Russell felt "in control throughout" the Canadian Grand Prix

Having taken his first victory of the season at Montreal, Mercedes driver George Russell has conceded that he felt himself in control all through the Canadian Grand Prix.

It was an almost perfect weekend for Mercedes. George Russell secured his second consecutive pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix.

The Briton then made a great start, and although reigning champion Max Verstappen kept him honest, the Mercedes driver was seemingly controlling proceedings.

Russell completed the race distance with a conventional two-stop strategy, and did not put a foot wrong to convert pole to the win, his first of the year.

His team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli also had a brilliant getaway, a bold move saw the Italian gain a place by overtaking championship leader Oscar Piastri into Turn 3 on the opening lap.

He ran third from there, and came close to picking off reigning champion Max Verstappen when the Dutchman struggled for rear grip at the end of his opening stint.

With McLaren’s MCL39 coming alive in the closing stages of the race, Antonelli came under huge pressure from Piastri, but defended superbly to pick up his first career podium and become the third-youngest driver to stand on the rostrum.

Reflecting on his first victory of the season, Russell said that he felt himself in control all through the Canadian Grand Prix.

"I am really pleased to take the team’s first victory of the season. I felt in control throughout and was able to manage the race to bring home the win. With the slightly higher temperatures, we thought we may struggle a little more than we saw on Friday.

"We did a good job of managing the tyres though and had the pace to hold off the chasing pack. A big well done and thank you to everyone at Brackley and Brixworth and a massive congratulations to Kimi on taking his first of what I am sure will be many podiums.

Signing off with a word for his expectations, Russell noted that he does not think that Mercedes can completely repeat its dominant form at Montreal at the next venues.

"We look to have made a step forward with our car in recent races. We have typically gone well in Montreal though and we knew this race would likely suit us a little more than others.

"We can’t get ahead of ourselves as there is still plenty of work for us to do to get into the fight for victories more regularly. I am looking forward to trying to do that next time out in Austria," said Russell.