the story of his career and it’s always been my theory as to where his more aggressive tendencies come from. He entered F1 with Williams in the middle of their worst ever period in F1. Seven points as a team in 2018 the year before he joined, one point across the next two seasons, all while saying goodbye to Claire Williams, the last remaining member of the family on the senior management before Dorilton Capital took over.
I remember one of his famous early career battles at Williams against Fernando Alonso when the latter was still at Alpine. Red Bull Ring, Austria, 2021. Russell fought tooth and nail, but ultimately lost the fight to Nando in what was for the final point. There was a firm handshake of respect after the race. I think that’s what made him so desperate to impress, having to fight in woefully unmatched machinery, and taking risks the average driver wouldn’t take.
I joked that a younger Russell had an affinity to side pods and he proved it by often going over the mark with his racecraft and being blissfully unaware about it. The Imola smash with Valtteri Bottas. Sergio Perez at Paul Ricard. Mick Schumacher in Singapore. Verstappen in Baku where the former called him a dickhead. Russell was a scrapper, and I think it’s because he had to punch up during the first four years of career. Behind the attitude though, was an incredibly fast driver who was giving Lewis Hamilton problems the moment he walked through the door.
When Hamilton left and Kimi Antonelli joined, Russell was ready to take the mantle at Mercedes, and for the most part, he has. 2025 was his best season yet. Second in my end of season power rankings. Two wins, nine podiums, an average finish of 4.5 and just two laps in Monaco shy of F1’s fifth “perfect season”. All that while having to bat down allegations that Max Verstappen was coming for your job.
As said, Russell’s a fighter. He’s had to dig deep to become the elite level driver he is now in F1. And in his eighth season, for the first time, he has a car that can win a Championship. But man, it’d be a stinker if the 19-year-old super prospect immediately had his breakout season and stole your lunch money, right?
Kimi Antonelli has been a force of nature in 2026. The coming of age season happened EARLY. Think about it, when was the last time a second year driver had a true shot at a title? Maybe Sebastian Vettel in 2009 is the nearest we have. He’s already made history with his first three poles converted into wins, the first driver to ever do that. And generally, even with his poor starts, he’s been more comfortable laying down the pace in the Mercedes, with Russell struggling to find his footing on setup in Japan and Miami, and being caught up in the Ferrari battle in China.
It happened again during Canada’s Sprint. George narrowly took pole by 0.068 seconds and took the early lead, but didn’t look comfortable with Antonelli closing in from second. Antonelli gets a great run for a move around the outside of Turn 1, but they briefly touch, Kimi goes across the grass at Turn 2 and narrowly misses his teammate. Russell gets back in front, Antonelli tries another lunge at Turn 8, but hits the inside bump and has to take the escape road, dropping behind Lando Norris and into third, where he’d eventually stay?
What do I think? I think Russell’s very lucky the driving standards rules he voted for, got pushed through. I think Antonelli is very close to hitting the required mark around the outside to where he’s entitled to space – Remember, you have to have a tyre at wing mirror level and it’s tight, but I think he’s there.
George thinks he’s entitled to shut the door at Turn 2, which he does. Kimi makes the business decision to back out (Sort of). Kimi had a right to be pissed on the radio, I think he was pushed off. But if you think George is ahead at the Turn 1 apex, he’s entitled to do that. And Toto Wolff is never going to snitch on his own team and ask the stewards for a second glance.
If you’re the sort of person who loves an F1 story and a narrative, this was perfect. The first bit of real spice between the likely only two title contenders this year. And for Russell; he was defending his territory from the man who, out of nowhere, rained on what many people thought was going to be a cakewalk to his first title. And after three straight poles and wins for Antonelli, Russell shutting it down, holding off Norris for the win, and then taking Grand Prix pole for Sunday, is a huge “mental win” for Russell if you’re a believer in “momentum”, or just see the scoreboard and see he’s 17 points down heading for the Grand Prix.
A lot of people have been talking about this battle of mental warfare going into Canada, about how much pressure Russell was under and how Kimi might already have him on the ropes. It’s easy to forget that this is just the fifth race of 2026, and we could have as many as 19 still to go. A boatload of racing and far too early to make conclusive statements. But this Sprint was what this title fight needed. Emotion, as Kimi vented on the radio and made another minor mistake when the red mist descended. Russell, acknowledging he’s in for yet another fight. Toto Wolff, taking a more “hands off” approach after nearly firing his two greatest drivers a decade ago.
Let the real fight begin.
Ding Ding, Round 2
And what a fight it was! After we got the initial mess of an aborted start and an extra formation lap, we got both Mercedes in another fight for the lead. But this one was way, way scrappier, and not in the fun way either. Another day and there’s maybe four separate occasions where both Mercedes drivers could have wiped out either themselves, or each other.
Now, this wasn’t entirely their fault. This… was a borderline undriveable race. The climate in Montreal was bad. Rain early morning, but surrounded by cold, meaning the standing water on track hung around longer than it should. F1 Academy’s race at the start of the day was wet, F2’s was only borderline-dry, but the real issue was the track itself? With it being just 17 degrees on track, there was almost no tyre wear and it was like driving on ice. Remember, Canada got moved a month earlier than usual, right in the firing line of the Indy 500, and I’m not sure that was the play given it can still snow in Canada in May on occasion.
