P1 with Matt and Tommy - Reaction to Canadian GP sprint race

Episode Date: May 23, 2026

We've waited a long time for a truly controversial moment this F1 season... and we've finally had it! Join us as we recap one of the best sprint races ever.Our brand new live show 'Super Podding' is coming to the UK and Amsterdam this autumn! Get your tickets here: http:/tix.to/p1liveSign up to our Patreon for just $5 a month! You'll get access to every P1 episode ad-free, extended versions of every 2026 race review, early access to tickets & merch, and access to our Discord server where you can chat with us and other F1 fans! Click here to sign up now: http://patreon.com/mattp1tommyFollow us on socials! You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, YouTube and TikTokP1 with Matt and Tommy is the world's biggest F1 podcast. Subscribe for new podcasts around every single race throughout the 2026 Formula 1 season! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everybody and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. We're going to talk about some Formula One today. Formula One has come back with a bang. And this sprint race... A wheel bang. Oh, good one, Tommy. You're on fire this weekend. I honestly can't wait to talk about this because it's felt like a while since we've had a dramatic sort of pretty much 50-50 incident to discuss.

and some people will be on one side, some will be on the other, but that's the beauty of Formula One and their very vague rules. Yeah, I'm hyped. I'm very excited for this one. There's a lot of strong opinions that I've got about this. And yeah, it was just a brilliant, has to be said at the start. Just what a brilliant, brilliant sprint race. Really, really good. Years gone by, we've always complained that the sprint doesn't really do anything

in the oldest whole position because it's kind of the first phase of the race. That did not happen. My word, was it brilliant? It certainly was. So, let's get into it and start with a question from P1 patron member, Blackson. How justified was Kimmy's anger at George for that first incident? The ones after were clearly his own doing, but the first one was on the line. We're going straight into it.

There's no fluff. None of this sort of stuff. We're going straight into the incident. Unless you want to talk about Stroll's P-16 and the investigation first? Great idea, because that was. one actually is slightly more important for the championship and the narrative around it. No, it's the Russell versus Antonelli incident. And I have watched this a thousand times over and over and over.

And I love, by the way, how we joked after Miami about what we thought were instilled team orders about don't go anywhere near your teammate because of how much room they gave each other into term one at Miami. No more. None of that at all when it's for the win, even if it's a sprint and there's eight points on the line and seven for second, they will leave one millimeter if that. I think that Kimmy was absolutely justified to be angry. You know, we have to also take into account he's a 19 year old second season trying to fight for a world championship. And he attempted a move, which was audacious. I think that is the first word you could use for it. Round the outside at turn one on your championship rival.

Fair play. And teammate, yeah. Yes. But two, it was measured to a degree. Like, he was not going off the track. He was staying on it. He was going for the more difficult move because there are different rules around going up the inside compared to round the outside. You need to be further ahead.

So essentially, let me actually break this down for some people that maybe aren't completely up to speed. So if you are trying to make a move down the inside, you have to have your front axle at least alongside the mirror of the other car before and at the apex. That's the rule there. So it's not as far alongside. For around the outside, you have to have your front axle, so your wheel essentially, ahead of their front axle at the apex. So I have been looking at these videos. And I don't know if we're living in a simulation, Tommy, because when I watch the onboard of Kimmy Antonelli, it looks like he is ahead. When I look at the offboard, it looks like George has got to the apex first.

Are we living in two different simulations? I don't know, but what I will say on this incident, and this is what I feel very strongly about, the fact that this wasn't even investigated is absolutely insane. like genuinely an unbelievably ridiculous stewarding call. I understand why Kimmy was fuming. Whether or whether you think George gets a penalty or not, and whether it should be, the fact that it's not even investigated is absolutely bonkers.

