Leclerc celebrates first Silverstone victory for Ferrari, delivering historic milestone win

From second on the grid to historic triumph

The British Grand Prix was dominated by the duel between 19-year-old championship leader Kimi Antonelli and the two Ferrari drivers. Antonelli had dominated the weekend, winning the sprint race on Saturday and taking pole position. At the start, however, he immediately lost two places: Leclerc shot past him, with Hamilton slotting in behind. «Antonelli botched the start, allowing both Ferraris to pass him», read the analysis from Sky Sports F1.

Antonelli fought his way back and overtook Hamilton at the fast Copse corner on lap 11, by which point Leclerc had already built a lead of more than four seconds. The Italian then mounted a strong chase in his Mercedes, until a technical defect ten laps from the finish dashed his hopes. Over team radio he reported: «Die Aufhängung ist gebrochen.»

Antonelli's comeback ends in disaster

The defect forced Antonelli into two extra pit stops, during which a new front wing was also fitted. He was eventually classified 16th after receiving an additional five-second penalty for repeatedly exceeding the track limits and left the track without points. His lead in the drivers' standings thereby grew to 25 points over George Russell and 32 points over Lewis Hamilton, while Leclerc in fourth trails the leader by 71 points.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff spoke of a déjà vu experience, citing the technical failures of Russell in Canada and Antonelli in Barcelona, both of which had occurred from leading positions. In an interview with ORF, Wolff said: «It was the third failure, without which we could have won a race. You can't fight for the world championship like that when you throw away 75 points so carelessly.» He announced that the team would appeal Antonelli's penalty.

Mercedes frustrated by third mechanical failure

Wolff also expressed sympathy for his protégé: «The bitter thing is that Kimi was closing on Leclerc in such big steps that he would probably have caught him six laps from the end, then we would probably have seen some great racing. That's just bad luck, I feel for Kimi.» Deputy team principal Bradley Lord had also stressed before the race on ORF: «Aber so einfach wird's nicht» – a reference to the expected Ferrari strength, which was confirmed.

Lewis Hamilton battled on Sunday with a five-second time penalty, which he served during his pit stop on lap 24. His Ferrari had moved before the start before the fifth red light went out. Despite the handicap, the Briton held third place until Russell passed him under the Safety Car, after Hamilton had taken on fresh tyres and Russell had stayed out on track. Hamilton congratulated his team-mate and said: «Ich habe einen Fehlstart gehabt und Charles hat die bessere Pace gehabt.» Asked whether there would be a title fight against Mercedes this season, the record Silverstone winner answered curtly: «Das weiß ich nicht.»

Hamilton battles false start and penalty

Russell spoke of a difficult weekend that ended on a reconciliatory note: «It was a difficult weekend, but I delivered. Ferrari was very fast.» The 27-year-old was able to celebrate his first Silverstone podium in front of his home crowd, even though he had complained of straight-line speed problems in qualifying. The Safety Car period allowed Russell to close to 25 points behind Antonelli in the overall standings, while Hamilton in third trails by 32 points.

Max Verstappen suffered another setback in a difficult phase at Red Bull. The Dutchman had started seventh, had at one point passed Russell and was running fourth with four laps to go when he slid into the gravel at the fast section around Turn 15. Over team radio he raged: «Dieses Auto, unglaublich». He later said: «Ehrlich, ich hasse diesen Wagen.» Earlier he had already described his car as «peinlich, schlecht» and said in a Dutch television interview: «Ich bin ja nicht abergläubisch, aber ich komme mir vor, als hätte ich eine schwarze Katze überfahren.»

Verstappen flies into the gravel

Verstappen also explained that the rear wing had not been fully closed, which had cost downforce and made the car dangerous. The same problem had already occurred in qualifying in Austria. At Spielberg he had finished second the previous week. In the Silverstone sprint he had finished sixth and qualified seventh for the grand prix. He did not elaborate on the reason behind his wavering about starting as he said before the race that he had considered whether starting at all made sense – he nevertheless decided to take part.

Nico Hülkenberg, the only German driver in the field, retired early in the Audi on lap 38 with a technical defect. He therefore remains without points in the current season and had earned his first Formula 1 podium of his career a year ago at Silverstone, when he surprised with third place for Sauber. His Audi team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto finished eighth, securing four championship points for Audi. Bortoleto had already scored points at the season opener in Australia with ninth place.

Hülkenberg and the German lone struggle

The race result almost became a Ferrari one-two at Silverstone, the first since 2002, but the Scuderia's Safety Car strategy and the associated tyre change gave Hamilton the place in Russell's slipstream. Verstappen had dominated the race over long stretches before his accident on lap 48 triggered the neutralisation. The Safety Car led the field to the finish over the 52 laps, with no restart taking place. A yellow parasol that triggered a brief Virtual Safety Car period on lap 22 also had no notable impact on the racing.

The weekend at the English tradition circuit broke all spectator records. A total of 564,000 visitors were counted over the three days, including footballers Phil Foden and Jack Grealish, actor Hugh Grant and Queen guitarist Brian May. On race day itself, 175,000 spectators were trackside. Before the race, the Formula 1 drivers had driven Lego cars made of 28,000 bricks across the start-finish line. After Silverstone, the summer break features the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps on July 19 and the Hungarian race on July 26.

Record crowd and supporting programme

The races cancelled in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are reportedly scheduled to possibly be rescheduled for the first weekend in October between Azerbaijan and Singapore, with Bahrain considered the favourite for the relocation, according to Sky Sports F1. A final decision is expected before the summer break. Should the season finales planned for November 29 in Qatar and December 6 in Abu Dhabi be unable to take place due to the situation in the Middle East, Portimao in Portugal could step in as an alternative venue. F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said on the matter: «Wenn sich eine Chance bietet, warum nicht?»

Outlook: Summer break and rescheduled races

Alongside the sporting headlines, attention also turned to former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, who appeared in the Silverstone paddock for the first time almost exactly a year after his dismissal. Horner had been removed after 20 years at the helm of the team, three days after the previous year's British Grand Prix. He explained that he had not missed Silverstone in any year since 1993. Of his plans he said only: «das Richtige machen», and announced his intention to return to Formula 1.

Leclerc's win was incidentally the fourth different race winner in the past four Grands Prix, evidence of the evenly matched front of the current season. With the result, Leclerc moves up to fourth in the drivers' standings, behind Antonelli, Russell and Hamilton. The nine-time Silverstone winner Hamilton now faces two further races within two weeks in Belgium and Hungary, where he will continue to try to close the gap to the front – provided his team gets to grips with the technical issues that briefly dropped him back to third at Silverstone.