Kimi Antonelli wants to keep "raising the bar" after extending his Formula One Drivers Championship lead with victory in the Canadian Grand Prix.

Antonelli is now 43 points ahead of Mercedes team-mate George Russell, who had been entwined in a thrilling battle at the front before the latter had to retire on lap 31.

Antonelli has made F1 history by becoming the first driver to secure each of his first four victories in the sport consecutively.

In addition, he is only the second Italian driver to record four wins in a row, after Alberto Ascari, who achieved seven consecutive triumphs between the 1952 Belgian Grand Prix and the 1953 Argentine Grand Prix. 

Antonelli is enjoying a brilliant start to 2026, and he is looking forward to where Mercedes can go from here.

"It was a really fun battle, to be fair, with George," Antonelli said.

"We were pretty much on the limit. It was not easy, with the wind very gusty.

"It was a shame for him to have a failure because it would have been a very cool battle, but we will take it. Another win. I am very happy and massive thanks to the team.

"When I was on my own, I was trying to really manage the tyres because I started to have some graining appear on the front-left tyre. It was just a weird feeling, the tyre was not really biting, but in the end we had the good pace when the temperature was coming in, and now looking forward to the next one.

"Keep doing what I am doing. We are going to keep raising the bar, as George was extremely quick this weekend. We were really neck and neck. I just need to keep levelling it up.

"Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren are definitely coming back, so we are going to keep pushing. The next one is Monaco, which could be a tricky one, but we will try to be ready for anything. And I will do my best."

Your Canadian GP winner pic.twitter.com/hzGX5TYHaY

— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) May 25, 2026

With Russell out of the race, Lewis Hamilton was able to secure his best finish with Ferrari, overtaking old rival Max Verstappen to finish second, while Red Bull got their first podium of 2026 as the Dutchman finished third.

"It's been really tough over the past year, and a bit so, to finally find our sweet spot and have a good weekend, it's an amazing feeling to be back up here, especially with these guys being so quick, and I actually got to have a race with Max, which is great," Hamilton said.

"I think it's definitely encouraging, given that this weekend, Mercedes brought a big upgrade, a lot of people brought them here, we brought our big one in Miami, and the team are working really hard back at the factory, so hopefully we've got some things on the way.

"Considering this is a really straight circuit, and we just managed to hold on and get this result, it definitely gives me high hopes for what's ahead, but we've got to keep pushing and keep trying to extract more."

"I had some cool battles out there, racing back up front is always better, right?" Verstappen added.

"For us to have our first podium, of course, is really positive. Very happy with that. Cool battle with Lewis as well at the end.

"We kept pushing until the line, and in a weekend when it's not that easy to get things right, for us to be on the podium here is extremely positive. Naturally, very happy with that."