Month: July 2026

Charles Leclerc drove a fantastic race for Ferrari to win the British Grand Prix despite the Silverstone race ending behind the safety car.

The Ferrari driver headed George Russell and Lewis Hamilton to take P1 while championship leader Kimi Antonelli lost second position with late reliability troubles.

Leclerc had snatched the lead away from polesitter Kimi Antonelli at the start, with third-placed starter Hamilton also following his Ferrari teammate through.

While Charles made his only pitstop, Kimi stayed out with a ten-lap tyre-life advantage offset on the Ferrari driver, only pitting on lap 35 of 52. But on lap 41 Antonelli reported “something is broken” on his Mercedes. It emerged Antonelli’s left wheel shield failed, causing handling issues that made him pit twice to fix the issue but saw Kimi drop outside the top ten, losing 18 crucial points in the drivers’ standings.

Antonelli’s misfortunate sealed the first win of the 2026 season for Leclerc, with a comfortable 20-second lead on teammate Lewis Hamilton.

From third on the grid, Hamilton took a five-second time penalty for a false start, but after sitting out his punishment during his pitstop the seven-time world champion easily came out on top of a three-way fight with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and the Mercedes of George Russell.

Verstappen looked set to claim an unlikely podium despite struggling with his Red Bull’s handling, gearbox and power unit deployment, but the four-time champion dramatically spun off the road at Stowe with six laps to go, beaching himself in the gravel.

Verstappen’s off brought out the safety car, which looked like it was going to set up a manic one-lap shoot-out as the majority of the field pitted for soft tyres. It was like a repeat of the Abu Dhabi 2021 with a final lap shootout.

Russell stayed out on mediums, however, giving his track position on old mediums in second, ahead of Hamilton and McLaren’s Lando Norris.

But while race control reported the safety car would come in at the end of the penultimate lap, the Mercedes safety car continued on, with Leclerc heading Russell and Hamilton locked into the podium positions.

Hamilton is still to face the FIA race stewards for a yellow-flag infringement. After a post-race investigation, the stewards decided there was no issue and Lewis keeps his podium finish.

Norris ended up in fourth, benefitting from Verstappen’s and Antonelli’s misfortune after the reigning world champion was struggling with his McLaren, in which he was unable to keep up with the competition on Silverstone’s demanding layout.

Isack Hadjar was fifth for Red Bull, ahead of midfield leaders Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad for the impressive Racing Bulls outfit.

Gabriel Bortoleto finally scored hard-earned points for Audi with eighth, with Alpine duo Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly rounding out the top ten for Alpine.

Antonelli crossed the finish line in P16, seeing his championship lead on teammate Russell reduced to 25 points.

So congratulations to Charles Leclerc in winning at Silverstone. It was anticlimactic end to the British Grand Prix with the leading Ferrari finishing behind the safety car. There was no Abu Dhabi 2021 final lap shootout. Race control denied the opportunity for a thrilling conclusion.

British Grand Prix, race results:
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:27:11.335
2 George Russell Mercedes +0.427s
3 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +0.772s
4 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes +1.149s
5 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford +1.598s
6 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford +2.023s
7 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford +2.214s
8 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +2.413s
9 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes +3.229s
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes +3.445s
11 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes +4.014s
12 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes +4.391s
13 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari +5.245s
14 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari +5.512s
15 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari +7.403s
16 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +8.005s
17 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari +8.162s
18 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda +1 lap
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda +1 lap
Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford DNF
Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes DNF
Nico Hulkenberg Audi DNF

After winning the sprint race earlier, championship leader Kimi Antonelli signed off a perfect Saturday at Silverstone with pole position for the British Grand Prix.

The Ferraris could only settle with P2 and P3 with Charles Leclerc taking a front row slot, ahead of his teammate and home favourite Lewis Hamilton.

Antonelli improved on his first Q3 run to secure his fifth pole of the season, while a much-needed improvement for Leclerc to grab P2 and qualify ahead of teammate Hamilton and Russell.

The Silver Arrows had yet to be defeated in Grand Prix qualifying this year, and a surprisingly strong pole lap from Hamilton in sprint qualifying suggested the Mercedes streak could be broken in Silverstone. But after Antonelli passed Hamilton to win the sprint, the points leader further backed with pole.

