MONTREAL: Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli raised the biggest and most emotional reaction on Sunday when he came of age as a Formula One star by finishing third with a mature race for Mercedes at the Canadian Grand Prix.

The 18-year-old rookie, who passed his road driving test earlier this year before the season began, became the third-youngest podium finisher in Formula One history. Four-time world champion Max Verstappen, who was second for Red Bull in Sunday’s race behind Mercedes team leader George Russell, was aged 18 years, seven months and 15 days old when he took his first podium in 2016.

Lance Stroll was also slightly younger than Antonelli when he came third in Azerbaijan in 2017. "It was so stressful for me,” he said. "But I am super happy!” Beaming from ear to ear, Antonelli waved to the big crowd at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve amid chants of "Kimi, Kimi” as they applauded his appearance on the podium after the race.

"I had a good start. I managed to jump into P3 and I just stayed up there at the front. The last stint, I pushed a bit too hard behind Max and I killed a bit of the front left tyre and then I struggled a bit at the end. "So, I’m really happy to bring the podium home for the team.”

He started the race in thrilling style by passing championship leader Oscar Piastri’s McLaren for third place on the opening lap. "I had a good first launch and managed to get alongside and then, in the first corner, I just tried to carry as much speed as possible. When I was alongside him in Turn Two, I knew I would have the advantage going into Turn Three.”

He said he hoped his team’s first win this year and since the Las Vegas race last year would be the springboard for more victories. But Russell was quick to play down too many expectations, pointing out that the Canada track was one that was very suitable to the strengths of their Mercedes car.

"It’s a little bit cooler around here,” said Russell. "We saw it last year in Canada. I would love to get our hopes up, but I think the strength of our car is in the cooler conditions so let’s see in the coming races. "But, yeah, we will enjoy this for now.” "Time will tell. We won Austria last year so maybe that’s a good omen. We did have high expectations coming into this weekend and it worked out as we thought.”

His victory meant that he became the fourth different driver to win this year after 10 races that have seen Mercedes and Red Bull chasing to reel in champions McLaren’s performance advantage.

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton said he felt devastated after learning that he had hit and killed a groundhog, damaging his Ferrari car, on his way to finishing sixth in the Canadian Grand Prix. Hamilton, who owns a French bulldog called Roscoe that is often seen with him at Grands Prix, said he did not see the groundhog and felt that the incident reduced the performance of his car after a bright start Sunday.

"It was feeling pretty decent up until then,” said the seven-time world champion. "I got a good start, I held position and I was holding onto the leading group. "I was managing the tyres well, so I was feeling optimistic. "I didn’t see it happen, but I heard I hit a groundhog. That’s devastating because I love animals and I’m so sad about it. It’s horrible.

"That’s never happened to me before here, but the floor — basically the right-side — there was a hole in it. "Given that, and we had a brake issue halfway through as well, and then we probably stayed out too long in the first stop and came out behind traffic... it went from one thing to another.”

After going 10 races without a podium this season for the first time in his Formula One career, having joined Ferrari, Hamilton was expressing mounting frustration at the team’s disappointing start to the year. "I’m grateful that I finished, particularly with the brake issue I had. We are really in need of an upgrade, but there are a lot of things that need to change in order for us to compete at the front.”

Team-mate Charles Leclerc finished fifth despite missing much of Friday practice after crashing in the opening session, but said he was frustrated by how his race had unfolded. — AFP