McLaren would consider building its own F1 power unit only if new engine rules and costs made it financially and technically viable, CEO Zak Brown told media at the Indy 500, including the Sports Business Journal. He said “the numbers have to add up,” and stressed the plan was conditional, not imminent.

The team buys power units from Mercedes’ High Performance Powertrains (HPPT) and is contracted with Mercedes through at least 2030. McLaren has used customer engines for much of its modern history, including spells with Renault and Honda. Reports differ on when the McLaren–Mercedes customer tie began (either 1955 or 1995), but all accounts say it ended in 2014 and resumed in 2021.

McLaren’s recent on-track success — winning the 2024 constructors’ title and the 2025 drivers’ and constructors’ crowns — gives the team commercial and technical leverage, and some coverage says it has outperformed the Mercedes works team since 2024.

Brown’s comments came amid debate over the incoming 2026 power-unit rules. Regulators increased the hybrid-electric contribution from 20% to 50% in 2026, a change that drew driver criticism. A proposed 2027 change would shift to a 60-40 combustion-to-electric split and would need backing from at least four of the six manufacturers on the Power Unit Advisory Committee. FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has promoted replacing the current V6 with a V8 around 2030-31.

Brown defended the current on-track product, citing races such as Miami with multiple leaders and saying drivers and rule‑makers will adapt. Any decision by McLaren to build its own engines will depend on how the sport’s technical and commercial environment evolves.

The $1.25 million sale of Gilles Villeneuve’s helmet worn at the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix set a world record for a racing helmet at auction, the Hall of Fame Collection said. CEO Darren Jack confirmed the result; the buyer was not disclosed.

The helmet is a 1982 Ferrari GPA model Villeneuve wore at Imola during his final F1 season and had been in a private collection for nearly 30 years. Predominantly red with black side stripes and a stylized red “V” on the back, the piece was authenticated by era-specific features and provenance. The auction house estimated that about five or fewer race-worn Villeneuve helmets survive; drivers’ practice of reusing helmets in that era has increased provenance and collector interest.

The helmet was not the one Villeneuve wore two weeks later when he was killed during qualifying at the Belgian Grand Prix. The $1.25 million price eclipsed the prior record for a Formula 1 helmet — Ayrton Senna’s 1992 Belgian Grand Prix helmet, which sold for £720,000 — and left Lewis Hamilton’s 2023 helmet (about $387,000) ranked third. Dealers and collectors said a combination of rarity, driver provenance and historic significance is driving rising investor appetite for top motorsport memorabilia.

The Hamilton family produced a rare double podium on the same day, pairing Lewis Hamilton’s second place at the Canadian Grand Prix with Nicolas Hamilton’s Jack Sears Trophy victory at Snetterton, a coincidence that organizers and family members framed as a moment for visibility and inclusivity in motorsport. Nicolas, who lives with cerebral palsy and became the first disabled driver to compete in the BTCC when he debuted in 2015, stood on a touring-car podium for the first time in his eighth BTCC season, and commentators described the result as both a personal breakthrough and a symbolic advance for drivers with disabilities. Lewis used his post-race platform to praise his brother and to call out barriers in racing, saying the sport is “not built to be inclusive,” posting an emotional Instagram tribute in which he said, “I could not be more proud of my brother Nicolas Hamilton,” and noting he called Nicolas as soon as his own race ended; Nicolas publicly replied, “Love you bro.”

Lewis finished second at the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, a Ferrari-best runner-up result and his second podium of the 2026 season for Ferrari after Shanghai in March. He credited his mother Carmen’s presence at the race as a “lucky omen,” saying she would have to come to every race, and praised the SF-26’s balance and driveability, calling the weekend his “best experience” in a race car in some time. Lewis had battled Max Verstappen for second during the race and will move on to the Monaco Grand Prix for round seven of the 2026 season.

Nicolas’s Jack Sears Trophy win was the first silverware of his touring-car career. Reports differ on his entry details, with some accounts saying he drove the #28 Team VERTU Hyundai i30 Fastback N and others saying he raced for EXCELR8 Motorsport. At Snetterton he finished 17th in the opener and recorded back-to-back 16th-place finishes before claiming the Jack Sears Trophy, and he said, “I honestly cannot believe what has happened this weekend.” Nicolas is targeting the next BTCC event at Oulton Park.

Fernando Alonso retired from the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve because an ongoing seat and cockpit-positioning problem made the car unbearably painful to drive, forcing him to stop on lap 23 (some reports said lap 24). Alonso said he needed to “stop the pain,” and the same issue had already knocked him out of the Saturday sprint. Aston Martin’s overnight attempts to fix the seat failed and, with points effectively out of reach and no rain forecast, the team chose to park the car.

Alonso had made an aggressive start on soft tyres and briefly rose into the top 10 on lap three, marking his first appearance in the points this season before his pace faded, and he was reported as running 12th when he retired. The exit was Alonso’s third retirement of the year. He described the teams package as “sub-par machinery,” said he had “more hope” for Monaco because the street circuit relies less on raw engine power, and acknowledged gearbox improvements since Miami. Alonso estimated Aston Martin still faced roughly a three-second deficit that will need engine and aerodynamic upgrades expected in the second half of the year.

