George Russell scored the first race win of 2025 for both himself and Mercedes with a fine drive to win the Canadian GP. Critical to the success was a superb sixth career pole position, which Russell described as “probably the most exhilarating lap I’ve ever done in my life because around this circuit you’ve got to be so committed”.

The 27-year-old overcame the threat of the four-time world champion, Max Verstappen, after the pair collided twice at the previous race in Spain, after which the Dutchman received three penalty points on his licence, taking him to within a single penalty point of a one-race ban.

After beating Verstappen to pole in Montreal, Russell joked that he had a bit more leeway to get his elbows out at the start. After a better getaway, he didn’t need to, and fears that higher race-day temperatures might hamper the Mercedes tyre wear proved unfounded. Verstappen was rarely more than two seconds behind but never close enough to launch an attack.

“We knew we had the potential to win here and when it comes to ­fruition, it’s great,” Russell said. “It’s a bit of redemption after we should have won this race last year and my mistakes let the team down. I’m in a different place now, feel I’m driving better than ever and was chilled the whole race.”

Behind Russell and Verstappen, the 18-year-old Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli became the third youngest driver to appear on an F1 podium after an accomplished race that got him to the finish ahead of the hitherto dominant McLarens.

The McLaren chief executive, Zak Brown, has conceded that with two evenly matched drivers in a potentially championship-winning car, on-track contact between Lando ­Norris and Oscar Piastri was more a question of when, than if. The Montreal race proved the truth of his words as, three laps from the end as they battled over fourth place, Norris hit the back of Piastri’s car as he attempted to pass going down to turn one.

Norris had looked the quicker McLaren driver all weekend but two mistakes in qualifying, when he missed the chicane and then clipped the wall at turn seven, put him on the back foot, seventh on the grid. In the race, however, he ran an offset tyre ­strategy and had relentlessly closed Piastri down before their collision.

His opportunity came when Piastri caught traffic at an inopportune moment, allowing Norris to close to within DRS range. As they ran ­side-by-side down the main straight into the chicane, Piastri successfully defended the inside, so Norris flicked back to try around the outside as they fought out the racing line into turn one. But his front wing clipped Piastri’s left rear tyre, ending his race.

Norris was quick to acknowledge his responsibility on team radio, saying: “All my bad, all my fault, stupid from me.”

The incident brought out the safety car and there was insufficient time to resume the race. Russell, braking suddenly trying to get some heat into his brakes in anticipation of a restart, was illegally passed by Verstappen behind it, but the Dutchman claimed that he was caught unawares by ­Russell’s aggressive braking. It was just the latest in a series of spats between the pair, but came to naught as time ran out, with Red Bull lodging a post-race protest against Russell.

The collision with Piastri dealt a blow to Norris’s world championship hopes. Although McLaren could not challenge the Mercedes and Red Bull, Piastri’s fourth place increased his lead over Norris to 22 points, 10 races into the 24-race season.

Charles Leclerc finished fifth for Ferrari, once again ­demonstrating stronger race pace than Lewis ­Hamilton, seven times a Canadian GP winner, although Hamilton’s car was damaged early in the race after it hit a groundhog with a subsequent loss of downforce. Hamilton was “devastated” after the race when he was told what he had hit.

Leclerc, who was in the fight for pole position until making a mistake, started eighth and ran a reverse tyre strategy that looked as if it might pay dividends until he became bemused and frustrated by Ferrari’s pit-stop strategy, which required him to make a second stop.

Fernando Alonso proved that Aston Martin have improved their performance level by finishing seventh, with the final championship points going to Nico Hülkenberg, Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz.

Russell’s victory puts him fourth in the championship, 19 points behind Verstappen. A positive for Mercedes was that on a day when track temperatures were high, he had been able to maintain strong race pace without suffering tyre problems.

“I think that victory was all down to the incredible pole lap that meant I could run in clear air and control the race. I want to thank the team and the factory for their efforts. The surface here was smooth and the corners low-speed. Austria, next, is old tarmac, high speed and it’s going to be hot, so I’m not going to sit here and say: ‘Mercedes is back.’ But let’s see what happens.”

Russell has yet to sign an extension to his Mercedes contract but the team principal, Toto Wolff, claims it is only a matter of time.