Race Report: Bittersweet Sunday in Montreal

• Kimi Antonelli took victory in Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix whilst George Russell unfortunately retired whilst leading with a Power Unit failure.

• After overnight rain, conditions remained cold with light drizzle falling as lights out approached.

• Track conditions looked dry and the team opted to start on the Soft compound tyre; several other teams took the Intermediate tyre including the McLarens on the second row, but they were forced off that in the early stages as they overheated quickly.

• That enabled Kimi, who had moved ahead of George into turn one, and his team-mate to build a solid gap of over five seconds over the chasing pack.

• That didn’t grow beyond that point as the duo battled and swapped the lead several times. That thrilling battle was brought to a halt though with a battery issue on George’s car forcing him into immediate retirement on lap 30.

• The resulting Virtual Safety Car saw most of the field pit, including Kimi, who switched to the Medium compound tyre.

• He managed his tyres to the end and took the chequered flag by over 10 seconds from the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen.

• Kimi becomes the first ever driver to win his first four Grands Prix consecutively.

• He also claims the team’s 300^th podium since Mercedes returned to the sport as a full works team in 2010.

George Russell

I am proud of my weekend, no matter that it ended in a retirement today. I took pole for the Sprint, won that race, took pole for the Grand Prix and was leading before we had the Power Unit issue that finished our race. I know there is nothing more I could have done this weekend to perform and that fills me with confidence moving forward into the rest of the season. It is of course a painful way to finish our Canadian Grand Prix weekend, but I will leave here satisfied that I did my best.

Up until lap 30, I was thoroughly enjoying the race. I loved the battle with Kimi, and I am sure he did too. It was like going back to karting days where you are racing wheel-to-wheel, swapping the lead multiple times. I hope everyone enjoyed watching it as much as I enjoyed being in it. I just wish we could have continued it until the end of the Grand Prix.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

We come away from Montreal with mixed feelings. Well done to Kimi and the team for the win, our fifth to start this year and Kimi’s fourth, but the failure on George's car is bitterly disappointing. We will work hard to make sure we understand the cause as it's been very costly for him and the team in terms of points.

The cold and windy conditions made the race challenging today. We didn't have any idea how the tyres would behave with such a low ambient and track temperature. The warm-up was certainly difficult but once up to temperature the tyres were working quite nicely. We were also able to quickly identify that the one stop strategy was the best option.

It wasn't particularly relaxing watching our pair race in the first stint; the advantage of the overtake mode meant the cars could not separate so they were locked in a dual for the first 30 laps. Whilst it was close, they gave each other room. It did cost them both race time but the advantage over their competitors was enough for them not to be threatened. That fight was brought to an abrupt halt with George’s car coming to a stop with an issue in the battery pack. We don't have any more information on that at the moment, but it goes without saying we'll be doing everything we can do understand that ahead of the next race. Thereafter, Kimi's run to the finish was quite straightforward. We seemed to have a bit of a pace advantage over our competitors, although the margins are small and everyone is developing at such a rate that we will be trying to bring every bit of performance we can to the upcoming races.