Antonelli takes fourth win in a row after Russell retires in Canada

MONTREAL, May 24 : Formula One championship leader Kimi Antonelli took his fourth win in a row on Sunday after a power unit failure forced Mercedes teammate and title rival George Russell out of the Canadian Grand Prix.

Russell, starting on pole, had fought for the lead with Antonelli in a thrilling wheel-to-wheel battle before coming to a halt by the side of the track on the 30th of 68 laps at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

"Not the way I wanted to win. It was meant to be a good fight with George but we will take it," said Antonelli.

Lewis Hamilton finished runner-up, 10.768 seconds behind the 19-year-old Italian who replaced him at Mercedes last year, and embraced his mother after his best finish for Ferrari in a regular grand prix.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen was a close third, overtaken by Hamilton in the closing laps, to take his team's first podium of the season.

TEENAGER NOW 43 POINTS CLEAR OF RUSSELL

Antonelli increased his lead over Russell from 18 to 43 points after five grands prix, all won by Mercedes, and three Saturday sprints.

He is the first Italian since Alberto Ascari in 1952 to win four in a row and also the first driver in the history of F1 to take his first four wins consecutively. His podium was the 300th by a Mercedes driver since they returned to Formula One as a works team in 2010.  

Russell, who has suffered bad luck already this season but had won the Saturday sprint, was lost for words after his hopes vanished at a stroke.

"Just everything turned off all of a sudden," he said. "Just went into the corner, engine stopped, no electronics, no proper braking.

"I'm pretty damned frustrated with what's happened but what more can I do?"

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc finished an unhappy fourth, despite a