A dramatic running of the 2025 Canadian Grand Prix saw George Russell emerge victorious ahead of Max Verstappen as the title-chasing McLaren drivers made contact, and as always there were plenty of winners and losers from Canada.
Russell was in charge from pole position to record his first win since the Las Vegas GP last season, with Mercedes taking a 1-3 as Kimi Antonelli stood on the podium for the first time in his career.
With good and bad luck stories across the field, who were the winners and losers at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve?
Winner – Mercedes
Mercedes was fancied to have one of its better weekends in Canada given the predicted cooler conditions that have suited the squad’s machinery under the current regulation set.
Russell duly obliged to repeat his pole position from last season as team-mate Antonelli slotted himself into fourth on the grid, behind Verstappen and championship leader Oscar Piastri.
The Australian was quickly dispatched at the start by Antonelli while Russell dictated from the front, rarely challenged for the entirety of the event. His Italian team-mate, however, was able to fend off Piastri’s advances before the McLaren scuffle that prematurely ended green-flag racing.
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Catch up with Total Motorsport's latest Singapore GP coverage, including Max Verstappen's victory at Marina Bay, Ferrari's costly strategy gamble, the full race classification, and the updated 2026 Formula 1 Drivers' and Constructors' Championship standings.
Mercedes will look to continue its momentum in Austria, scene of another victory last season, as it aims to extend its place in second in the constructors’ championship.
Loser – Lando Norris
The collision between the title protagonists finally happened. Lando Norris misjudged how much space there was between team-mate Piastri and the pitwall and left the Canadian GP with zero points.
It was a generally difficult weekend for McLaren anyway compared to other events with Piastri third on the grid but Norris all the way down in seventh, forced to start on the hard tyre in an attempt to salvage a positive result.
With graining early on for medium-tyre runners, it gave Norris a chance to do something different and, having moved past Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, he was on the back of the top four in the closing stages.
A great battle with Piastri started with a stunning move late on the brakes into the hairpin, albeit allowing the championship leader to emerge alongside on the run to the final chicane. Norris pulled ahead using Antonelli’s slipstream as both McLarens opened DRS, though Piastri was braver on the brakes on the inside to hold position.
Then it was Norris’ misjudgement on the main straight (for which he immediately held his hands up) which cost him crucial championship points.
With his racecraft having already been criticised this term, we saw the good and the bad of Norris in the space of three corners. The contact was clumsy at best, silly at worst and now sees him 22 points behind Piastri. This felt like a major turning point in the championship race.
Winner – Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin’s fortunes have been pretty dire so far this season, even if Alonso had finally broken his points duck at the Spanish GP.
But Canada felt like a turning point with the Spaniard able to qualify in the top 10 and then follow it up with strong race pace, finishing seventh.
For Alonso, the fact he was able to battle cars around him and actually have a motor race—as he reminded his team over radio when asked to conserve tyres with a typical quip—will have been just as enjoyable as picking up his best result of the season so far. The biggest positive is that the AMR25 finally looks competitive in race conditions across two different circuit layouts.
That’s positive for the remainder of the season.
Loser – Alex Albon
It wasn’t the first time this term we heard Alex Albon losing his temper with decisions made by the Williams team but that was just the start of his disastrous race.
The Thai-Briton was unhappy at being left out on horrible medium tyres at the end of the first stint, only to be told to pit in the no-man’s land phase between a two-stop and one-stop window, having been taken off-road by Franco Colapinto on the opening lap to fall down the order.
If that was enough to rile him up, then the latest Mercedes power unit failure that left him stranded on the outside of the hairpin was the icing on a fairly disappointing cake.
Plenty to debrief for his side of the garage before Austria.
Winner – Nico Hulkenberg
Much like with Alonso, Nico Hulkenberg and Sauber have unlocked something in the last two races to provide a welcome morale boost for the rest of the season and into the new ruleset next term.
The German rose into the top 10 with a measured drive, pulling off a number of clean overtakes helped with good strategy from his team.
The epitome of his experience came when he anticipated the Turn 8 skirmish between Albon and Colapinto on the opening lap, dodging the rejoining Williams and hampered Alpine to take two places in one and gain favourable track position.
Hulkenberg’s form has seen Sauber leapfrog Alpine off the foot of the constructors’ table, something unfathomable after the form of the early races.
Loser – F1 and its rules
The result of Sunday’s race wasn’t decided at the flag after a protest was lodged by Red Bull over Russell’s antics behind the safety car. The Mercedes driver braked hard on the back straight and saw Verstappen fly past, with both drivers complaining about each other at the time.
Red Bull wanted to ensure that no penalty was needed for erratic driving, nor for dropping back further than 10 lengths behind the safety car, though both protests were rejected by the race stewards.
That decision came almost five and a half post-chequered flag for what seemed a fairly open-and-closed case from the stewards report, a time period that isn’t acceptable by any stretch of the imagination.
Also confusing is why Lance Stroll was docked two penalty points for closing the door on Pierre Gasly into the final chicane—a penalty well-deserved—yet Norris was not given a penalty point along with his five-second penalty for causing the collision with Piastri. More consistency is needed.