Russell was second after the first of two Q3 runs but was unable to improve on his second lap, which was over half a second slower than Antonelli. That dropped him to fourth position behind Leclerc and Hamilton, who did improve but only found one tenth compared to his first effort.

Isack Hadjar was fifth in the Red Bull ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris, as both teams suffered a significant pace deficit compared to Mercedes and Ferrari. Max Verstappen was only seventh after reporting issues with his power unit deployment, while Oscar Piastri unable to find grip on his way to eighth.

Racing Bulls duo Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson again locked out row five as the best of the midfield runners.

Antonelli also topped Q2 with a time of one minute, 28.493 seconds lap despite going off track on his first effort. The Mercedes driver then went a tenth clear of Leclerc with Hamilton and Russell third and fourth.

The McLarens showed early signs of performance issues with Norris only ninth, while Piastri was in the drop zone after run one, but Oscar managed to find a way through in seventh as he drove around a lack of grip and balance.

Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto missed Q3 to Lawson by just 0.032 seconds, apologising to his team for not extracting more out of the car. Pierre Gasly was P12 on a tricky weekend for Alpine, followed by Nico Hulkenberg.

Oliver Bearman was P14, disappointed by his Haas car that he felt had been outdeveloped by its midfield rivals, while the Williams team continued to struggle with Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon qualified P15 and P16.

In Q1 the gusty wind conditions made the start of qualifying challenging, with a 20km/h tailwind into Copse and a corresponding crosswind blowing into the Maggotts-Becketts complex. Franco Colapinto suffered a huge spin there on his final attempt as his rear end snapped, which left the Alpine driver unable to improve on P19.

Russell also had a “weird” scare when he went off into the gravel at Luffield on his first attempt as his car locked up, damaging his front wing. That meant he had to set a lap time in the final minutes of the session to advance, but George did so relatively comfortably.

There were also immediate issues for Audi’s Bortoleto, who reported he could not grab sixth gear on his out-lap and returned to the garage with a suspected gearbox problem, but the team managed to get him back out to qualify for Q2.

Esteban Ocon was not so lucky, the Haas driver again being handed a qualifying defeat by his teammate Oliver Bearman, who narrowly advanced to Q2 at Ocon’s expense.

Colapinto got split by the Cadillac drivers of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez, with an off-the-pace Aston Martin team again at the rear end of the grid.

So congratulations to Kimi Antonelli. His confidence is sky high at the moment by being so quick over his rivals and teammate. Let’s see how the race will go at Silverstone on race day.

British Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:28.111
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:28.286
3 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:28.458
4 George Russell Mercedes 1:28.481
5 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford 1:28.746
6 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.877
7 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:28.893
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:29.032
9 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford 1:29.305
10 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford 1:29.716
11 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:29.461
12 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:30.063
13 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:30.076
14 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:30.501
15 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:30.623
16 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:31.341
17 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:30.680
18 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:31.227
19 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes 1:31.321
20 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:31.451
21 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda 1:32.863
22 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda 1:33.025

The current Formula 1 championship points leader Kimi Antonelli wins the Silverstone sprint after passing Lewis Hamilton to finish P1 in an action-packed British Grand Prix sprint event.

The Mercedes driver crossed the finishing line 2.7 seconds ahead of the seven-time world champion in a race where Antonelli and Hamilton had proven dominant over the rest of the 22-car field.

McLaren’s Lando Norris completed the podium, but was seven seconds behind the Ferrari driver as two separate front-running groups quickly emerged during the 17-lap sprint.

This was true right from the start as Hamilton and Antonelli dashed clear as the five red lights went out and built a four-second gap across the opening three laps, with a battle behind emerging over third position.

That was a five-way battle between Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, George Russell, Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc, who all continuously traded positions in the return of yo-yo racing at the high-energy Silverstone.

Drivers were running with different levels of energy deployment through the lap and this led to overtakes at various parts of the Silverstone circuit, whether it be Verstappen’s move on Russell at Abbey, or Leclerc on Piastri at Brooklands.

