Canadian Grand Prix 2026: Kimi Antonelli takes control of title battle

Kimi Antonelli is now 43 points ahead of Mercedes team-mate George Russell in the drivers' championship The Canadian Grand Prix was the race in which the Formula 1 title battle finally came alive this year. It was also, however, the race in which it took a potentially decisive turn, putting a huge dent in George Russell's hopes of beating his 19-year-old Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli to the championship. Russell's retirement from the race came after 30 laps of frenetic battling between the pair which lit up the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on a damp, gloomy day so cold it tempted world champions McLaren into a seemingly inexplicable decision to start the race on a dry track on wet-weather tyres. The Briton's retirement handed the win to Antonelli, his fourth in a row, and the Italian now has a massive 43-point lead. Doubtless there are many twists and turns to come in the remaining 17 races. Even so, that will take some recovering. Afterwards, Russell was stoic but understandably downbeat. "Right now it's his to lose," he said. "He is so many points ahead. It feels like the gods don't want me to be in this fight, when I look at the safety-car timing in Japan, breaking down in Chin