He is, Kimmy is in control of his car. He's going around the outside exactly what you said with that kind of, you know, we've seen incidents, particularly with a certain Max Verstappen, and I'll say this is a fan of him, where you can kind of cheat the rules a little bit because you can dive into the apex, and this is what we've said many times

of why we didn't like these rules about who's ahead at the apex because you can kind of almost dive to get there and sort the problem out. However, Kimmy was completely in control of his car. He was making the corner absolutely fine. He was well in control, ahead of Russell, in my opinion, if you look at certain moments.

You can pause many screen shots of the onboard and see that sometimes he's ahead, sometimes he's not. But in that kind of apex, which if you're counting that as the curb on the inside, it's very, very close, sometimes he's ahead, sometimes he's not. So how that wasn't even an investigation is insane to me, absolutely insane. Like it's a ridiculous decision from the stewards.

Like, what are they doing? And I love, you can tell that we're back and we've had a dramatic incident. It's been a while. You've jumped ahead to the second question. So why don't we talk about that? It's from Anastasia W. And that was around the no investigation at all. And more to the point around whether, you know, because it's a team battle, does it mean that there's different rules?

No. The stewards still work no matter who is fighting who. I'm sure that there are levels to it where teams can be slightly more vocal. about it and try and push the agenda. But in terms of their role, they have to look at everything. It doesn't matter if it's teammates or not. So it's a bit like the context. We've had this discussion before, haven't we, about the context of a move and how you

kind of have to take the context of whether it's this, whether it's that. And I think it's exactly the same as when it's a team, teammate, right? You have to judge it as if it's just two cars, because at the end of the day, it is two cars, two cars racing for the win. It is. So I can't believe that, because it's that process, isn't it, of noted and then it's investigated. I didn't even see them take a note. Like, where are their pens?

Did they not have a pen and paper to take a note for this particular incident? Were they too busy? Sat back going, this is awesome, Formula ones, but oh God, no, with the stewards. Like that, it felt like that. Because how that has not been noted and investigated, by the way, I think that was 100% worthy of an investigation, purely because I have watched that. video in slow motion in with picture form and everything and I can't fully decide which way I want to lean. I have an idea. But the fact that a lot of us are sat here going, that was pretty close, is what is worthy of an investigation. Yes, definitely. Like if it's a penalty, if we're

considering the fact that if someone said, I think George Russell should have got a penalty, if someone said that to me, I'd be like, I can kind of understand why you think that. Because He's squeezed Kimmy Antonelli. He's not given him racing room when Antonelli was ahead going around the outside and in control of his car. Now, I'm not saying it should be a penalty, but you can kind of see the argument for it. So then no investigation thing is just bonkers.

I'm sorry, it's just ridiculous. It really is. Let's now not sort of skirt around our opinion anymore and get to the question from underscore R2F1. Who's getting the slap on the wrists? Kimmy or George? Now before we get into that, because there's more than one incident to talk about, let's decide if there was ever an investigation what would have happened.

For me, I think it is so marginally in the favour of George not getting a penalty that that's the way I sit, just purely because I've looked at many angles, looked at the rules and the fact that the Axel has to be ahead of, Kimmy's axle has to be ahead of George's axle and it genuinely is centimetres away from it being one way or the other but that's the way I'm leaning because round the outside moves

we know that in Formula One that hardly ever happens of course it turns into the inside but that doesn't matter this is a turn one move at this stage so for me I am going to lock in racing incident but my God was it close to not being one I think there definitely should have been an investigation and oh it's so difficult because I keep like you I keep watching it and there's such an argument for the fact that Kimmy is alongside I would rather not see penalties and things for given stuff for moments like that but I think George was a little bit naughty like Kimmy said and knows what he's doing because Kimmy was in control of his car I think he's very lucky to get away with it personally and

