Canadian GP: Martin Brundle’s decision on George Russell ‘desperation’, impact on the F1 title race and ‘revived’ Lewis Hamilton | F1 News

What a fantastic weekend of F1 action, thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. This old-school, smooth, narrow, and bumpy middle course with lots of fast and heavy braking, brutal chicanes, and close walls, almost always seems to cause more than a few surprises.

We are a little afraid that the electric units of 2026 may struggle more here than in many track structures this season given the many long maneuvers and little opportunities to fill the battery, but the teams and drivers, as expected, are adapting and learning the best way to use the engine and the battery to qualify, start the race, restart after the safety cars, and in both offensive and defensive modes.

We can do better now, but for now, we had a lot of tire-to-wheel racing, a lot of overtaking where the drivers had to finish maneuvering on the brakes and cornering, or defend hard on the straights.

And understanding and defining an effective ‘Pass Mode’, which costs about three-tenths of a second, is easier to see and explain. In the end I believe it can be more effective and truer than ‘DRS’ to give the drivers and teams to work on it and make the movement stick rather than hit easily.

We also had two qualifying sessions, mainly in the main race, which was old school punch and counter punch, with the final driver on a knife edge.

The improvement of the Mercedes car certainly took them to the front of the pack again with a small but undeniable advantage, and although the top five followed the same order in both the Sprint and the main Grand Prix, a third of a second rounded out the top seven. I really didn’t expect Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull to get so close so quickly.

‘Antonelli was always running out of track in the Sprint’

The biggest spoiler of the weekend, for us and not for them, is that Mercedes seem to have completely overhauled their start and in fact George Russell from the Sprint pole was absent. Then we saw the first of two intense battles between him and championship leader and teammate Kimi Antonelli. George was a little under control and able to command the track position, but Kimi looked a little faster, something we would see again on race day.

The inevitable happened in Turn One when Antonelli tried to pass on the outside. He was very close to earning the right to run from his senior teammate, but in the end any driver fighting for the win let alone the competition would take him off the track. Any of us would do, or expect, the same.

Kimi lost his head so slightly during the Sprint that the head coach Toto Wolff even intervened on the radio. Kimi is lucky to have the wisdom of Bono and Toto in these times, the rest of us would have gone straight to the point of contact or accident, and the post race to criticize.

McLaren had the new Sprint center tires against the used Mercedes tires and this hurt them a bit, however both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri looked strong especially in the second half of the stint.

Lewis Hamilton looked like a different driver all weekend, happy with the car going fast, and coming out of it with confidence. He is in charge of his teammate Charles Leclerc who is struggling in this circuit structure.

Let’s be clear, most champions don’t have favorite circuits or bogeys, it’s ‘game’ all the way and there’s no other option but a lot of luck.

Norris was able to separate Russell and Antonelli on the Sprint podium after a few too many incidents and Antonelli’s lockout. It’s a must watch and anyone who would still pick an FP3 practice session after that baffles me.

McLaren is suffering from a tire call

All the predictions suggested a wet race and no doubt some teams factored this into their qualifying plans for the big race, going into the race. In fact the rain passed earlier than expected and some weather cells moved on both sides of Montreal.

The grid looked dry for Sunday’s Grand Prix when the cars met, but there were many nervous teams and drivers unsure of what to expect next. Few of them have extensive experience with these new vehicles that run on wet or medium tires. Those with less experience didn’t appreciate it, and it was hard enough to keep dry tires up to temperature on this track in these normal temperatures let alone wet tires.

The seven drivers in the main Grand Prix race started to choose intermediates, most notably both McLarens, who were convinced that the smart tire racers would struggle and/or crash.

Then a light rain stopped, and with the clutch of Arvid Lindblad’s Racing Bulls failing there was an aborted start and another artificial belt. It took a while to get his car off the grid and there was another formation lap. Seven minutes after McLaren’s tire risk count the race has started, and the intermediates look like a bad choice on a very dry track. It was painful for them especially as Piastri was asking for a quick change, and it was only going to get worse when he came into contact with Piastri and Albon at Turn 10.

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

It was a great shame to lose the leading McLarens but a competitive Mercedes and the relentless cars of Hamilton and Verstappen more than made up for it.

‘I have no choice between Russell and Antonelli

There’s no choice between Russell and Antonelli at the moment, experience and wisdom seem to equal unbridled speed and absolute enthusiasm, which is why they keep coming together in the corner.

They always seemed to come together especially when either driver was running on the brakes at the Turn 10 hairpin. That was until Russell’s Merc expired permanently with a rare technical failure somewhere in the power unit. And he was out. In his despair he threw his head down on the road and got out of the car, where he was to be fined €5,000 suspended for 12 months. Money well spent as far as I’m concerned as a way to process the massive adrenaline rush and disappointment. Been there, done that.

This freed Antonelli on his way to an untroubled fourth straight victory ahead of a resurgent Hamilton who took second place, his best result for Ferrari in 29 races, and shaking off old foe Verstappen in the closing stages.

Three different teams on the podium, and although not a classic this was the most exciting and memorable Grand Prix I know.

George Russell is 43 points behind his young teammate, tied for first and second place, and he has to believe that what happens happens. There is still a long way to go but McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull will not stop either.

Isack Hadjar incurred 30 second penalties for going under the defensive brake and breaching the rules of the yellow flag that was waved twice, and finished fifth. He has turned the corner, unlike Franco Colapinto at Alpine who is a completely different driver recently and who came home in a very reliable sixth place with his best F1 result.

In Monaco, the next challenge, there will be endless problems to fill the very hungry battery and the cars will be full of great power and challenges. I really admire all the drivers for managing the diversity and evolution of modern F1.

MB

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