Kimi Antonelli beats Lewis Hamilton in sprint race at F1's British Grand Prix<\/p>\n
Kimi Antonelli returned to winning ways on Saturday by denying Lewis Hamilton a crowd-pleasing home victory in the sprint race ahead of the British Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
Hamilton started on pole and held off Antonelli until lap eight of 17, when the Italian swept past with the help of electrical power.<\/p>\n
“Let’s go! Let’s go!” Antonelli told the team over the radio after taking the win.<\/p>\n
“It was a very fun first 10 laps with Lewis, we were both pushing very hard,” Antonelli added later. “Obviously the momentum is there and we are doing a great job together with the team.”<\/p>\n
The race was a prime example of F1 in 2026, with the strategy of charging and deploying electrical power central to the battles on track.<\/p>\n
It allowed drivers like Lando Norris to swap places with rivals lap after lap but also meant drivers lifting off through Silverstone’s best-known fast corners to recharge power.<\/p>\n
Hamilton was back fighting for a win again after a breakthrough victory last month at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, his first since moving to Ferrari last year.<\/p>\n
“I was pushing as hard as I could, I gave it absolutely everything,” Hamilton said. “We’ve got a bit of work to do to try and close that gap.”<\/p>\n
Lando Norris took third in McLaren’s white-and-green throwback livery after briefly running second at the start and then winning a thrilling back-and-forth battle with George Russell and Max Verstappen for third.<\/p>\n
Antonelli’s first win since last month’s Monaco Grand Prix stretched his Formula 1 standings lead to 43 points over teammate Russell, who was fourth after starting fifth.<\/p>\n
Russell had been complaining of a “strange” lack of pace in qualifying the day before, a setback after his win at the Austrian Grand Prix last week had boosted the British driver’s title chances.<\/p>\n
Charles Leclerc was fifth for Ferrari, Verstappen sixth for Red Bull, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri seventh. Liam Lawson was eighth for Racing Bulls but was facing a post-race investigation into his battle for position with Verstappen’s teammate Isack Hadjar.<\/p>\n
Qualifying is later Saturday for Sunday’s British Grand Prix.<\/p>\n