Canadian GP: Mercedes title battle blows up as Antonelli wins again
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Athletic.
The race is on, and Kimi Antonelli's fourth consecutive win in the Canadian Grand Prix gave him a 54-point championship lead after George Russell retired while leading. But did the Mercedes intra-team battle step over the line, given Toto Wolff has warned he may put the handbrake on? I'm Ed Straw, and joining me to look back on a weekend when the title battle came alive are John Noble and Josh Sutil. Well, Josh, let's get straight to it. We're only five races into the season, but how significant a fork in the road do you think the Canadian Grand Prix was, given everything that happened over this weekend between those Mercedes drivers?
A hugely significant weekend, I think, right across the whole weekend. It felt like, to me, we started to see the shape of this title fight, which right now... is an intra-team fight between Kimi Antonelli and George Russell. And we saw, I think, George Russell in particular, trying to lay a marker down in that title fight. And we saw that throughout the sprint race. We saw that throughout the Grand Prix with the way he raced Antonelli.
What key events unfolded during the Canadian Grand Prix?
Antonelli who has taken this monumental leap from first year to second year I think everybody has been a little bit surprised by it he is a huge threat to what otherwise could have been a more straightforward route to a title for Russell so I think this weekend we saw Russell getting his elbows out and making sure that Antonelli knows that it's not going to be easy to pass him ever and that Russell is going to make things very very difficult on a weekend where maybe Antonelli was the quicker driver and Russell got his elbows out and did that to great effect in the sprint race and was doing that to great effect on Sunday too, of course, before the unfortunate end. So, yeah, I think this was definitely the weekend where the gloves came off.
It's so interesting, John, wasn't it? Because we heard Toto Wolff on the radio saying, intervening in the sprint race and trying to get Kimi Antonoli to quieten down a little bit with his radio comments. We heard the drivers being told today, well, if you don't tidy it up, then we may have to call it off. So there's all of these things going on, aren't there, in terms of the spectre of team orders or being told not to race each other.
This weekend's confirmation that we have a title fight and a potentially explosive title fight, not because the pair of them...
Did Mercedes' intra-team battle cross the line?
you know, this is a repeat of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton or Alan Pross and Ettinger in terms they don't like each other, but we've got a fascinating dynamic of the experienced guy versus the youngster, both very, very equal on pace. I think beyond Miami where Kimi was definitely clear and George had a very off weekend. I think there's been very little between them over the races. I think today was super tight for, to call. I'm sure it would have... If the race had panned out beyond the strategy calls team it would have made, it would have been nip and tuck. Who knows how it would have turned out. But you've got also two drivers who are willing to get their elbows out and fight each other hard and not...
play the easy game and not avoid moments where they are breaking wheel to wheel into corners and not making contact, but quite happy to be robust with each other. And I think that makes a fascinating dynamic because the title fight that we didn't think existed Australia time, it looked like this is going to be one way traffic for George and, Suddenly you thought mathematically things are swinging the other way for through China and Japan and then Miami be thinking that George be all right he'll come back and then Canada will get some points and reestablish himself in front and things kind of a. normal state of affairs would resume but it hasn't it's gone completely the opposite direction Kim is proven he's every bit as match for George and George has a proper fight on his hands now and in a situation where the mathematics have changed dramatically and as George says it looks like it's Kim is to lose
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–1:13
2
What key events unfolded during the Canadian Grand Prix?
1:13–2:25
3
Did Mercedes' intra-team battle cross the line?
2:25–4:40
4
How did Kimi Antonelli's performance impact the championship standings?
4:40–15:42
5
What went wrong for McLaren during the race?
15:42–18:34
6
How did Lewis Hamilton's performance reflect on Ferrari's competitiveness?
18:34–22:09
7
What challenges did Red Bull face during the Canadian GP?
22:09–22:51
8
How did the midfield teams perform in this race?
22:51–1:13:17
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from The Race F1 Podcast
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