Kimi Antonelli overtook Lewis Hamilton down the Hangar Straight, winning a race long energy saving/ deployment battle where Ferrari seemed to struggle in comparison to Mercedes, especially with Antonelli at the wheel.
Thrilling overtaking in the opening stages
The first few laps around the iconic Silverstone circuit were full of excitement to say the least. From pole-sitter Hamilton down to seventh on the grid, Piastri were separated by nothing in the first third of the race, with constant switching of positions.
Alarmingly, Red Bulls poor starts resurfaced once again. Verstappen dropped to sixth after earning third on the grid in yesterday’s Sprint Qualifying session, putting him behind both McLarens and Russell and leaving him vulnerable to Leclerc. Verstappen’s team mate suffered the same fate, but his slow getaway dropped him out of the points behind both Racing Bulls and both Alpines.
Norris and McLaren Motivated by Home Support?
After a tough start to the season for McLaren, the Sprint Race finally looked to show some promise for tomorrow’s main event for McLaren, especially Lando Norris.
Both McLarens made a great start, catapulting Norris into a brief second place with his team mate Piastri battling with Russell for fourth. Once the race settled and the drivers found their groove, Norris held a convincing, albeit lonely third place finishing nearly 8 seconds back to Antonelli.
Piastri finished the race P7, 1 second behind Verstappen after spending the majority of the race competing with the Red Bull driver and Leclerc.
Work to do at Ferrari
Despite leading the first 8 laps of the Sprint, Ferrari seemed to be inferior to the mighty Mercedes of Antonelli. Hamilton pulled off a typical 2026 Ferrari fast start off the line, helping him to keep Antonelli at bay. He stayed with the home hero for the entirety until finally making a move down the Hangar Straight to take the lead, and pull away.
Hamilton’s battery left him defenseless against Antonelli who breezed passed with a lot more speed than the Ferrari. The British driver looked to have used all of his battery up in the beginning of Lap 8, making him a sitting duck with a serving of super clipping before even reaching Stowe.
Although he missed out on a potential Sprint Race home win, Hamilton’s day was far more positive than his team mate’s. Leclerc only managed sixth on the road after starting fourth.
Points or Penalty for Lawson?
The penultimate lap saw some drama between Hadjar and Lawson over the final points paying position. Hadjar had been closing in on Lawson for a few laps after passing fellow Racing Bulls driver, Lindblad for ninth. He eventually went for a move up the inside of Lawson heading towards Stowe but an aggressive defensive move caught the attention of the stewards.
Lawson closed the gap on the inside quite rapidly for Hadjar who avoided making contact with the right rear of Lawson’s RB but expressed his frustration over team radio, calling for an investigation on the Kiwi for moving under braking.
Racing Bulls’ team radio however applauded the move as great defending- I’m not sure the stewards will see it that way but we will update our socials as soon as a decision is made.
What we have learned for the Grand Prix:
If Antonelli gets the lead, he will be hard to knock off the top step of the podium. His incredible pace once passing Hamilton was clear and Ferrari had no answers for the young Italian. Russell struggled to match the performance of his Mercedes partner but last weekend in Austria, we saw a massive turn around from him, but only from Q3 onwards when it mattered most.
However, the fight for the podium should be interesting. Both Mercedes, both Ferraris, both McLarens and Verstappen look to have a chance. The Sprint Race also showed us that tyre degradation isn’t as severe as it was in Austria, helped by a British breeze that lowered track temperature. Hamilton is no stranger to taking tyres further than they should be able to around Silverstone so could a calculated, well managed one stop race strategy help him and Ferrari to take the challenge to Mercedes?
Image: Formula 1 via X