You mentioned, like, who's getting the slap on the wrist. I didn't know if this was a question more in the lines of, like, for Toto Wolf, basically, and whether, you know, because I think if that's the case, we talk about the stewards. I think one thing that I actually saw that I wanted to mention about the whole teammate battle just from that previous question as well is that I saw a thing that really kind of resonated with me what Bernie Collins said and completely agree with her that she said if that if George Russell was in a McLaren or any other car Mercedes would be on the radio nonstop complaining that Kimi Antonelli was hard done by it should have been a penalty for the car in front. Absolutely. I think no one can tell me that that wouldn't have

happened. Toto would have been on the radio going, he's pushed him off there, it's not enough space, and that definitely would have happened. So because it's teammates, I don't think it matters. But in terms of like a slap on the wrist between what Toto's saying, I think actually, both of them are going to have a word. I don't think it's, I know like Kimmy's made the audacious move and I think actually Kimmy will get more of a telling off, I think, because he went again for a very audacious move, which the second one was never on. That's nothing on Russell at all.

It was just a, I think Kimmy saw red after what happened previously and went for it. I think Toto's going to be very annoyed that the fact that Kimmy was airing his frustrations publicly on the radio. I can understand why, because he was very annoyed about it. But I also think George will get a bit of, you know, they'll sit them both down. I don't think they're going to play favourites and Toto will basically say to both of them like

you can't be doing that and as a Formula One fan please continue because I want to see it. Yeah I believe that George will get a slap on the wrist for term one because it's his responsibility for those two to not crash and it was very very close to that happening and Kimmy did the right thing and bailed out at a time where as much as within the rules

Kimmy's move wasn't outrageous was it wasn't like he's out of control it was perfectly legitimate It would have been, if George had given him space, and this is the whole thing that I really don't like about racing rules and just modern Formula One in general, I know it's ironic coming from a Maxda Sapin fan, but like, if George gives him room there, and we've seen this with many incidents, years gone by, we're talking about that as one of the best moves we've seen in a long time. It's brilliant, it's incredible. We're talking about it for years to come and saying, wow, welcome Kimmy Antonelli, future world champion. believable. But because his teammate hasn't given him room, he has to basically bail and he's getting mad on the radio. So it's frustrating because, you know, there's a, there's a running joke if you're, if you use things like Twitter a lot about kind of ethical wheel, I think people call it, and how maybe some of the more old school drivers like Fernando Alonzo and Lewis Hamilton are a bit more fair with the fact that they give each other room and they kind of like to swap positions back

and we don't normally see that kind of racing, whereas nowadays, this is just unfortunately the norm where people just push. It is literally like Vestappen has changed the game for whatever you think better or worse with the overtaking rules because he, like Michael Schumacher before him, has just basically gone,

okay, I will read this rulebook, and now I will drive around this and what the rules are, and that's how you push the limits. It means that unfortunately you have these incidents where you're not getting the side-by-sides moments because they know they can squeeze each other and they've got runoff and things. It is a shame because I think in that situation I would love to see Kimmy be given room because we want to see side-by-side action. But the drivers are always out for themselves and they know these rules. You can see it in that Turn 1 incident that George breaks a little bit earlier than Kimmy. Kimmy sort of rolls the car in a bit more as well.

to get alongside. And you can see George sort of bleed off the brakes to, or at least roll the car to try and get to the apex first to then be able to squeeze Kimmy off, which is like, ah, you know, that's not what I want to see as racing, but that is, that is what is Formula One these days. Did you see as well, sorry, did you see as well that in the big, I can't believe this is happening in the big 2026, that George's camera was facing the other way as well during that incident. so you can't even see if he's opened the steering to do it on purpose or whatever. So we can't even, again, that's probably not going to help with the investigation. If I was to think back to other instance where we've had on boards of that,

you wouldn't necessarily see that. It would just be a case of more about the speed that he's carrying. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't think we would have seen a George Russell 180 turn to the right for Antonelli to be able to give a penalty. But I do think the stewards have seen the offboard and gone. Oh, that's fine. but the onboard looks a lot, lot closer.

