Antonelli reclaims Championship momentum with pole at Silverstone after Sprint victory; Leclerc and Hamilton relegate Russell to P4 after rocky qualifying effort
Championship leader Kimi Antonelli sent a message loud and clear to both his Mercedes teammate and any and all other challengers with a special Saturday effort at the venerable Silverstone Circuit in England. The upstart Italian contender began the day by taking the win in the Sprint race ahead of the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton and then carried that momentum into the subsequent Qualifying session, earning a dominant pole for Sunday’s British Grand Prix. Ferrari also had a strong showing, albeit miles away from Antonelli’s supreme pace on the day, with Charles Leclerc getting the better of Hamilton, P2 to P3. That put them in front of the second Mercedes of George Russell, who had a choppy qualifying after surviving both an unusual rear axel lockup into a gravel trap and then an uncommon seat change en route to P4 on the grid. Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar had the very rare honor of out-qualifying his highly decorated senior teammate Max Verstappen, P5 to P7. That excellent effort also put the young Frenchman ahead of both McLarens, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri scuffling to mediocre P6 and P8 results respectively.
Top 10 qualifiers for the British GP:
| POS | DRIVER | TEAM | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | LAPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Mercedes | 1:29.719 | 1:28.493 | 1:28.111 | 19 |
| 2 |
|
Ferrari | 1:29.534 | 1:28.626 | 1:28.286 | 18 |
| 3 |
|
Ferrari | 1:29.644 | 1:28.864 | 1:28.458 | 17 |
| 4 |
|
Mercedes | 1:29.985 | 1:28.920 | 1:28.481 | 17 |
| 5 |
|
Red Bull | 1:29.276 | 1:29.069 | 1:28.746 | 18 |
| 6 |
|
McLaren | 1:30.186 | 1:29.383 | 1:28.877 | 17 |
| 7 |
|
Red Bull | 1:29.549 | 1:29.113 | 1:28.893 | 18 |
| 8 |
|
McLaren | 1:29.971 | 1:29.218 | 1:29.032 | 18 |
| 9 |
|
Racing Bulls | 1:29.661 | 1:29.324 | 1:29.305 | 17 |
| 10 |
|
Racing Bulls | 1:29.300 | 1:29.429 | 1:29.716 | 20 |
Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.
Tomorrow’s race airs live beginning at 10 AM Eastern on AppleTV here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out, as Antonelli looks to hold off two hungry Ferraris and his always game teammate!