UPDATE 1-Motor racing-Antonelli takes fourth win in a row after Russell retires in Canada
Formula One championship leader Kimi Antonelli took his fourth win in a row on Sunday after a power unit failure forced Mercedes teammate and title rival George Russell out of the Canadian Grand Prix. Russell, starting on pole, had fought for the lead with Antonelli in a thrilling wheel-to-wheel battle before coming to a halt by the side of the track on the 30th of 68 laps at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Lewis Hamilton finished runner-up, 10.7 seconds behind the 19-year-old Italian who replaced him at Mercedes last year, and embraced his mother after his best finish for Ferrari in a regular grand prix. Red Bull's Max Verstappen was a close third to take his team's first podium of the season.
Antonelli increased his lead over Russell from 18 to 43 points after five grands prix, all won by Mercedes, and three Saturday sprints. "It was very close and the (retirement) was a shame for him as it would have been a very cool battle. But we will take it. Another win," said Antonelli, the first Italian since Alberto Ascari in 1952 to win four in a row.
"When I was on my own, I was trying to really manage the tyres as some graining started to appear on the front-left tyre." Antonelli is the first driver in the history of F1 to take his first four wins consecutively and his podium was the 300th by a Mercedes driver since they returned to Formula One as a works team in 2010.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc finished fourth as the last unlapped driver with Isack Hadjar fifth for Red Bull and Franco Colapinto continuing to score big points with sixth for Alpine. Liam Lawson was seventh for Racing Bulls, ahead of Alpine's Pierre Gasly, Williams' Carlos Sainz and Haas's Oliver Bearman.
Mercedes now lead Ferrari by 72 points in the constructors' standings. (Writing by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Ken Ferris and Ed Osmond)
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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