On track, we saw so many lock-ups and missed braking into the Turn 10 hairpin. Antonelli nearly drove into the back of Russell there, the latter himself going wide four times in the early going, with the lead exchanging hands nearly half a dozen times. Didn’t appreciate Toto Wolff’s man management in demanding Kimi give back a valid pass attempt given he was level with Russell going into the outside of the final chicane. Russell didn’t look comfortable leading, and Antonelli certainly felt like the faster driver on the day, but he kept making mistakes to let Russell back in, while still clearing a now third placed Max Verstappen by several tenths of a second a lap.
Until all of a sudden, it wasn’t. Russell’s battery dies on Lap 29 at the end of the Turn 8 chicane. He’s so angry and frustrated that he tosses his headrest out of the car on a live track and escapes into a photographer hole before a marshal even gives him permission to leave his dead car. Just like that, Antonelli can cruise to an easy, 11 second victory, and with it, leave Canada with a 43 point lead in the Championship, becoming the first driver to ever win their first four Grand Prix consecutively.
For George, it’s a body blow. This was a golden chance to curb Antonelli’s white-hot form, instead, he’s now nearly two races in the red with Monaco next. If you’re optimistic, you may argue that Russell’s been made to look a little bit worse than what the scoreboard says. He’s always struggled in Miami, Russell probably wins in Japan if the Safety Car landed a lap earlier, and China was down to a back then, typical Mercedes poor start. I don’t think George needs much to steady himself and lead sessions like he did at the start of the season…
But this hurts. The man himself after the race: “The Gods don’t want me in this fight.”
Further behind, Lewis Hamilton had arguably his best weekend in red. Despite a couple of errors in qualifying, he locked in, clawed back a five-second deficit to Max Verstappen and beat him with a superb outside pass at Turn 1 with four laps to go. Awesome driving, and great to see Hamilton so buoyant after having to hit back at critics saying he should be retiring. Man said he’s got five years left in him. Which… phew.
And a really solid day for Verstappen, his first podium of the season. Took advantage of the mistakes of others, hardly put a foot wrong himself and took home some darn good points given Red Bull still look like the fourth best car on paper.
Makes you think – How many dominant years have a Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli podium already had, and how many more could it still have to come?
The Lightning Round
So you mean to tell me, you had two extra formation laps and every chance to correct your horrendous decision, and you still decided to keep your Inters on, McLaren? I’d been hinting at it last season, but I think this is exactly why Zak Brown courted Gianpiero Lambiase from Red Bull. They badly need a racing guy on the pitwall because Andrea Stella isn’t that guy. That was a horrendous blooper and I think a double podium was on for them. Instead, Piastri’s race was dead by ploughing into Alex Albon at the hairpin and ending his race (Maybe the worst racecraft he’s had in his career), and Lando Norris had to retire with a dead gearbox. What a horrible Sunday for the papaya.
I get it, people. You probably don’t like Max Verstappen. You probably think he’s a rich crybaby for not digging these rules. But I also need to remind you all that these are the questions that journalists are continually asking him because it’s easy to click on social media and their websites. Don’t ask me how I know.
I get that no-one wants to like the complainer, but as said before, this has been a consistent stance of his since 2023 when the first concepts of this regulation set were being drawn up. Yes, I think there’s a case you could make that he’s actively pushing to get the 2027 regulation changes through (A 60/40 engine split on power that doesn’t seem as agreed in principle as the sport was letting on in Miami), but Max is playing the game the journos want him to play.
Sadly, this is how the sports journalism game is developing as social media, hot takes and quick clips and quotes are now just as, if not more monetizable than website clicks are, and it leads to a race to the bottom to try and gain any kind of advantage. Why do you think we all started covering the NLS? It organically had regained a lot of its previous high interest after COVID-19, but the media coming in were the ones who created their own artificial hype bubble purely because Max was there and it gave them a reason to start giving a shit.
Excellent weekend from Alpine, with Franco Colapinto having his second straight career-high finish in P6, despite nearly binning it into the outside wall on pit exit after his one and only stop. The Argentine was probably the driver of the weekend weighing it all up.
Only four men were on the lead lap by race’s end after Isack Hadjar picked up a 10-second penalty for weaving (Oh NOW we’re calling that? Since when?), and then a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for failing to slow down for double-waved yellows. It moved him from fifth to fifth.
Speaking of which, it was wild in the F2 and F1 Academy races that Nico Varrone was given a 10-second stop and go penalty for failing to serve his original penalty for being outside of position at the Safety Car line. Race Control displays a message that says: “Stop and go penalty”. No time. Varrone comes on, stops, immediately goes again and carries on. Stewards called him in for failing to serve the penalty properly but let him off the hook because they understood the message had been displayed incorrectly, and that in F2’s sporting regulation, a stop and go doesn’t necessarily mean 10-seconds. What a fuckery. Least they fixed it for the Academy race later.
Speaking of that too, folks, is it good when Alisha Palmowski wins both Academy feature races? In a spec series? By over 10 seconds? (Nothing against Ali, she’s great, but yeesh.)
Sprint Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ (Good) – Decent Sprint, of course headlined by the first Russell/Kimi flashpoint. If I was going to do a 6 Sprints a year, this is the first of the tracks I’d actually want to have one.
The Verdict: 7.5/10 (Very Good) – Look, this was a bit silly. As said, probably too cold to be really getting the best out of people, but it was still another fun race with Russell and Antonelli’s intense fight (One of the best we’ve had in years, especially given it was prolonged), and Hamilton vs Verstappen for second at the end was a nice ender to finish things off, even if the winner was long assured. I genuinely don’t think F1’s had a bad race in 2026 so far. You’d never guess if you were on Twitter. See you in Monaco.