Kimi Antonelli extended his lead in the Formula 1 championship after winning the Canadian GP, held at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Sunday (24). The Italian achieved his fourth consecutive victory of the season after seeing his Mercedes teammate, George Russell, retire from the race due to engine problems while leading the race.
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According to Antonelli, the internal battle within the team promised to remain close until the final flag if Russell had not faced the mechanical failure. The British driver’s retirement happened precisely at the moment when Mercedes was considering intervening in the dispute between its drivers after several tense moments that heightened the drivers’ tempers.
With the result, Antonelli opened a 43-point lead in the Drivers’ World Championship. Still, the Italian regretted the outcome of the race and said he would have preferred to win under different conditions: “Well, I mean, I think at the end of the stint I had a slight advantage because I had a bit more pace,” the driver told the press. “I think he had a bit more pace at the start, but then his tires degraded a bit more, but it would have been very close.”
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After the race, Antonelli commented again on his teammate’s retirement and emphasized that the battle promised excitement until the final laps: “And, of course, it was not good to see him have the failure because, as I said, it would have been a very intense fight until the end. It would have been interesting to see how it would have ended, but it’s definitely hard to say.”
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