Aston Martin trackside chief Mike Krack said both drivers had made ground early in the race but the squad lacked overall pace. Krack described the seat problem as a worsening pressure point and suggested the team may have pushed drivers’ cockpit positioning “a step too far” as they sit increasingly low in the chassis. The team said it will revisit cockpit set-up and attempt to build a new seat ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix. The weekend underlined broader setup and performance deficits for the team, with teammate Lance Stroll struggling for tyre temperature, grip and straight-line pace and finishing 15th after starting from the pit lane, leaving Aston Martin with limited points at their home race.

Kimi Antonelli extended his championship lead with a fourth consecutive victory at the Canadian Grand Prix. The win — his fourth straight from the start of his F1 career — left him 43 points clear after five races, making him the first driver to win his opening four Grands Prix in succession.

The result underlined Mercedes’ strong pace and points advantage in the constructors’ battle but heightened pressure inside the team over intra‑team battles and mechanical reliability, issues that could decide the title fight.

The weekend featured tense wheel‑to‑wheel duels between Antonelli and team‑mate George Russell. Russell had sprint pole and won the Sprint, but Antonelli clipped him in that Sprint, forcing Russell onto the grass. In the Grand Prix the pair swapped the lead repeatedly in a roughly 30‑lap scrap.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff intervened over the radio during the weekend and again in the race, ordering the drivers to “tidy up” and warning the team would step in if intra‑team battles threatened results. Antonelli said maintaining “respect” and handling borderline incidents internally was vital for a title fight and cited the 2016 Hamilton–Rosberg feud as an example he did not want repeated. Russell acknowledged Antonelli’s advantage, saying, “Right now, it’s [Antonelli’s] to lose,” and that he had “nothing to lose.”

The duel ended when Russell stopped on lap 30 with a mechanical failure variously described as a power‑unit, battery or engine problem, removing him as an immediate challenger and clearing the way for Antonelli to run untroubled to the flag. Antonelli finished 10.7 seconds ahead, with Lewis Hamilton second for Ferrari and Max Verstappen third — Verstappen’s first podium of the season.

With 17 race weekends and 449 championship points still available, Mercedes’ pace gives them the upper hand in the constructors’ battle, but mechanical reliability and tight team management will be decisive as the season continues.

Lewis Hamilton delivered a breakthrough performance for Ferrari at the Canadian Grand Prix, finishing second after deliberately avoiding Ferrari’s Maranello simulator and staging a dramatic late outside pass on Max Verstappen at Turn 1. Hamilton started fifth, passed Oscar Piastri at the first corner and was overtaken by Verstappen earlier in the race, but strong pace on the medium tyre and careful use of overtake mode and battery power let him close from about seven seconds back to within a second with 13 laps remaining. He completed the decisive move on Lap 62, held off Verstappen to the chequered flag and described the chase as something he “loved,” calling the overall result “awesome.”

The FIA stewards handed George Russell a suspended €5,000 fine after he threw his car’s headrest onto the track following his retirement from the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. The stewards said Russell breached ISC Article 12.2.1.h, and the fine will remain suspended for 12 months provided he commits no similar breach during that period. Stewards reviewed video evidence, heard from Russell, accepted his apology, noted he was embarrassed and recorded that he offered to apologise publicly.

Russell had been leading the race when a sudden power unit failure forced him to stop around the mid-point, with accounts placing the stoppage on lap 30 and at various locations including Turn 8, Turn 9 and the second chicane on the grass. Witnesses reported Russell angrily threw his headrest and slammed his gloves as he left the cockpit. Mercedes later confirmed the issue was a power unit/module or battery failure, with team principal Toto Wolff citing an electrical/module problem.

Russell had earlier taken the Sprint win at the event and had been engaged in a tight intra-team duel with teammate Kimi Antonelli in the Grand Prix. Antonelli inherited the lead after Russell’s retirement and went on to win the race, extending his championship advantage to 43 points. The stewards also opened procedures over formation-lap concerns involving Liam Lawson and Nico Hülkenberg, considering stop-and-go penalties that they judged disproportionate and suspended under ISC Article 12.4.6, with both drivers starting from their correct grid positions.

McLaren’s decision to start both cars on intermediate tyres at the Canadian Grand Prix backfired when rain eased during the formation laps, undermining the call and prompting early pit stops and complaints from both drivers. Lando Norris briefly led into Turn 1 from his starting position but pitted for slicks on Lap 2 after the formation-lap rain eased, while Oscar Piastri pitted at the end of Lap 1. Piastri later locked up and collided with Alex Albon, ending Albon’s race and damaging Piastri’s front wing; he was handed a 10-second penalty and was classified 11th. Norris stopped on Lap 40 with an apparent gearbox failure after an earlier pit stop on Lap 15 for a suspected reliability issue. Both McLaren cars finished out of the points, leaving the team scoreless in Montreal.