George Russell smacks car in fury after Canadian GP DNF | F1 | Sport

George Russell slammed his car in fury and threw his gloves to the floor after a mechanical failure gifted team-mate Kimi Antonelli the opportunity to increase his championship lead at the Canadian Grand Prix. It happened on lap 30 of a thrilling race which saw both Mercedes drivers swap the lead several times in a tense battle.

Russell started on pole but Antonelli inherited an early lead, only for the Brit to win it back within a few laps. From there it was a nail-biting game of cat and mouse as the young Italian spent the next 25 laps right on the gearbox of his Mercedes team-mate, the two swapping places several times and coming close to colliding on more than one occasion.

Mercedes were starting to get worried and Antonelli’s race engineer, Peter Bonnington, was asked to relay the message to his driver that the team would have to step in unless he cleaned up his attacks. But they never had to as, suddenly, Russell went straight on at a chicane before coming to a grinding halt at the side of the track.

He swore loudly over the radio before throwing his headrest onto the track in disgust. After he stood up, he then smacked his car with both his hands before climbing out. He then went through a porthole at the side of the track where he proceeded to take off his racing gloves and throw them onto the floor in disgust, shaking his head repeatedly under his helmet.

It brought to an end a gripping duel between the two which looked destined to end in an accident one way or the other, as Russell and Antonelli came close to colliding with one another on several occasions. Despite both drivers locking up on occasion and making mistakes with the pressure high, they were still several seconds clear of Max Verstappen in third.

Lando Norris was the one who started third and briefly took the lead at the beginning of the race, but McLaren had gambled on intermediate tyres as light rain fell at the start of the race and that turned out to be the wrong call. He pitted at the end of lap two but the champion’s day only worsened from there as he eventually retired with his own mechanical failure.