The duel for third started to slow down come the halfway point and in the end, it was Norris who emerged victorious, but as he locked down his podium, the battle for the lead finally heated up.

That came after Hamilton had built a steady one-second advantage over Antonelli, who closed in come lap eight and made his first attack on the home favourite crowddown into Brooklands.

Hamilton held firm but not for too long, as the Mercedes driver eventually moved by into the lead on Hangar Straight before soon pulled clear from the Ferrari.

It was around this point on lap 10 when the fight behind Norris incresed once more, as Verstappen dropped into sixth behind Russell and Leclerc before a steady final seven laps.

Russell therefore took fourth behind Norris, finished a second behind the McLaren, ahead of fifth-placed Leclerc and Verstappen in sixth, with Piastri taking two points for seventh.

The final points position went to the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson, who moved into the top eight Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar fell out of the points-paying positions at the start. Lawson defended the point from his former teammate late, by squeezing under braking at Stowe.

This all leaves Antonelli with a 43-point championship advantage over second-placed Russell ahead of Sunday’s British Grand Prix, with third-placed Hamilton now four behind.

British Grand Prix, sprint race results:
1 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 26:12.129
2 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +2.745s
3 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes +9.783s
4 George Russell Mercedes +10.639s
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +12.620s
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford +16.550s
7 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes +17.551s
8 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford +30.233s
9 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford +30.953s
10 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford +35.110s
11 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes +40.273s
12 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes +41.026s
13 Nico Hulkenberg Audi +41.680s
14 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +42.499s
15 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari +45.784s
16 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari +49.810s
17 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes +50.379s
18 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes +50.757s
19 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari +75.117s
20 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda +91.872s
21 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda +1 lap
22 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari +1 lap

Seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton achieved pole position at his home race, Silverstone, fending off his Mercedes successor Kimi Antonelli.

In a single-lap shoot-out on the soft compound, Antonelli set the provisionally quickest time, only for Hamilton to go faster by a tiny margin of 0.011 seconds to take his first sprint pole since last year’s Chinese Grand Prix.

Hamilton’s one minute, 28.376 seconds lap was a full three tenths quicker than Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with the four-time champion narrowly beating Charles Leclerc to fourth.

Austrian Grand Prix winner George Russell suffered a difficult SQ3 segment, losing two tenths through Silverstone’s first sector on his way to fifth on the grid.

As expected before the British Grand Prix weekend, McLaren struggled for performance compared to Mercedes and Ferrari, with a less aerodynamically efficient car. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri took sixth and seventh respectively.

Isack Hadjar was ninth, while Racing Bulls continued its impressive form by making it into SQ3 with both cars as Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad rounded out the top ten.

Hamilton led the first series of laps from Antonelli in SQ2, which was run on Pirelli’s medium tyres. Last year’s British Grand Prix winner Norris survived a scare when he only just managed to go through in P10.

There was some improvement at Alpine after a tough weekend at the Red Bull Ring, but Pierre Gasly was still knocked out in P11, followed by Audi duo Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg. Franco Colapinto was P14, ahead of the Williams cars of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon.

In SQ1, none of the heavy hitters were under significant pressure, although Lando’s effort only left him P10 as Lewis led Charles – foreshadowing what would be a tricky session for the world champion.

At the back of the grid, Williams survived the segment with both cars, as Sainz held off a disappointed Oliver Bearman by 0.010 seconds for the P16 and final position. Both Haas cars were eliminated with Esteban Ocon in P19, followed by both drivers from Cadillac and Aston Martin.

So the home crowd favourite will start the British Grand Prix sprint race in pole position. There’s only 17 laps in the sprint and if Lewis Hamilton can resist the pressure from Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen, then it will be popular result.

British Grand Prix, sprint qualifying results:
1 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:28.376
2 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:28.387
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:28.697
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:28.703
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:28.733
6 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.740
7 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:28.772
8 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford 1:28.835
9 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford 1:28.927
10 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford 1:29.367
11 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:29.482
12 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:29.679
13 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:29.707
14 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes 1:29.983
15 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:30.197
16 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:30.650
17 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:31.083
18 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:31.714
19 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:31.776
20 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:32.020
21 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda 1:32.910
22 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda 1:32.988