George Russell says he feels like he's "driving better than ever" after winning his first race of the season at the Canadian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver, who started on pole, held the lead from Max Verstappen at the start and controlled the race from that point.

It was the Briton's first victory since Las Vegas in November and fifth podium of the 2025 season.

Red Bull lodged a protest, claiming that Russell drove erratically behind the safety car following Lando Norris' collision with McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, but it was rejected by the stewards.

Russell, 27, also started on pole in Montreal last year but could only finish third.

"It feels a bit of a redemption compared to last year because I was really disappointed with my performance last year and we should have won," he told Sky Sports.

"It was my mistakes that let the team down but I'm in a different place right now and I feel like I'm driving better than ever. I felt pretty chilled throughout the whole race."

Russell is fourth in the drivers' championship, 62 points behind leader Piastri with Verstappen 19 points ahead of him in third.

He believes only further mishaps from the McLaren drivers - Norris was forced out of the race after hitting Piastri's car - would allow him to be part of the title fight.

"I don't know how both Max and I are so close to those two (Piastri and Norris) in the championship because McLaren clearly have the dominant car," said Russell.

"I cannot imagine they will keep throwing away points in the manner that they are doing, but of course, we hope that continues to be the case."

Russell has been with Mercedes since the 2022 season and is out of his contract come the end of the season.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff suggested it was only a matter of time before a new deal is confirmed.

Wolff said: "The ambience in the team is great and we've agreed on some kind of timeline when we want to settle these things, with triple headers getting out of the way and one race after the other in June and July but we're going to get there."

It was a successful day all round for Mercedes with 18-year-old rookie Kimi Antonelli finishing third for his first podium in Formula 1.

Antonelli – at 18 years and 294 days old – becomes the third-youngest podium finisher of all time behind Verstappen and Lance Stroll.

Starting fourth, he overtook championship leader Piastri at the start and dealt with pressure from the Australian in the closing stages of the race.

"It was so stressful but super happy," Antonelli said. "The last stint I pushed a bit too hard behind Max and I killed a bit of the front left and I struggled a bit at the end, but I'm really happy to bring the podium home."

"This track has been good for us and the car has been incredible all weekend. Hopefully we can carry the same momentum into the next few races."

Russell said Mercedes performed so strongly at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve because a "smooth" track and "low-speed" corners suited the characteristics of the car.

Next on the calendar is Austria from 27-29 June and the Red Bull Ring will be a very different challenge to Montreal.

"It's going to be on old tarmac, more high-speed corners and it's going to be hot as well," Russell said.

"We've got three things working against us. I'm not going to sit here and say Mercedes is back because we were the quickest team here last year but we didn't win the championship. We know where we need to improve."