SILVERSTONE, England (AP) — Kimi Antonelli returned to winning ways in Formula 1 with a sprint race victory and pole position for the British Grand Prix on a day of struggles for his title rival George Russell.
After overtaking Lewis Hamilton to deny the British star a crowd-pleasing victory in the sprint, Antonelli doubled up with pole position for Sunday’s race.
"The last lap was very tidy," he said. "It came all together. It was very tricky with the wind, because it was very gusty, unpredictable."
The 19-year-old standings leader went fastest on his last lap by 0.175 of a second from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, with Hamilton third.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 1:28.111 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +0.175 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | +0.347 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | +0.370 |
| 5 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | +0.635 |
| 6 | Lando Norris | McLaren | +0.766 |
| 7 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +0.782 |
| 8 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +0.921 |
| 9 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | +1.194 |
| 10 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | +1.604 |
| 11 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | Q2 |
| 12 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | Q2 |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | Q2 |
| 14 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | Q2 |
| 15 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | Q2 |
| 16 | Alex Albon | Williams | Q2 |
| 17 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | Q1 |
| 18 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | Q1 |
| 19 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | Q1 |
| 20 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | Q1 |
| 21 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | Q1 |
| 22 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | Q1 |
"Am I satisfied? Of course not, I'm P3, but I'm happy to be up here," Hamilton said. "However, these guys did a great job today."
"Charles has obviously been making good improvements and we just didn't have the pace, unfortunately, of the Mercedes. It's been kind of a thing for a while, but we’re slowly closing the gap. And to have both of us up here is great for the team."
Russell was fourth in the sprint and then again in qualifying, after contact with the wall early on, and will start Sunday’s race behind the two Ferraris.
Max Verstappen qualified seventh as the four-time champion reported his car had a problem affecting its top speed that needs to be fixed.
"Otherwise there’s no point competing" in Sunday’s race, he told Sky Sports.
