Race stewards at Formula 1’s Canadian Grand Prix briefly evaluated the sprint race incidents between George Russell and Kimi Antonelli - but felt what happened was not worth an official investigation.

Russell and Antonelli came to blows in two separate moments on lap six of Saturday’s sprint race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

First of all, Antonelli attempted an overtake around the outside of Russell at Turn 1 but, as his team-mate drifted wide, he ran out of room and skipped over the run-off area and grass.

Then, on the charge down to Turn 8, the recovering Antonelli made another attempt to take the lead as he dived to the inside under braking.

But after appearing to hit a bump, he locked up and ran across the grass – dropping behind the pursuing Lando Norris as a result.

Antonelli came on the team radio afterwards and claimed that Russell had been “naughty” in the way he defended the corner at Turn 1, and reckoned it had been enough to warrant a penalty.

The FIA stewards did not agree with Antonelli’s view. The clash was not even ‘noted’ by the stewards on the official timing screens – a process that often happens before formal investigations.

The Race has learned, however, that the stewards did briefly look into what happened – after race control messaged them to check that they were aware the two incidents had taken place.

The stewards had indeed spotted the incidents and, having been happy after a first glance that the rules had been followed both times, they felt that there was no need for any more detailed look at things that would then have triggered anything being officially “noted”.

What the rules say

F1’s driver guidelines are clear that a car attempting an overtake on the outside is only guaranteed to be left room if it fulfils three strict criteria.

It must have its front axle ahead of the front axle of the car it is trying to pass at the apex; it must be driven in a controlled manner from entry to apex and to exit; and it must be able to make the corner within track limits.

The onboard footage from Antonelli’s car does not make it explicitly clear if he was ahead of Russell at the apex - with the pair of them appearing to run quite deep.

The stewards may have felt, though, that even if Antonelli was deemed to be ahead of the apex, the trajectory he was on may not have guaranteed him remaining on track in a controlled manner - even without Russell taking the line he did.

Speaking about the incident afterwards, Russell was clear that he felt he had driven in a perfectly acceptable manner.

“From my side, it's as kids in karting, we know with overtaking on the outside, there's a certain element of risk that comes with that,” he said.

“They're amazing overtakes when they come off, [but] the chances are quite slim.

“There was only one direction I was going and I was going to close the line, because that's my right to do so.”

Antonelli said he had no problems with what happened at Turn 8, as that was down to a mistake he made - but he still felt Turn 1 needed reviewing.

“I was quite well alongside and there was definitely contact, so I need to recheck that,” he said. “But yeah, it was hard racing.

“Then in Turn 8, to be fair, I was definitely too optimistic. I also took a massive bump, and I almost spun in a straight line.”