Let us know what you think in whatever place you're listening. I would love to see your comments of whether that deserved the penalty or not. But to finalise my point on this, George is getting a slap on the wrist for term one, in my opinion. I think Kimmy is getting a slap on the wrist for everything else he did. And based how he handled the situation. Yeah, how he handled it. The move that he did where he went over the grass was aggressive

and even the way he rejoined was very close to ending badly. And then had another one on Lando and I think he'd like kind of lost his head a little bit at that point. I think he can kind of be quite lucky that in that incident he only lost two points to Russell. For sure. Yeah and these are the moments right. These are the moments we speak about. This is the question

marks about Antonelli and how he will cope in these big pressure moments where maybe things don't go his way. Maybe we feel sorry for him in the sense of he should have been given a bit more room in term one but it's how you bounce back from that and thankfully for him P3 is not a disaster in a sprint but I think we've

we've written a line in the Russell versus Antonelli Law, which I'm looking forward to seeing how that one unfolds for the rest of the season. Let's go to another question now, away from the big incident. It's from Craig Tilly 95. Is the McLaren faster in race trim than what they let on in sprint qually?

I guess so you still wonder how much of it is the fact that once Lando got into that kind of boost mode, you're kind of getting a bit of a DRS train style with the boost, which just quickly on that, I'm not going to criticize it because I actually think it was fantastic racing to watch them close. It felt like they were close. I understand if you watch that and maybe feel the frustrations of,

oh, they're not passing each other, but I think it's a lot more exciting to have them racing that close for lap after lap and knowing that there is a genuine opportunity to overtake than it just being kind of, you know, a slam dunk pass with DRS. So, yeah, McLaren, I think this was just the fact that Lando kind of, because they left them for dead. Like they left Lando for dead at the start. It was crazy how much the Mercedes checked out.

And I think before they started fighting, we were talking on the watch long, weren't we, of going, season's over, between two Merck's, they're miles clear. This is, we're kind of getting vibes of Bahrain, 2014, scene where Hamilton and Rosberg fought and they were miles quicker than the field. But as soon as Antonelli and Russell kind of squabbled

it brought Lando into it and then he could stick with them. And I think to give Lando in particular his credit he was absolutely fantastic that race had amazing pace and again for the second weekend in a row

has looked very very quick and able to fight for a win. I think he'd deserves an huge amount of credit for the way Lando-loaded Drovey looked very, very quick. Yeah, I agree. I think that when we get to, I mean, literally a few hours time for qualifying, but the race tomorrow more specifically, Mercedes should have an edge.

When we actually look at the tires that the team started on as well, Antonelli and Russell were on six-lap-old mediums starting the race, whereas everyone around them were on fresh mediums. I am wondering whether those laps of the. that the two Mercedes drivers had done previously, almost aided them at the start of the race, enabled them to build a bit of tire temperature better because remember as well, Canada this weekend,

they're struggling a little bit more to get the tire temperature in. So I do wonder if that was a factor in terms of actually an advantage for Mercedes in that initial phase, but then as we got later on, of course, with Kimmy fighting hard, locking up aggressively, you're then getting to a stage where Lando has bedded in his tyres and has fresher tires, so had the advantage in sort of maybe the two-thirds of that sprint race.

So I am interested to see when we get to Sunday, everybody's got the same sort of tire age, what the gap will be. I think Mercedes do have an advantage, but I don't think it's anywhere near as big as maybe we had been scared of. So that's a positive, and although it is a short lap, and ideally it wouldn't be seven-tenths a lap anyway

because of how short the lap is, The fact that it might be one or two tenths is promising. So fingers crossed, Mercedes aren't just romping clear on Sunday, especially when Antonelli and Russell are side by side for one corner and then one of them's pushed off. Let's go to another question. People on Patreon member Grubbly, are cars that can follow closely for a long period of time

a good omen for tomorrow's race? Yes, I think so. Firstly, I want to say that it felt like Formula One, similar to Miami in the sense of there weren't many times I was wondering about lack of battery super clipping, etc, etc.

