Formula 1: Russell victory with Stallzoff

World Championship leader Antonelli, who rumbled across the grass twice during maneuvers against Russell and swore wildly on the radio, came third behind defending champion Lando Norris in the McLaren. In the World Cup standings, the 19-year-old lost two of his 20-point lead and received an announcement from the team boss after crossing the finish line. “We discuss this internally, not on team radio,” said Toto Wolff.

They don’t have much time to talk anymore today – qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve takes place at 10 p.m. CEST (Sky).

But first there was the sprint: 23 laps – no tire changes. And the front rows were made up of teammates among themselves. Mercedes with Russell and Antonelli at the front, followed by Norris and Oscar Piastri in the McLaren, followed by Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari and Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar in the Red Bull. Nico Hülkenberg had just missed out on the top ten in eleventh place in qualifying the day before.

Hamilton with an early attack

“I hope that we get off to a clean start and keep the McLaren behind us,” said pole man Russell before the race started. Both of them succeeded, at least at the beginning. Behind him, Hamilton, who celebrated the first of his 105 Grand Prix victories on the Montreal circuit in 2007, went straight into attack mode and grabbed Piastri.

At the front, the Silver Arrows duo quickly gained a lead. By the third lap, Norris was already 2.5 seconds behind Russell, who had won the first sprint of the season in China. Victory in the second sprint in Miami went to Norris.

Word of power from the Mercedes team boss

Antonelli put pressure on Russell at the front, neither of them gave each other anything. On the contrary: on lap six the two cars touched each other. It became a wild ride, Antonelli rumbled across the grass twice, complained over the radio and even called for a penalty for his teammate.

The beneficiary was Norris, who passed the angry Italian who could hardly be calmed down. It took until the boss from the command post said a word and asked Antonelli to concentrate on the race and not to complain over the radio.

Due to the two tough maneuvers with verbal follow-up, the Mercedes duo initially seemed to have lost control of the sprint. Norris was lurking behind Russell and Hamilton was behind Antonelli. But the championship leader caught himself and drove closer to Norris and Russell with anger in his stomach. On the last lap he attacked Norris, but had to go over grass again. After a few difficult weeks after his opening Grand Prix victory in Melbourne, Russell couldn’t miss his victory.