The 2026 Canadian Grand Prix (officially known as the Formula 1 Lenovo Grand Prix du Canada 2026) was a scheduled Formula One motor race which was held on 24 May 2026 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was the fifth round of the 2026 Formula One World Championship and the third of six Grands Prix in the season to utilise the sprint format.
George Russell (Mercedes) converted pole position for the sprint event to a victory, following a short battle for the lead with Kimi Antonelli. Antonelli would eventually fall to third behind Lando Norris (McLaren). Russell also took pole position for the main race, where he and Antonelli again battled in the opening stages before a battery failure led to his first retirement since the 2024 British Grand Prix. Antonelli inherited the lead and the race win, taking his fourth consecutive victory. The podium was completed by Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) and Max Verstappen (Red Bull), the latter taking his and Red Bull's first podium of the season, and Ford's first podium since Jordan Grand Prix's victory at the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Background The event was held at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Île Notre-Dame in Montreal for the 45th time in the circuit's history, across the weekend of 22–24 May. The Grand Prix was the fifth round of the 2026 Formula One World Championship and the 55th running of the Canadian Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship. It was also the third of six Grands Prix in the season to utilise the sprint format and the first time that the Canadian Grand Prix featured it.
Championship standings before the race Going into the weekend, Kimi Antonelli led the Drivers' Championship with 100 points, 20 points ahead of Mercedes teammate George Russell in second, and a further 21 points ahead of Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) in third. Mercedes, with 180 points, led the Constructors' Championship from Ferrari and McLaren, who were second and third with 110 and 94 points, respectively.
Entrants
The drivers and teams were the same as the season entry list with no additional stand-in drivers for the race.
Tyre choices
Tyre supplier Pirelli brought the C3, C4, and C5 tyre compounds—the softest three in their range (designated hard, medium, and soft, respectively)—for teams to use at the event.
Practice The sole free practice session was held on 22 May 2026, at 12:30 local time (UTC–4), and was topped by Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) ahead of his teammate George Russell and Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari).
Sprint qualifying Sprint qualifying was held on 22 May 2026, at 16:30 local time (UTC–4), and determined the starting grid order of the sprint.
Sprint qualifying report Mercedes' George Russell took pole position for the sprint, ahead of teammate Kimi Antonelli and McLaren's Lando Norris. A red flag was observed at the end of SQ1 due to a crash for Fernando Alonso. While Alonso progressed to SQ2, Aston Martin's first SQ2 appearance of the year, he was unable to set a further lap time. Alexander Albon and Liam Lawson, who both experienced car-related issues following the earlier practice session, sat out qualifying and made up the final two spots on the grid.
Sprint qualifying classification DriverConstructorSprintgridSQ1SQ2SQ3163 George RussellMercedes 1:14.772 1:13.026 1:12.9651212 Kimi AntonelliMercedes 1:14.010 1:13.551 1:13.033231 Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes 1:14.265 1:13.957 1:13.2803481 Oscar PiastriMcLaren-Mercedes 1:14.665 1:13.858 1:13.2994544 Lewis HamiltonFerrari 1:13.889 1:13.465 1:13.3265616 Charles LeclercFerrari 1:15.006 1:13.554 1:13.410673 Max Verstappen 1:14.028 1:14.412 1:13.504786 Isack HadjarRed Bull Racing-Red Bull Ford 1:14.541 1:14.239 1:13.6058941 Arvid LindbladRacing Bulls-Red Bull Ford 1:14.517 1:14.140 1:13.73791055 Carlos Sainz Jr.Atlassian Williams-Mercedes 1:15.500 1:14.547 1:14.536101127 Nico HülkenbergAudi 1:15.673 1:14.595N/A11125 Gabriel BortoletoAudi 1:15.801 1:14.627N/A121343Alpine-Mercedes 1:15.484 1:14.702N/A131431 Esteban OconHaas-Ferrari 1:15.760 1:14.928N/A141587 Oliver BearmanHaas-Ferrari 1:15.872 1:15.197N/A1614 Fernando Alonso 1:15.760No timeN/A151711 Sergio PérezCadillac-Ferrari1:16.002N/AN/A161818 Lance Stroll1:16.354N/AN/A171910 Pierre GaslyAlpine-Mercedes1:16.642N/AN/A2077 Valtteri BottasCadillac-Ferrari1:16.866N/AN/A107% time: 1:19.061—23 Alexander AlbonAtlassian Williams-MercedesNo timeN/AN/A—30 Liam LawsonRacing Bulls-Red Bull FordNo timeN/AN/A18Source: Notes – Oliver Bearman, Pierre Gasly and Valtteri Bottas qualified 15th, 19th and 20th, respectively, but they were required to start the sprint from the pit lane as their cars were modified under parc fermé conditions. – Alexander Albon and Liam Lawson failed to set a time during sprint qualifying. They were permitted to race in the sprint at the stewards' discretion. Albon started the sprint from the pit lane as his car was modified under parc fermé conditions.
Sprint The sprint was held on 23 May 2026, at 12:00 local time (UTC–4), and was run for 23 laps.
Sprint report Oliver Bearman (Haas), Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Valtteri Bottas (Cadillac), Alexander Albon (Williams), and Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) started from the pit lane. Stroll, Sergio Perez and Bottas, opted to start on the soft compound tyre, while the rest of the field opted for medium compounds. At the race start, Russell held first into turn 1, with Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli close behind. McLaren's Lando Norris held third, while his teammate Oscar Piastri was overtaken for fourth by Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton. In the midfield, Audi's Nico Hülkenberg ran off the track, losing four positions. Stroll was also noted for a potential start infringement. During lap 5, Antonelli and Russell went wheel to wheel at turn 2, and Antonelli ran off the track and lost second to Norris. Red Bull's Isack Hadjar pitted with an engine issue, before returning to the track a few laps after. For the remainder of the sprint, the top three remained close, with Russell finishing first ahead of Norris and Antonelli. They were followed by Piastri, nione seconds back, who had overtaken Hamilton on the final lap for fourth. His teammate Charles Leclerc took advantage of this move to progress to the fifth position, with Hamilton finishing in sixth. Max Verstappen and Arvid Lindblad respectively finished seventh and eighth to round out the point scorers.