There was a moment where Lando lost a heap of time going over the start finish line which was where Antonelli was right on the back of him. I think that was the only time where I properly noticed of like oh god, yeah,

no, they do have a big old battery in these cars, don't they? But apart from that, the boost I think worked to a degree. The fact that there were three cars is sort of like a, it's a bad amount. You kind of, if you want to have racing, it'll be just Antonelli and Russell,

like we saw earlier on in the race. When it's three, and perhaps where you have a slightly slower car in the middle, that's when you get this sort of the boost train. Boost train. So if we do have two closer matched cars or two teammates, then I think we'll get better racing,

maybe even a bit more yo-yoing, which I don't mind if they're side-by-side and fighting into hairpins and stuff like that. Cool, all good. So yeah, I'm really excited for Sunday's race. And if we have a sprinkling in the air as well, as I throw to you, Tommy, I'm going to check the weather. Then we could be in for a banger. I hope so, because, yeah, that was an unbelievable sprint.

I do worry the fact that, you know, had we get the same with Mercedes, and if Toto's told them both off, they're kind of lying astern. And maybe not taking risks is what kind of made that race so great, where it brought the McLaren into it. But even further down the order, you had eyes of litter, which makes me think it's like 90% chance. Well, mate, sorry, I just looked at this. This is Montreal BBC weather. So I'm assuming reasonably, I don't know how far the circuit is away from Montreal Centre, which is maybe where this weather forecast is basing it from. But I'm looking.

And from 9am all the way through to 9pm, apart from maybe one hour where it's at 78%, chance of rain. It's in the 90s and 100s. What? Wow. So unless the circuit is 200 miles away from where Montreal is measured here for BBC weather, then it's light rain and a gentle breeze. So we could have a very different Sunday.

Yeah, I mean, it would be a completely different scenario if it rains, which is good. I'd take it because, my God, Max was just nowhere that race, speaking of. you know very much in the fourth best car just kind of miles clear of the midfield but unable to challenge for the kind of top positions but rain would be fascinating i think talking about how the cars can follow closely i think that is very nice um hope it continues of course it's early in the regulations and i've already been reading about how teams have been trying loopholes and things that makes it harder to follow already. But fingers crossed, you know, it continues because it was great to see essentially

three cars be able to follow half a second. Like, it was exciting to watch, even if they weren't overtaking, just having essentially like the three leaders just pushing flat out, you know, just going for it. It was awesome. Certainly was. Another question from P1 Patreon member Sophie. A Cadillac in P12 is Checo the Superior. a Cadillac driver now?

Yes. Well, he actually finished P-11 on the road. And then 14th. Yeah, yeah, exactly. He's got a penalty. Have you seen the incident? No, I have for that, actually. So it's with Perez and his old buddy, Liam Lawson,

who I've got history. What a shocker. And Lawson tries to go, kind of goes for that move where he's kind of got a good run on him, into the chicane, and Perez just goes, see you later. The squeeze. The squeeze. Which Perez is a very aggressive driver anyway, but I think that's history.

Yeah, it's history there. That aside, though, Perez has done a fantastic job this year and needs, you know, his plaudits because he has taken that Cadillac into really, really strong positions. I am going to say that everyone that just slandered me for daring to say that he'd be even remotely good this year. You can all apologise because he's done a really, really good job. And I think... I never slandered you. I just defended my goat, Bottas.

No, it's fine. Yeah, yeah. People were just so... Just couldn't believe that Peres could possibly do a decent job. And he's done a very good job so far. So, yeah, I think it's a good omen for Cadillac. I think Bottas will get there as well. And I think their progress that they've made already is really, you know, a huge amount of credit.

The fact that Peres could be up there fighting the other teams. Yes, he was on the soft tire. made it work. He made it work. He did make it work. And I thought all year, maybe even if Aston Catchup, Cadillac would just be too far from that midfield. They're in the midfield. They're fighting them.

