Canadian GP: Martin Brandl’s verdict on George Russell ‘disappointment’, impact on F1 title race and ‘resurrected’ Lewis Hamilton | F1 News

A great weekend of F1 action, I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. This old school, slippery, narrow, and moderately tight track seems to make for a thriller with lots of fast straights and heavy braking zones, uncomfortable chicanes and close walls, almost always a few surprises.

We were a little nervous that the 2026 power units might struggle here more than most track layouts this season because of the many long straights and less chance to fill the batteries, but the teams and drivers, as expected, adapted quickly and learned how to best use the engine and battery to qualify, after starting the race, restarting and attacking in both safety car and attack modes.

We can still do better, but in the meantime, we had a lot of feverish wheel-to-wheel racing, a lot of overtaking where drivers had to brake and finish the move off at corner entry, or defend ruthlessly on the straight.

And effective ‘overtaking mode’, worth about three-tenths of a second per lap, is becoming easier to observe and interpret. Ultimately I believe it can be more effective and authentic than ‘DRS’ which requires drivers and teams to work on it and stick to moves rather than an easy hit.

We also had two qualifying sessions, specifically for the main race, which was old school punch and counter punch and the last driver on the knife edge of the finish line.

The Mercedes car upgrade certainly moved them back to the front of the pack with a small but undeniable advantage, and although the top five were in the same order for both the sprint and the main grand prix, a third of a second covered the top seven. I really didn’t expect Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull to be so close so quickly.

‘Antonelli was always going off track in the sprints’

The biggest spoiler of the weekend, for us and not for them, is that Mercedes seem to have completely sorted their start and in fact George Russell was the best away from the sprint pole. Then we witnessed the first of two strong battles between him and championship leader and teammate Kimi Antonelli. Jorge was somewhat in control and could command the track position, but Kimi looked a bit quick, which we will see again on race day.

The inevitable happened in turn one when Antonelli tried to go around the outside. He was very close to winning the rights to the racing room from his more senior teammate, but in the end any driver fighting for the victory could give him a championship going off the track. Any of us would have done or expected the same.

Kimi lost his head for the duration of the sprint to such an extent that headmaster Toto Wolff even intervened on the radio. Kimi was lucky to have the wisdom of Bono and Toto at this point, the rest of us would have gone straight to the contact or crash scene and been convicted after the race.

McLaren had new medium tires for the sprint as opposed to the tires used by Mercedes and this flattered them a bit, but nevertheless both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastre looked strong, especially in the second half of a stint.

Lewis Hamilton looked a different driver all weekend, happy with the car’s pace and confident from it. He dominated teammate Charles Leclerc who struggled on this circuit layout.

Let’s be absolutely clear, multiple champions don’t have favorite or bogey circuits, it’s always ‘one game’ and there’s no other option but a lot of luck.

Norris managed to split Russell and Antonelli for the sprint podium after many mishaps and lock-ups for Antonelli. Well worth watching and anyone who would still prefer an FP3 practice session still baffles me.

McLaren suffers pain for tire call

All the forecasts suggested a wet race and no doubt some teams factored that into their set-up to qualify for the main race, which they carried into the race. In fact the rain moved in earlier than expected and other weather cells moved to either side of Montreal.

The grid looked dry for Sunday’s Grand Prix as the cars assembled, but there were many nervous teams and drivers really unsure of what to expect next. Few of them had any extensive experience with these new lower downforce cars on wet or intermediate tires. Those with little knowledge didn’t enjoy the experience, and it was hard enough to keep slick dry tires up to this track temperature in these ambient temperatures, let alone rain tires.

At the start of the main Grand Prix race seven drivers opted for intermediates, most importantly both McLarens, who were sure the slick tire runners would struggle and/or crash.

Then the light rain stopped, and Arvid Lindblad’s Racing Bulls had an aborted start and another formation lap as its clutch failed. It took some time to clear his car from the grid and so there was one more formation lap. And so the race began seven minutes after McLaren’s calculated risk on tyres, and the intermediates seemed a poor choice on the largely dry track. Painful for them especially as Piastre was asking for an immediate change, and it was only going to get worse with Piastre’s contact with Albon at Turn 10.

Norris then parked his wrecked car at the same Turn 10. It’s the eighth race in 10 years that McLaren haven’t scored points and is definitely a bogey track for them.

It was a shame to lose McLaren from the front running picture but the relentless drive of Mercedes and Hamilton and Verstappen more than made up for it.

‘There is no choice between Russell and Antonelli

There’s little to choose between Russell and Antonelli at this point, experience and wisdom seem perfectly matched by relentless pace and enthusiasm, and that’s why they keep meeting in the middle in a corner.

They seem to be constantly sideways especially when both drivers touch deep on the brakes at the Turn 10 hairpin. Until Russell’s marque expired with a rare technical failure somewhere in the power unit. And he was out. In his frustration he threw his headrest down the road and into the front of the car, for which he was fined €5,000 suspended for 12 months. Money well spent as far as I’m concerned as a way to process the extreme adrenaline rush and frustration. Been there, done that.

That left Antonelli on course for a relatively uncomfortable fourth victory ahead of a resurgent Hamilton who took second, his best result for Ferrari in 29 races, with a bold move on his old nemesis Verstappen in the closing stages.

Three different teams on the podium, and while not an all-time classic it was a thoroughly enjoyable and memorable Grand Prix as far as I’m concerned.

George Russell is now 43 points behind his teenage teammate, equaling first and second place, and he has to believe that what goes around comes around. There’s still a long way to go but McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull won’t stand still.

Issac Hajjar served a 30-second penalty for running under braking in defense and breaching the double-waved yellow flag rule and still finished fifth. He has really turned a corner, not unlike Alpine’s Franco Colapinto who has been a completely different driver lately and who came a very creditable sixth for his best F1 result.

In Monaco, the next challenge, there will be zero problems filling the very hungry batteries and the cars will be full of energy and challenge. I really admire all the drivers for handling the variability and evolution of modern F1.

MB

Next up is Formula 1’s European summer swing, with the Monaco Grand Prix the first of six races in eight weeks. Watch live on Sky Sports F1 from 5-7 June. Stream Sky Sports now – no contract, cancel anytime