Mercedes claimed its first Formula 1 victory of the 2025 season courtesy of George Russell at the Canadian Grand Prix - but had to wait until Sunday evening to be sure it was keeping it.
Red Bull protested Russell over his driving behind the safety car at the finish, suggesting he had been erratic and not kept within the required distance of the safety car - intimating that Russell had done so to try to goad Max Verstappen into illegally passing him and earning the penalty point/s that would trigger a race ban. That protest was rejected so Russell's win stands.
The safety car was called because Lando Norris had collided with McLaren team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri. Norris was given a five-second time penalty for this but that makes no difference to his result because he wasn't running at the finish - though he covered enough distance to still be a classified finisher so the penalty is not converted to a grid drop at the next race as might otherwise be the case.
The stewards were certainly busy after the race. Kimi Antonelli (who finished third), Piastri (fourth), Charles Leclerc (fifth), Esteban Ocon (ninth), Carlos Sainz (10th) Pierre Gasly (15th) and Lance Stroll (17th) all received warnings for passing other cars on the slowing-down lap after the finish - which would normally be fine but the safety car was technically still out due to Norris's damaged car being at the trackside.
Ocon also escaped punishment for alleged erratic driving in the pit exit which was put down to reacting to a notification of yellow flags, and no action was taken against his 11th-placed Haas team-mate Ollie Bearman for not correctly following the race director's instructions for rejoining after going off at a chicane amid a battle with Franco Colapinto.
Below you'll find the final race result:
1 George Russell (Mercedes)
2 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
3 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
4 Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
5 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
6 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
7 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
8 Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)
9 Esteban Ocon (Haas)
10 Carlos Sainz (Williams)
11 Ollie Bearman (Haas)
12 Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull)
13 Franco Colapinto (Alpine)
14 Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)
15 Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
16 Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)
17 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
18 Lando Norris (McLaren) [5-second penalty]
DNF: Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls), Alex Albon (Williams)
