Hopes of a home win on what is expected to be a record-breaking weekend for Silverstone nosedived on Saturday as Kimi Antonelli took pole for Sunday’s race, having already claimed a convincing victory in the sprint.
The day proved to be something of a reality check after all the optimism created by Hamilton’s sprint qualifying pole on Friday. Charles Leclerc took second on the grid, two tenths quicker than Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton in third, and Mercedes’s George Russell was nearly four tenths off the pace of team-mate Antonelli in fourth.
Hamilton and Russell will have to be either very good or very lucky to claim victory from the second row, especially with Antonelli in the form he is in. His race pace looked far superior to the Ferrari’s in the sprint race earlier on Saturday.
Hamilton had got off to a good start in the 17-lap race, defending robustly from Antonelli into turn one. But the seven-time world champion was powerless to prevent the Mercedes from cruising past him into Stowe on lap eight.
Antonelli initially feinted as if to overtake into Brooklands, forcing Hamilton to deploy energy to defend, before powering past him on the back straight.
Antonelli then wasted little time in breaking the one-second gap to Hamilton – in which drivers can deploy “overtake mode”. He was able to cruise to victory by nearly three seconds, setting the fastest lap on the final lap.
“In the sprint we definitely had the faster car, especially on deg [degradation] with the tyres,” Antonelli admitted later. “Hopefully we can keep that for tomorrow as well.”
Silverstone are anticipating an all-time record crowd of 565,000 across the entire weekend. But they look set to be disappointed in terms of getting a British winner.
Hamilton and Leclerc may have to gang up on Antonelli if they are to stand any chance, running offset strategies, although the Briton did not sound all that optimistic.
“Nothing’s changed from this morning to now, or will change from today to tomorrow,” Hamilton said. “If [Kimi] gets it right he will be gone.”
Russell will be even more concerned than Hamilton. After finishing runner-up in Spain and then winning in Austria he said he was confident he had worked out why he was blowing hot and cold in the car. But he has not looked happy all weekend. He finished fourth in the sprint, and again in qualifying. That was after going off in Q1 and sliding through the gravel into the barrier, necessitating a new front wing. “That was very weird. Have never locked up there in my whole career,” he said over his radio.
Russell did lightly hit the barriers heading into Luffield 💥
He’s managed to get going again and back to the pits for repairs #F1#BritishGPpic.twitter.com/kT3EH2OuZP
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 4, 2026
He sounded completely befuddled at the finish. “I don’t know,” he said of his Q1 lock-up. “I’ve raced here for 12 years and I have never locked up once in that corner before. We made some changes to the set-up, it was probably more extreme than I thought. I don’t know.
“This whole weekend we’ve been struggling with straight-line speed, we don’t know why. There’s a couple of tenths over the lap compared to the other Mercedes car. The team are working super hard to try to understand. [It’s] not making things easier.”
Asked whether he could fight for the win on Sunday, he sounded equally gloomy. “If I’ve got the straight-line speed deficit, no. If I’m losing 5km/h in the straight, you cannot fight.”
Russell was far from the only nonplussed driver. Red Bull’s four-time world champion Max Verstappen qualified seventh, two places and 0.15sec slower than his team-mate Isack Hadjar.
McLaren, meanwhile, were nowhere, as Lando Norris qualified sixth, 0.766sec slower than Antonelli, and Oscar Piastri even further back in eighth, 0.921sec off the pace. Significant margins.
There is some chatter about McLaren being the only Mercedes customer team without the latest Mercedes power unit, but they are going to need more than that.
They are all going to have their work cut out catching Antonelli, who is already 40 points ahead of Russell and 46 ahead of Hamilton in the title race, and who will land another huge blow if he wins, not to mention disappoint nearly 200,000 fans.
At least Hamilton will get two bites at the cherry. He confirmed he would take part in Sunday’s Lego race, which is replacing the traditional drivers’ parade before the main grand prix, despite a pay row behind the scenes which threatened his participation.
05:52pm
Russell a little at a loss
He believes he is losing 5kmh on the straights to the other Mercedes-powered cars and, presumably, Antonelli too. He doesn’t give himself much chance of finishing first tomorrow and did not understand his incident in the first part of qualifying, either.
05:32pm
Was there more time out there for Hamilton
“Not particularly. I think… run two was pretty decent but I lost my deployment, there was a problem with the deployment basically and I lost three tenths on the back straight. I struggled a lot more in this qualifying session, a lot more understeer. Braking for example for turn three was quite inconsistent from me.”
