Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli caught and passed Lewis Hamilton to win an action-packed sprint race at the British Grand Prix.
While McLaren’s Lando Norris, Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen staged a frantic place-swapping scrap in the opening laps at Silverstone, Antonelli bided his time before homing in on Hamilton at the front.
The 19-year-old Italian let the race settle down before remorselessly homing in on the Ferrari and blasting past Hamilton on the Hangar Straight on lap eight after strategically saving his battery charge.
He made one attempt at Brooklands corner at the end of the Wellington Straight only to be rebuffed, before blasting past Hamilton on the Hangar Straight on lap eight after strategically saving his battery charge.
Hamilton hung on bravely but could do nothing to stop Antonelli extending his championship lead still further to 43 points over Russell.
“It was a very fun first 10 laps with Lewis,” Antonelli said. “We were both pushing very hard. When I got into overtake (mode), I knew my chance was coming.
“I got a good run out of (Turn) Four. He went a bit wide and I think he used boost to defend and I just waited and then used it out of (Turn) 13, everything I had, and made the move.”
Hamilton said: “Tough race to keep the Mercedes behind, as I said it might be. And with it being so windy today, big headwind down the back straight, he came flying past. I didn’t have anything left.
“I was pushing as hard as I could to keep the gap to more than one second, but in my tow he was just closing, and once he got the overtake mode, I couldn’t get rid of him. He came flying past on the straight to Stowe.”
Hamilton nevertheless said he had been happily surprised by how close Ferrari were to Mercedes at Silverstone.
“The guys were talking about it being a 0.6-0.7secs deficit on the straights. Last race we were losing 0.4secs on the straight. I imagine it was something similar here today. It was less yesterday, but in the race it increases with deployment.”
Behind them, Norris drove an excellent race to blast up from sixth on the grid to third on the first lap, and briefly got past Antonelli for second before the Italian retook the position.
There were a few hectic laps as Norris, Russell and Verstappen swapped places before Norris managed to consolidate third place and move clear of the the battle behind him.
“It was a very good race,” the world champion said. “I’m very, very happy, good start, good first lap, not the pace to go with these guys but had a good battle with George. Pleasantly surprised.
“I was fighting the car everywhere to be honest. It wasn’t a straightforward race and I knew George would be catching, like he was towards the end of the race. We’re not on a similar level to these guys (Mercedes and Ferrari) on car performance. ”
Russell managed to pass Verstappen on lap nine before the four-time champion fell back into the clutches of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who moved past the Red Bull a lap later.
Verstappen dropped back but managed to hold off McLaren’s Oscar Piastri to take sixth.
Racing Bull’s Liam Lawson held off an attack from Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar in the closing laps as they took the final points positions.
Qualifying for Sunday’s main grand prix is at 16:00 BST on Saturday.
Top 8
1. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)
- Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)
Lando Norris (McLaren)
George Russell (Mercedes)
Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
8. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls)
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