It was a successful day all round for Mercedes with 18-year-old rookie Kimi Antonelli finishing third for his first podium in Formula 1.
Antonelli – at 18 years and 294 days old – becomes the third-youngest podium finisher of all time behind Verstappen and Lance Stroll.
Starting fourth, he overtook championship leader Piastri at the start and dealt with pressure from the Australian in the closing stages of the race.
“It was so stressful but super happy,” Antonelli said. “The last stint I pushed a bit too hard behind Max and I killed a bit of the front left and I struggled a bit at the end, but I’m really happy to bring the podium home.”
“This track has been good for us and the car has been incredible all weekend. Hopefully we can carry the same momentum into the next few races.”
Russell said Mercedes performed so strongly at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve because a “smooth” track and “low-speed” corners suited the characteristics of the car.
Next on the calendar is Austria from 27-29 June and the Red Bull Ring will be a very different challenge to Montreal.
“It’s going to be on old tarmac, more high-speed corners and it’s going to be hot as well,” Russell said.
“We’ve got three things working against us. I’m not going to sit here and say Mercedes is back because we were the quickest team here last year but we didn’t win the championship. We know where we need to improve.”
