Article by Finley Ever
Passion, History, Tradition. Welcome to the Grand Prix that began all Grand Prix: Silverstone.
The starting grid
- Kimi Antonelli
- Charles Leclerc
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Isack Hadjar
- Lando Norris
- Max Verstappen
- Oscar Piastri
- Arvid Lindblad
- Liam Lawson
- Gabriel Bortoleto
- Nico Hulkenberg
- Oliver Bearman
- Carlos Sainz
- Pierre Gasly
- Alex Albon
- Esteban Ocon
- Valtteri Bottas
- Franco Colapinto
- Sergio Perez
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
The race start
It’s the youngest WDC leader sitting on pole with Charles Leclerc in second. The second the five lights went out, Charles Leclerc wasted no time and immediately passed Kimi for first. Charles was then followed by his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, who also passed Kimi within the first turn of the track!
As beginnings go in F1 2026, the drivers quickly bunched up and began passing one another, but Charles Leclerc took first and ran with it, quickly gaining seconds on Lewis Hamilton.
Farther back on the grid, Alex Albon and Brit Ollie Bearman had a run in which resulted in them both going off track and losing many positions.
Later on in the lap, Lewis Hamilton received the news that he got a 5-second time penalty for moving his car before the final red light went out. So now in second, Lewis was going to have to serve it when he went in for his pit stop.
A repeat of the sprint
Just like in the Sprint race the day before, Lewis Hamilton ran out of energy in his car in lap 11, leaving him vulnerable to Kimi behind. And Kimi immediately took advantage of Lewis slowing down! He passed him to take second. At this time, Kimi’s gap to Charles ahead was now 4 seconds.
Classic Ferrari strategy
In lap 24, Lewis, still in third, got called into the pit lane to change his tires and take his 5-second time penalty. Even though Lewis insisted over the radio that his tires were still good, Ferrari overruled his judgement. With the added time of the penalty, Lewis’ pit stop was a whopping 8.8 seconds, no number a driver ever wants to see when exiting the pit lane. He reentered the track in sixth, just behind George Russell who also pitted at the same time as his old teammate.
Pass and repass
In laps 29 and 30, Lewis and George played the ultimate game of yo yo! First, Lewis passed George for fourth, then a few turns later George repassed Lewis for fourth again! A lap later, Lewis repassed George again for fourth, only to be repassed by the Mercedes man, and this time, George held on.
A puncture
Lap 34 of his home race, George Russell was informed that he had a slow puncture on his right rear tire, so he had to make his way into the pits. But before doing so, it appears he decided to ruffle some of Max Verstappen’s feathers. He began to drive alongside him and almost ran Max off the track before abruptly turning into the pit lane.
Lewis moves up yet again
In lap 38, Lewis passed Max Verstappen for third, taking back his original position in this race.
A turn of events
Lap after lap, Kimi Antonelli continued to hunt Charles Leclerc down for first, but on lap 41, and unexpected Mercedes radio message came through. That message was Kimi informing his race engineer that something was broken in the car. After identifying that the issue could easily be fixed with a pit stop, in lap 42 Kimi came in for that fix. But once he reentered the race, he confirmed that the issue was still there and most likely more internal on the car than a pit stop was able to mollify. But despite Bono, his race engineer, telling him that they should retire the car, Kimi insisted on finishing the race to score at least one point, which was what Kimi’s race had turned into, now in 10th position. But since he was not fully in control of the damaged car, he was all over the place, earning him a 5-second time penalty for exceeding track limits.
Charles Leclerc began to breathe a sigh of relief as Kimi dropped in positions. Lewis Hamilton, now in 2nd, was 20 seconds behind Charles with 4 laps left in the race. The Monegasque was close to having the win in the bag, but that was before another twist happened in this race which guaranteed the win for Charles.
Max Verstappen crashes
With four laps left in the Grand Prix, Max Verstappen, who was running in P3, crashed into the gravel right in front of the Lando Norris Grand Stand! This unexpected crash brought out a full Safety Car, which Charles used to his advantage to replace his old and weary tires for the final few laps. Lewis pitted as well, but George Russell behind decided not to, which sent him ahead into second! George is notorious for sneaking his way onto podiums, and this is an exact example of that! While he might have taken away the chances of Ferrari having a 1-2, he scored more points for Mercedes when Kimi was not able to.
The Safety car ended with a lap left, so naturally all the drivers assumed they had to go to war in the final lap, but the Safety Car never left the track. As if the ending of the SC was never announced, the Safety Car was abruptly redeployed! So Silverstone ended under a Safety Car, frustrating for the fans watching but quite good news for the drivers who felt they couldn’t defend their position on their old tires, like George Russell.
Charles Leclerc wins
Charles Leclerc wins the British Grand Prix! For the first time in 2 years, the Ferrari driver made his way to the top step of the podium. Austin 2024 was his last win, now that has changed with Silverstone! With last year looking so desperate for Ferrari, they truly have switched it around this year with a win from both of their drivers! George Russell took home second, his first ever podium at his home race! And Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top three with his 16th home race podium. A double Ferrari podium called for loud chants of the Italian national anthem coming from the Ferrari team. Alexandra Leclerc was there to celebrate her husband’s win, as well as both Lewis’ mum and brother!
What an amazing race for Charles! Regardless of the weird situation with the Safety Car in the end, Charles led for almost all the laps of the race, truly showing that he deserved this victory!
The day that started off looking so promising for the Italian teenager quickly went down the drain, but he continues to lead the WDC with a strong margin to second place, so not all hope is lost!
Position Results
- Charles Leclerc
- George Russell
- Lewis Hamilton
- Lando Norris
- Isack Hadjar
- Liam Lawson
- Arvid Lindblad
- Gabriel Bortoleto
- Franco Colapinto
- Pierre Gasly
- Oscar Piastri
- Carlos Sainz
- Ollie Bearman
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Perez
- Kimi Antonelli
- Valtteri Bottas
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Max Verstappen (DNF)
- Alex Albon (DNF)
- Nico Hulkenberg (DNF)
Next up: Belgium. I’ll see you guys then!
xx
The Formula 1 edit 
Leave a comment