Russell takes last-gasp pole after clashing with Antonelli in Canada sprint

Antonelli was told to calm down by race engineer Peter “Bono” Bonnington after his outburst over the radio after the first incident. But when he carried on complaining, he earned a rebuke from his team principal Toto Wolff, who told him to “concentrate on the driving”.

Then, at the end of the race, after Antonelli went off track a third time trying to pass Norris and was looking to vent his spleen again on the cool-down lap, Wolff shut him down a second time. “Kimi, now is not the time to talk about this. We will talk about this later, not on the radio.”

The two Mercedes men had a brief handshake after getting out of their cars, but it promised to be an awkward debrief.

Sky Sports F1 pundit Martin Brundle said it was no surprise to see the two come to blows given they are fighting for the title. Russell is under pressure this weekend because Antonelli has won the last three races to take the championship lead.

“It was always going to happen. Inevitable. Kimi lost his head a little bit but he’ll learn from this,” was Brundle’s verdict.

The fighting at the front was the highlight of an entertaining sprint race in general. Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton looked as if he would take fourth spot for most of the race, only to clip the “Wall of Champions” late in the race. Hamilton was then passed by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, losing position, which allowed Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc to pass him as well.