Antonelli on McLaren duel: “I didn’t know who to follow.” Verstappen jokes: “Did you stay stuck in the middle?”. Antonelli joked about not knowing which McLaren to slipstream during the chaotic final laps of the Canadian GP.

Between two rivals…
Sunday’s Canadian GP saved the best for the final part of the race. In the last laps, a spectacular train formed for third, fourth, and fifth places, with the two McLaren cars battling each other while simultaneously chasing Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli for the third step of the podium. The outcome of this fight is well known: the two papaya cars made contact, with Lando Norris rear-ending Oscar Piastri as he tried to squeeze into a nonexistent gap, resulting in his premature retirement from the race.

After the race, Kimi Antonelli, chatting behind the podium with George Russell and Max Verstappen, joked about the challenge against the papaya cars, revealing that he tried to “study” his positioning on track in those hectic moments to better defend himself against the MCL39s. “I was a bit unsure about who to slipstream,” the young Mercedes driver commented, reviewing the highlights of the McLaren battle.

“They both had DRS and I was wondering, ‘do I go right or left?’” Kimi Antonelli added. At this point, Max Verstappen couldn’t resist joking with the young Italian teammate: “So what did you do in the end? You stayed stuck in the middle?” the Dutchman quipped, laughing.

More seriously, shortly after, the top three agreed on the importance of the extended wall added in recent years along the main straight, preventing cars from risking cutting across the grass and possibly rejoining the track from the opposite side. This was yet another confirmation of the fundamental safety improvements continuously made by F1 over the years.