Sprint classification DriverConstructorTime/RetiredPoints1 63 George Russell Mercedes 23 28:50.951 1 82 1 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 23 +1.272 3 7312 Kimi AntonelliMercedes 23 +1.843 26481 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 23 +9.797 45516 Charles LeclercFerrari 23 +9.929 64644 Lewis HamiltonFerrari 23 +10.545 5 373 23 +15.935 72841 Arvid LindbladRacing Bulls-Red Bull Ford 23 +29.710 9 1943Alpine-Mercedes 23 +31.621 131055 Carlos Sainz Jr. Atlassian Williams-Mercedes 23 +36.793 101130 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Red Bull Ford 23 +1:01.344 18125 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 23 +1:01.814 121331 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 23 +1:04.209 141411 Sergio Pérez Cadillac-Ferrari 23 +1:10.402 1615 27 Nico Hülkenberg Audi 23 +1:12.158 1116 18 Lance Stroll 22 +1 lap 17 77 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 22 +1 lap1887 Oliver BearmanHaas-Ferrari 22 +1 lap19 23 Alexander AlbonAtlassian Williams-Mercedes 22 +1 lap2010 Pierre GaslyAlpine-Mercedes 22 +1 lap216 Isack HadjarRed Bull Racing-Red Bull Ford 20 +3 laps 814 Fernando Alonso 15Engine 15Source: Notes – Sergio Pérez finished 11th, but received a ten-second time penalty for forcing Liam Lawson off the track. – Nico Hülkenberg finished 13th, but received a ten-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. – Lance Stroll started from the pit lane due to issues with the front suspension.
Qualifying Qualifying was held on 23 May 2026, at 16:00 local time (UTC–4), and determined the starting grid order for the main race.
Qualifying classification DriverConstructorQ1Q2Q3163 George RussellMercedes1:13.9531:13.0791:12.5781212 Kimi AntonelliMercedes1:13.3801:13.0761:12.646231 Lando NorrisMcLaren-Mercedes1:13.5031:13.0491:12.7293481 Oscar PiastriMcLaren-Mercedes1:13.5591:13.2851:12.7814544 Lewis HamiltonFerrari1:13.7671:13.0411:12.868563 Max Verstappen1:14.0671:13.4791:12.907676 Isack HadjarRed Bull Racing-Red Bull Ford1:13.6541:12.9751:12.9357816 Charles LeclercFerrari1:13.8251:13.4961:12.9768941 Arvid LindbladRacing Bulls-Red Bull Ford1:13.8951:13.5481:13.28091043Alpine-Mercedes1:14.4661:13.8571:13.697101127 Nico HülkenbergAudi1:14.5621:13.886N/A111230 Liam LawsonRacing Bulls-Red Bull Ford1:14.3461:13.897N/A12135Audi1:14.7751:14.071N/A131410 Pierre GaslyAlpine-Mercedes1:14.6981:14.187N/A141555 Carlos Sainz Jr.Atlassian Williams-Mercedes1:14.2761:14.273N/A151687 Oliver BearmanHaas-Ferrari1:14.4491:14.416N/A161731 Esteban OconHaas-Ferrari1:14.845N/AN/A171823 Alexander AlbonAtlassian Williams-Mercedes1:14.851N/AN/A181914 Fernando Alonso1:15.196N/AN/A192011 Sergio PérezCadillac-Ferrari1:15.429N/AN/A202118 Lance Stroll1:16.195N/AN/A2277 Valtteri BottasCadillac-Ferrari1:16.272N/AN/A21107% time: 1:18.516Source: Notes – Lance Stroll qualified 21st, but was required to start the race from the pit lane as his car was modified during parc fermé conditions.
Race The race was held on 24 May 2026, at 16:00 local time (UTC–4), and was scheduled to be run for 70 laps before being reduced as two extra formation laps were held after Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) suffered an issue.
Race report Rain fell immediately prior to the race start, leading to varied tyre strategies across the field. McLaren, Audi, Cadillac and Carlos Sainz Jr. of Williams opted to start on intermediate-wet tyres, while the two Racing Bulls drivers and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto started on medium tyres. The remainder of the field chose soft compounds. As in the sprint, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll started from the pit lane after parts of his engine were changed under parc fermé conditions. The start was delayed and an additional formation lap was completed after Arvid Lindblad's car stalled due to a clutch issue, reducing the race distance to 68 laps.
At the start, Lando Norris moved from third to first into turn 1, followed by the Mercedes pair of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell, with Russell losing a position to his teammate. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) overtook Oscar Piastri (McLaren) to move into fourth place. At the end of the first lap, McLaren determined that their tyre choice was incorrect and both Norris and Piastri pitted to switch from intermediates to dry-weather tyres, dropping them to the rear of the field alongside other drivers who had started on intermediates. After the initial pit cycle, Antonelli led from Russell and Hamilton. On lap 6, Russell overtook Antonelli on the back straight, before the Mercedes drivers continued to exchange positions over the following laps. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) later moved into third place ahead of Hamilton, who was experiencing power issues. Further back, Norris and Piastri recovered through the field, running in 11th and 13th respectively. On lap 13, yellow flags were deployed after Piastri collided with Alexander Albon, forcing Albon to retire. Piastri pitted for a new front wing and received a ten-second penalty for the incident.