Mercedes are back in the constructors’ championship mix after an underwhelming past few weeks, as George Russell and Kimi Antonelli secured their first double podium finish together. Russell won last week’s Canadian Grand Prix, and Antonelli finished third. Sandwiched between them is the defending Formula 1 champion, Max Verstappen.
After grabbing 40 points from Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, the Silver Arrows leapfrogged Ferrari and Red Bull in the constructors’ table with 199 points. However, they still have a long way to go to catch up with leaders McLaren, who have accumulated 374 points.
Speaking of McLaren, they’ve had an uneventful weekend in Canada since Oscar Piastri narrowly missed out on a podium and teammate Lando Norris did not even finish the race. On the other hand, we would be remiss if we didn’t give a shoutout to Nico Hulkenberg, who has been quietly building momentum recently.
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Russell secures first win of the 2025 season
Mercedes achieved their best weekend of the 2025 season so far at the hands of George Russell, who had a straightforward weekend at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. After securing pole position in the qualifying, Russell took advantage of the smoother conditions in Canada to win his first race of the campaign. Meanwhile, teammate Kimi Antonelli became Formula 1’s third-youngest podium finisher with his P3 outing.
The Brackley outfit have struggled for consistency, but the cooler temperatures and smoother surface in the Canadian Grand Prix played perfectly into their hands. Russell controlled the race from lights out and executed a two-stop strategy after some early pressure from Max Verstappen. It also helped the Silver Arrows that Ferrari couldn’t shake their doldrums, and McLaren were unlucky.
Principal Toto Wolff praised his drivers for doing well in Montreal and his engineers for their work behind the scenes. Overall, it’s good to see the W16’s rear suspension changes, first introduced at Imola, are now paying off.
“The track layout is just different, the asphalt is different, and there is never one magic solution that makes the car go from a, let’s say, best-case podium car to a dominant winner. But the more data sets we have, the more we learn,” Wolff said.
Norris take accountability after unfortunate crash with teammate
McLaren principal Andreas Stella was livid with what happened in the Canadian Grand Prix, as Lando Norris failed to score for the first time this season following his costly collision with teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished fourth on the grid. Stella called the race incident “unacceptable,” and Norris apologized to the team for his “stupid” mistake.
Norris had been chasing down Piastri during the final stages of the race. Norris initially went ahead of Piastri after an overtake in the hairpin curve before Piastri retook the position in Turn 13. However, when Norris looked to cut Piastri on a straight, the 25-year-old miscalculated his brakes and ran into the back of Piastri’s car.
The damage sustained by the MCL39 forced Norris to retire, and it also triggered a Safety Car, while Piastri was able to continue. To add insult to injury, the race stewards hit Norris with a five-second penalty.
“I thought Oscar would move a bit more to the right, not to leave a gap obviously – I don’t expect something to be easy from him, but I just misjudged it. It was all my mistake, I take full blame, so I apologize to my whole team and to Oscar for attempting something like that,” Norris said.
Another impressive weekend for Hulkenberg
Nico Hulkenberg is single-handedly keeping Kick Sauber afloat, as he finished in the points for the second straight time and third overall this season. After a P5 outing in the Spanish Grand Prix, Hulkenberg converted his P11 grid slot to an eighth-place finish in the Canadian Grand Prix. The 37-year-old German has recorded all of Kick Sauber’s 20 points this season, good enough for the team not to be last in the constructors’ table.
Hulkenberg was more than happy to pounce on the opening lap when his rivals clashed, and he executed a one-stop strategy that saw him use his hard tyres for 51 laps. Unlike in Barcelona, where he wowed the crowd (and defied the SBOTOP Formula 1 2025 odds) with his overtake of Lewis Hamilton, Hulkenberg’s outing in Canada was ho-hum given the race’s favorable conditions and lack of mid-race Safety Cars.
On the other hand, Gabriel Bortoleto continues to have a rough rookie Formula 1 campaign. The 20-year-old Brazilian continues to fight for his first points finish.
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