'George Russell can WIN F1 title this year' - Canadian Grand Prix Hot Takes

The Canadian Grand Prix saved all of its action for the final laps of the race, with F1 team-mates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri crashing and prompting a safety car.

As the McLaren pair battled for fourth place, Norris attempted an overly ambitious move on Piastri but instead ended up in the barriers and failed to finish the race.

F1 Results Today: McLaren team-mates COLLIDE to blow championship wide open at Canadian Grand Prix

Meanwhile, George Russell roared to his first victory of the 2025 season, after he maintained his lead ahead of Max Verstappen at the first corner on lap one.

Verstappen finished second and Kimi Antonelli secured his first F1 podium with a third place finish, much to the delight of the crowd who chanted his name during the post-race interview.

GPFans Canadian Grand Prix Hot Takes

Matt Hobkinson - Global Lead Editor

George Russell can win the F1 title this year.

I am running out of words for Russell in 2025. He is driving superbly week in, week out – and in a more dominant Mercedes car he would be the only driver we’d be talking about in 2025.

We have all been waiting for a collision between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri and Montreal delivered. More of that – which will inevitably come – along with continued consistency from Russell, and the Mercedes star will be waiting to swoop in.

With 14 races left to go, Russell is ready to show the world he is world championship material.

Sheona Mountford - F1 Journalist

That’ll wake the groundhogs up!

McLaren have managed Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s rivalry perfectly. Yes, they crashed. Yes, they failed to get a podium in Montreal. Yes, Norris has seriously harmed his title chances.

But, who wants to see F1 team-mates tip-toeing around each other in a championship fight? It should be messy out on track! Norris should be going for moves that do not exist because he wants that world title at any cost.

The Canadian Grand Prix was brought alive by their battle on track - albeit a little late - in a similar vein to Lewis Hamilton versus Nico Rosberg.

McLaren must allow Piastri and Norris to continue to freely race. Nightmare for them. Box office for us!

READ MORE: Lando Norris CRASHES into Oscar Piastri at Canadian Grand Prix

Chris Deeley - F1 Journalist

When Lando Norris was roaring back towards Max Verstappen in the championship back in August of last year, I told you all one thing. Lando Norris will never win a Formula 1 world championship.

I’ve never been more sure of that assessment. As soon as he’s faced the pressure of true expectation this year, he’s driven like the slightly nervous young man he often looks like.

In Saturday’s qualifying, it was an error on his first lap in the top-10 shootout that put all the pressure on his final lap. He didn’t deliver. Today, he was closing up on Oscar Piastri and being truly encouraged to fight his team-mate for the first time. He ran into the back of him.

For drivers who can smell blood in the water – that’s all of them, by the way – the way he’s being gently coached on the radio by his race engineer couldn’t be a clearer sign that as talented as he is, Norris isn’t in the mindset to deal with a title fight right now.

Ronan Murphy - Social Media Editor

The only way McLaren can make a mess of things is when their drivers do something stupid like crashing into each other. The only way Ferrari can make a mess of things is in every single way every single race.

Charles Leclerc wants Plan B? Plan C it is. At this stage, we've seen Ferrari use every plan in the alphabet and actually discover new letters that we did not know existed - or imported them from other languages to see if any of þose plans might actually do, well, something.

Plan F for Fred seems to continue race after race despite setback after setback, disappointment after disappointment. But what does Fred Vasseur actually do? Not even the Rosetta Stone could translate these plans into a podium.

READ MORE: FIA announce harsh McLaren penalty verdict after Oscar Piastri incident at Canadian GP

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