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
Kimi Antonelli has claimed his first-ever Sprint win after beating Lewis Hamilton to victory in an action-packed 100km dash at the British Grand Prix, with Lando Norris completing the top three amid plenty of battles across the field.
Hamilton held the lead from pole as the event got underway, squeezing Antonelli off the line to defend his position – but Antonelli remained hot on the tail of the Ferrari as the laps ticked down, keeping the pressure on throughout.
The decisive move came on Lap 8, with the championship leader surging ahead into P1 before stretching out an advantage at the front – and from there he was untroubled at the front, ultimately crossing the line by 2.745s from Hamilton.
Norris took third place in the McLaren, the British driver keeping Mercedes’ George Russell at bay who had to settle for P4. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc followed in fifth ahead of Max Verstappen, while the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri and Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson completed the points-paying positions in seventh and eighth.
Lawson, however, will be investigated for moving under braking following a late battle with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar, who had to settle for P9. Arvid Lindblad placed in 10th – the Racing Bulls driver enjoying his first home weekend as an F1 driver – ahead of the Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto.
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Kimi Antonelli has shared an insight into the moment where he knew he could get into the lead in the Sprint at the British Grand Prix, with the Italian admitting that he “used everything I had” to push on ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
After lining up in P2 on the grid, Antonelli was squeezed by Hamilton into the first corner and even found himself slipping back to third at one stage on the opening lap, having been overtaken by McLaren’s Lando Norris before soon retaking the position.
The Mercedes driver then set about chasing after Hamilton as the laps ticked down, keeping the pressure on until he saw his chance to make a move on Lap 8. Utilising the Boost function, Antonelli eventually surged ahead of the Ferrari at Stowe and from there onwards was untroubled at the front, going on to seal his first Sprint win.
Reflecting back on the 100km dash afterwards, the 19-year-old said of his battle with Hamilton: “It was a very fun first 10 laps with Lewis. We were both pushing very hard. Once I got into Overtake mode, I knew my chance was coming.
“Out of Turn 4, I got very close alongside into Brooklands, but he used the Boost, so I decided to wait. Then, going into Stowe, I used everything I had and was able to overtake. From that point on, I just got into my rhythm, tried to stay out of his Overtake range, and bring the car home.”
Antonelli’s latest triumph means that his points tally now stands at 179, having stretched out his lead in the championship standings over team mate George Russell to 43 points. However, the youngster remains wary of the threat posed by his rivals.
“The momentum is definitely there, and we’re doing a great job together with the team,” he explained. “But we can’t let our guard down because Lewis and Ferrari are doing an incredible job.
“Red Bull and McLaren are coming, and George is also super quick. We just need to keep raising the bar and continue delivering strong performances.”
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cLaren Formula 1 team principal Andrea Stella has explained the root cause behind Lando Norris fuel saving concerns in the British Grand Prix sprint.
On Saturday Norris made a good start from sixth and came out on top of a three-way battle for third place with George Russell and Max Verstappen, a long way behind leading pair Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton.
But after having built a comfortable gap to Russell, the reigning world champion came under pressure again from the Mercedes man in the closing stages as he was asked to save fuel.
Norris just about managed to hang onto third, but wasn’t too pleased with the needlessly stressful end to the 17-lap race. Over the team radio an agitated Norris urged his squad to “get it right for once”.
“We needed to compromise the pace a bit because we were managing fuel and Lando gave us a good reminder,” McLaren team boss Stella told Sky.
“We need to do better because it’s the second time in a row that we asked the driver to manage fuel. This is not good enough. We need to do better as a team. But Lando compensated for that in a brilliant way.”
Rather than McLaren deliberately taking too many risks underfueling the car, Stella explained the Woking squad got its fuel consumption calculations wrong, which are trickier to get right this year due to the added energy management variables.
“It’s not about [underfueling],” he insisted. “It’s more about the prediction as to the fuel consumption. So you needed to adapt to what actually the consumption [is], dependent on the various conditions or the racing.
“This is a very interesting Formula 1 with these power units. You have a yo-yo effect, which obviously moves data from what you think is the baseline. So interesting in all respects, but definitely a situation that you would like to avoid because it takes a few tenths off the gap.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mclaren-explains-fuel-error-that-nearly-cost-lando-norris-in-f1-britain-sprint/10836198/
Lewis Hamilton insisted he gave “absolutely everything” after he was unable to hold off Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli in the Sprint at Silverstone.
The Ferrari driver had started from pole position after a last gasp lap in Sprint Qualifying saw him set a time just 0.011s clear of the young Italian’s effort.
As Saturday’s Sprint got underway Hamilton managed to keep Antonelli at bay for some time but was soon overtaken on Lap 8 by the current championship leader – who eventually crossed the line 2.745s ahead to take his maiden Sprint victory.
Reflecting on how his Sprint panned out after jumping out of the cockpit, Hamilton explained: “I said yesterday, that could be difficult. With the strong headwind down the back straight today, Kimi came flying past.
“I was pushing as hard as I could and gave it absolutely everything. Well done to Kimi. We’ve got work to do to close that gap.”
As Antonelli extended his championship lead with his triumph in the Sprint, Hamilton further explained how the energy management played a significant role in his race on Saturday.
“(Mercedes) were particularly quick up to Turn 6, so sometimes I had to use the Boost there,” he said. “One of the biggest areas was coming out of Stowe, Turn 15, where you get all the power. That’s where he was catching me massively.
“Once he got into Overtake mode, I couldn’t hold him back because he had extra deployment throughout the lap. I couldn’t keep him outside the one-second gap anymore and, once that was gone, I knew he was coming.”
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