Kimi Antonelli arrived in Montreal already the most talked-about driver in Formula 1, and he left with a statistic no one in the sport’s history can match. Four races. Four wins. Four pole-to-victory conversions. The 2026 Canadian Grand Prix was supposed to be George Russell’s weekend, and for most of it, it looked exactly like that. Then his Mercedes stopped on lap 29.
What followed was the kind of race that reminds you why Montreal has been on the Formula 1 calendar longer than almost anywhere else. Lewis Hamilton put Ferrari on the second step of the podium with his mother watching from the grandstands. Max Verstappen took his first podium of the season. And McLaren, starting both cars on intermediate tyres from the second row of the grid, spent the rest of the weekend explaining themselves.
Away We Go Podcast host Dianne Bortoletto and co-host Ciara Gillan break down every layer of it. Ciara, who covers Formula 1 predictions and analysis at Formula Live Pulse, had George Russell as her pick to win the feature race, and her reaction to watching Antonelli close in on a retreating Russell before the power unit made the decision for everyone is exactly the kind of conversation this race deserved.
The McLaren strategy call is the episode’s sharpest thread. Oscar Piastri was on the radio during the formation lap saying the intermediate tyre choice was a mistake, said the same publicly afterwards while Lando Norris defended the call, and finished the race two laps down in eleventh. As Dianne puts it, Piastri’s job title at McLaren should probably include strategist at this point.
Away from the top of the order, Isack Hadjar qualified within half a tenth of Max Verstappen at Red Bull, Franco Colapinto delivered another points finish for Alpine, and the FIA handed out penalties with unusual enthusiasm across the field.
The episode also gets into the rumour mill: Gucci in talks with Alpine, BYD potentially entering as a 12th constructor with Christian Horner’s name attached, and whether the Indian Grand Prix could return to the calendar. Di and Ciara also discuss the conversation around Middle East races and what calendar pressure from geopolitical instability could mean for Formula 1’s schedule.
Montreal itself gets a moment too. Di has been researching the city ahead of a potential future visit and the Green Lanes story, former industrial laneways between apartment buildings handed to neighbourhoods and transformed into community gardens and gathering spaces, is the kind of detail that makes the Canadian Grand Prix worth thinking about beyond the race result.
For context on just how Formula 1 operates in unexpected places, Di references the team’s earlier episode with Jason Beste, the Mercedes head chef who worked the Indian Grand Prix during Nico Rosberg’s championship year. That conversation about logistics, local character and what it actually takes to run a team on the road is worth a listen alongside this one.
With Monaco next on the calendar, the championship picture is tightening fast. Antonelli leads. Russell has questions to answer. And McLaren have a strategy meeting to survive.
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Play along with the Away We Go Predict the Podium game at awaywegopodcast.com/play-along.