Antonelli overtakes Hamilton to win Silverstone sprint race

Formula 1 championship leader Kimi Antonelli beat Lewis Hamilton to win a frantic British Grand Prix sprint race at Silverstone for his first Saturday victory of the 2026 campaign.

The Mercedes driver crossed the 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 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 contest.

This was evident right from the start as pole man Hamilton and Antonelli bolted clear at lights out and built a four-second buffer across the opening three laps, with a scrappy battle behind emerging over third place.

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

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

The battle for third started to die down come the halfway mark and, ultimately, 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 down into Brooklands.

Hamilton held firm but not for too long, as the 19-year-old eventually moved by into the lead on Hangar Straight before soon boasting too much pace for the Ferrari to keep up.

It was around this point on lap 10 when the fight behind Norris intensified 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 coming 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 team-mate late, on but in contentious circumstances as he squeezed his former team-mate under braking at Stowe. 

This all leaves Antonelli with a 43-point championship advantage over second-placed Russell ahead of Sunday’s grand prix, with third-placed Hamilton now four behind his fellow Briton. 

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– The Autosport.com Team