Canada Grand Prix 2025: Race Review

A fierce battle between rivals was forecasted for the Canadian Grand Prix, after a dramatic Qualifying session saw George Russell secure pole position, ahead of long-standing rival Max Verstappen.

After an unexpectedly honest performance from the two drivers, the rivalry in-question would instead extend to team Papaya, with a thrilling battle that ultimately saw Lando Norris – literally – walk away with a DNF result, and Oscar Piastri 22-points clear of the drivers’ championship.

Key Moments

The Canadian Grand Prix proved divisive for teams, with regard to their tyre choices, with some opting for a one-stop strategy, whilst frontrunners chose to mirror the opposition to their advantage, by opting for a two-stop strategy.

Though this curated the storyboard for a fairly lackluster Canadian Grand Prix for the most part, with teams’ concern mostly being placed with the conservation of their tyres, the closing laps of the race saw enough action for the 70 Laps combined.

Despite Lando Norris inching forever-closer to his teammate in P4 position, Oscar Piastri managed to keep his championship rival at bay, simultaneously using his DRS to close the gap between himself and Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli.

This set the scene for a thrilling finale, with all three drivers battling for a third and final podium place, with George Russell and Max Verstappen decisively – and surprisingly – secure ahead of the pack in their respective P1 and P2 positions.

During Lap 67, the inevitable finally happened, with both McLarens racing head-to-head for P4 position, and a valuable extra two points in their championship battle. While Norris was able to secure the spot during the hairpin, it was soon taken back by Piastri into Turn 13.

Driving almost adjacently down the straight, Norris then misconstrued a gap down the inside of his teammate, colliding into the back of Piastri’s McLaren, before scraping into the wall and out of the Candian Grand Prix.

Miraculously, the Australian championship leader was able to drive away from the scene without so much as a few pieces of broken debris, and an extra sweaty racing suit. Though this incident did eradicate Piastri’s chances of catching up to Antonelli and securing his ninth podium of the season, the McLaren driver crucially left the race victorious, by gaining a 22-point lead on Norris within the championship.

This emulated the incident seen during the 2011 Chinese Grand Prix, with former McLaren teammates Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button finding themselves in a spookily similar fate.

While Lando Norris was quick to take full responsibility, it is clear that the pressure of championship contention impacted his decision-making, further defining his lack of mental agility on-track.

In the words of the late three-time world champion Ayrton Senna: “if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver“.

In this instance, however, there was simply no gap to be taken.

Painstakingly, the delta also indicated that Norris could very well have secured P4 position during the next lap, had he have remained patient in his focus to get ahead of his teammate.

Making contact with Piastri, and breaking Papaya Rules, ultimately not only cost Norris a vital 10-points in his own championship contention, but in McLaren’s fight for a consecutive constructors’ championship too.

With the McLaren of Lando Norris firmly planted on track, this prompted the release of the Safety Car, which saw the race conclude under yellow flag conditions.

It is worth noting that there is a certain irony to this situation, with respect to Norris being asked – before the incident took place – whether he would like to be pitted for soft tyres should a Safety Car emerge, only for a Safety Car to emerge because of his actions, which resulted in Piastri receiving ‘his’ free pit stop.

While other teams used the yellow flag conditions to their advantage, entering the pits, George Russell and Max Verstappen instead used this time to enter into a quibble about braking on track. Whilst Russell claimed that the Red Bull overtook him, Verstappen contrastingly complained that the Mercedes “erratically braked“, thus implying that the British driver did so purposefully.

An appeal was later sent to the FIA stewards by Red Bull following the race, under grounds of ‘driving erratically’ and ‘showing unsportsmanlike behavior’. This appeal has since been rejected.

While Verstappen had to settle for second-best on the day, the Canadian Grand Prix marked both Mercedes and George Russell’s first victory of the season, securing themselves back into P2 position of the constructors’ championship, turning a corner from their European triple-header woes.

The race also marked a respectable maiden podium for Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli, who finished the Canadian Grand Prix in P3 position, making history as the third youngest driver in Formula One to do so.

Other Notable Events

While there was very little to shout about during the Canadian Grand Prix – aside from events involving those fighting for podium positions – there are a few notable occurrences worth mentioning.

The Canadian Grand Prix performance of Ferrari was foreshadowed in the opening stages of the race, with Lewis Hamilton running over a groundhog during Lap 9. The damage obtained from this circuit-specific incident ultimately translated to a P6 finish for the seven-time world champion, who trailed 22 seconds behind his teammate before the late Safety Car.

Further on in the race, Ferrari – who now fall back down to P3 position in the constructors’ championship – proved controversial in their decision-making once more, with Charles Leclerc pleading for his team to operate under ‘Plan C’ – a one-stop strategy – only to be ignored.

Without warning, and ambiguous communication that otherwise showed the team to be in agreement with the Monegasque driver, Leclerc was blind-sighted by Ferrari, who commanded him to pit on Lap 29. This choice committed Leclerc to a two-stop strategy, against his on-track instincts.

While Leclerc did manage to finish the race in a respectable P5 position, such communication issues are damaging for good working relations between a driver and his team, which are essential for a sport that requires such trust and due-diligence.

With messy strategy and Ferrari going hand-in-hand, what more can the team do to rectify their mistakes, moving forwards? This is of particular importance when looking ahead to the 2026 season, with regulation changes that are set to smooth over the competition, and produce a level playing field within Formula One.

Further down the grid, a special mention goes to Nico Hulkenberg for finishing in P8 position, gaining a heroic four points for Sauber, who are virtually non-existent in either championship table. This special mention is similarly extended to Esteban Ocon, gaining two points for Haas in P9 position, and Carlos Sainz, who – having been impeded by Hadjar in Qualifying – started from P17, and managed to secure an impressive point for Williams in P10 position.

Canada Grand Prix 2025: Final Thoughts

Ultimately, the Canadian Grand Prix is far from the race I expected to experience this Sunday.

Falsely predicting which rivals would do battle, and such a conservative effort from teams trying to preserve their tyres, are just two of the ways in which the Canadian Grand Prix opposed my expectations.

While the media have been hyping up a clash between the two McLaren drivers for weeks now, I feel the incident between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri was hardly something to shout about, with one driver’s misjudgment merely being the source of the other’s misfortune.

Even then, this misjudgment only truly penalised Norris, who made the mistake, finishing with a DNF result that placed himself 22-points behind Piastri, with the Australian still managing to finish the race in P4 position.

There was no malicious intent, and the incident was ultimately handled with maturity both on and off the track by both drivers.

The collision itself, therefore, does nothing more than feed the pre-existing sensationalism growing within the media, surrounding the notion of Papaya Rules, and the historic nature of teammates becoming bitter championship rivals in Formula One.

What is important to note, therefore, is that things will only become a problem internally, if either driver allows this noise to have a psychological impact, either on their performance or personality.

With Norris already overtly struggling mentally, I do fear that this will be the start of his demise, should he allow this to happen.

While Mercedes can celebrate happily after a successful weekend, McLaren is simply too strong for this singular performance to have an overarching impact on the constructors’ championship moving forwards. Can they miraculously bring themselves back into contention?

Only time will tell, as we now look ahead to the Austrian Grand Prix, held at the Red Bull Ring in two weeks’ time.