It's great to see. For sure. I'm interested to see if they can translate that to a Sunday Grand Prix where strategy gets involved and that sort of stuff. But yeah, Perry did a brilliant job. Absolutely phenomenal. To be running in P-11, fighting off all the drivers, obviously squeezing Lawson. causing a penalty, which put him down to 14th. But overall, really, really solid from Perez.

And it's exciting times for Cadillac. It really is. To see this improvement, five races in is amazing work from the entire team. So it's awesome to see. Another question. People on picture member, Anastasia W. Did the TV director forget how to direct after all these breaks? The start of the race feels messier than usual.

My, I guess, criticism was, there was some weird choices of camera angles. I will say that. I don't know how much the director has a choice of which camera to take from certain cars, but of course the Russell rear camera choice was obviously because they thought that they could just monitor Antonelli behind. And then, sadly, we then had an instant out of it, so we couldn't see exactly what Russell was up to at the apex from inside the car. We saw a double mini box, which, to be honest with you, I'm not going to go off on one because they are trying things that we've asked for ages, right? So as much as there were moments to improve, like there was a time where I genuinely think we were both screaming about why are we looking at this, we should be looking at the leaders. But at the same time, the fact that they have implemented replays with a live box, that's what we've asked for for ages. They're now implementing it. Yes, there are times when we'd rather have the big box being live, especially when it was Antonelli flying over the grass. And that sort of stuff. So I'm not going to go on

off on one because I know where we were and where we are now. But yeah, there's still things to iron out. But it's because it's a crazy sprint race. So I am forgiving when we have action happening, left, right and center. We have the top three separated by a second. We have the next three separated by a second and a half. So overall, I still left the entire experience feeling very happy. Agreed. I won't, I'll start with the bad and end with the good. So we end on a nice positive note, soon as I say this is the final question. The bad was, unfortunately, the desperation to show replays too quickly. This is something they've done with start replays, but how quickly they decided to throw to the incident, which I get. It's a moment. It's a

massive incident between Antonelli and Russell, but the fact that they were still racing each other, and then we had the second incident in a mini box because they were showing a replay of the first. I'm sorry, if you missed it and, you know, you can watch it later. Just it happens like people should be watching live sport and you should be watching and, you know, we all saw it live and they can show a replay later. Replays are important. So that was quite frustrating. I think they need to get a bit less trigger happy on the replays.

But I will echo what you said in the improvements that they've made have been much better. The fact that they know that when they're showing start replays, let's see the main action in a mini box, double mini box because there's so much action now in Formula One is absolutely insane how we're at that level where last year nothing happened past turn one and now we're getting two mini box boxes during a sprint of all things. I will say that the double mini box was the same fight. Let's not say they were showing two different fights.

No, but I mean they could have, they could have because there were incidents going up and down, you know, the order and stuff. So, yeah, they have got a lot better at it with understanding a few little moments here and there, but it's definitely not easy. And I can sympathize with them just because of how damn good that sprint was. and how much action was going on all the time. Although I will say, you know, one pretty stern criticism from me is that we didn't see enough Lance Stroll on boards. The home hero, yeah.

If they could up that for next time, because we're still wondering whether Lance is going to make it out for sprint quality. So that's a running joke from the watch long. So anyway, that is it, everybody. We will be live, well, literally now, maybe, whenever this goes out, because we have to watch along for Maine qualifying, which is another podcast. If you want to listen to more, Matt and Tommy,

then that will be coming your way as well as, of course, tomorrow, the Canadian Grand Prix live on Twitch and YouTube. Come and join us there, and of course every bit of content straight after as well. Tommy, final thoughts, please. Final thoughts are that I wish we were having another race immediately, even though qualifying will be great.

But I need to see Antonelli and Russell going wheel to wheel again immediately. So, yeah, bring on quality. there at least. Sign me up. We will see you very soon. Lots to love to take care. Bye. Goodbye. P1 is a Stack production and part of the Acast Creator Network.