Antonelli leads Mercedes one-two as Albon hits groundhog in Canada practice

Kimi Antonelli put Mercedes on top of the only practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, clocking 1:13.402 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and beating George Russell by 0.110 seconds in a one-two that hinted at a changing order before sprint qualifying. Lewis Hamilton was third for Ferrari and Charles Leclerc fourth, but the sharper message came from Antonelli, the championship leader after three straight victories, who arrived in Montreal with momentum and left the paddock facing another reminder that his pace is no longer a surprise.

The session was repeatedly interrupted and then extended after three red flags cut into the limited running available before sprint qualifying. Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls car first triggered a stoppage with a hydraulics issue, then Alex Albon brought out the second red flag after striking a groundhog around the Turn 6-7 chicane and slamming his Williams into the barriers, and Esteban Ocon later stopped the action again after spinning into the wall. With the weekend’s only practice session running thin on laps, officials added time so teams could salvage more data before the competitive sessions resumed.

Albon got out of the car unaided, and initial checks showed no serious injuries, but the damage to the Williams was significant. The crash added an uneasy wildlife-safety dimension to a North American circuit already known for close encounters with animals near the racing line, and it turned a standard setup session into a warning about how quickly a routine lap can become a recovery operation when speed and wildlife meet at the wrong point on track.

For Mercedes, the timing mattered as much as the result. Russell’s 0.110-second deficit still left him close enough to underline the team’s pace, but Antonelli’s lap put fresh pressure on the established names before race day on Sunday, May 24, 2026. With only one practice session to sort set-up and limited time lost to stoppages, the Italian’s speed stood out not just as a headline number but as an early signal that Formula 1’s next phase may be arriving faster than expected.