He is not optimistic that they can beat Antonelli tomorrow. “Ultimately if he gets anywhere ahead, he will be gone,” he says.
05:30pm
More from Leclerc
He says his driving style aggressive and that translated well in the early part of the season but recently he has been unable to string a weekend together.
05:28pm
Interesting from Antonelli
He says Mercedes had some brake issues today, which perhaps explains Russell’s lock-up at Luffield in Q1.
“With our car we struggle a little bit with front locking, especially with conditions like today where you have the tailwind, front locking was very easy to achieve. I also had a little problem with the brake pedal in that it didn’t respond when I applied the brake.”
05:25pm
Work to do…
For everyone but Antonelli, really. Lots to play for tomorrow in a race that may be affected by the yo-yoing. I would be surprised if Ferrari can keep pace with the Mercedes cars, particularly Antonelli, but let’s see.
05:23pm
Hamilton on third
He says he is not satisfied with third.
“I am happy to be up there. Both of these guys did a great job today, Charles has been making good improvements. We just didn’t have the pace of the Mercedes. We are slowly closing the gap and to have both of us up here is great for the team. It’s definitely great to have both of us here because that means… whether or not we can fully keep up with Kimi, we will see tomorrow but hopefully we can play with the strategy and maybe topple them.”
05:21pm
Leclerc on second
“I am pleased, it’s been a few tough races where the feeling was not quite right. On the Sundays we’ve had things that sometimes we couldn’t score points. There’s been so much work behind the scenes to get back that feeling inside the car but today is the first time I had it back. I know how much I have struggled to be consistent recently it’s only the beginning but it’s a good step in the right direction.
“At the moment I am trying to look at a bit of everything because I was losing quite a bit of time, I just didn’t have much pace recently. You have to look at everything you do. We’ve worked really well, I am happy that P2, I wish I was on pole but Kimi did a great job and he deserves it.”
05:19pm
Antonelli reacts to pole
“I was a bit stressed because I never really like going first for the last run. The last lap was very tidy, it came together, it was very tricky with the wind because it was very gusty.
“We built our way through qualifying and to bring the pole home is very satisfying. We didn’t change the car at all, it was just about differential, brake migration, driving… we worked around it and we managed to find good setting that helped me progress through qualifying.”
05:14pm
Antonelli too strong again
Nobody had what it took to defeat him.
05:11pm
⏱️Q3 – Classification
- ANT 1:28.111
- LEC +0.175
- HAM +0.347
- RUS +0.370
- HAD +0.635
- NOR +0.766
- VER +0.782
- PIA +0.921
- LIN +1.194
- LAW +1.605
05:10pm
🏁KIMI ANTONELLI TAKES POLE FOR THE BRITISH GRAND PRIX!
Hamilton is only third, two tenths behind Leclerc. It’s Antonelli’s pole, then. Well done.
Russell fourth, Hadjar fifth and Norris sixth. None of them within 0.3sec of pole.
05:09pm
Q3 – No improvement from Russell
Russell stays second and does not improve. I think he is going to be bumped down from there… Leclerc into second…
Hamilton next…
05:08pm
Q3 – Antonelli improves…
Norris not troubling the front two rows here.
Antonelli crosses the line and improves by 0.274sec with a strong final sector. Plenty of time to find for his rivals, then… byt Leclerc has posted a strong first sector, Hamilton isn’t too far off.
05:07pm
Q3 – Antonelli starts his hot lap
How is his first sector? He is half a tenth up on his previous best. Good but not great. I think more time is out there to be had.
After two sectors he is 0.076sec faster than his previous best.
05:06pm
Q3 – Out the cars come
It’s Antonelli followed by Norris, Lindblad, Piastri, Lawson.
Antonelli not happy at being first out, which is understandable in a way. An animated message in the cockpit.
Two minutes remain. Hamilton will be the last of the top drivers to cross the line. Well, excluding Hadjar.
05:03pm
Q3 – A small mistake from Hamilton on his first run
He lost some time at turn three, Village. Enough time to claim pole? Not sure. He will surely leave it all out there, though.
05:03pm
Q3 – Order after first runs
- ANT 1:28.385
- RUS +0.096
- HAM +0.206
- LEC +0.235
- HAD +0.372
- VER +0.766
- PIA +0.846
- NOR +0.930
- LAW (NO TIME)
- LIN (NO TIME)
05:02pm
Q3 – Mercedes move to the top
Antonelli faster than Hamilton… what can Russell do? It’s good but not enough to beat Antonelli, 0.096sec in it.
05:00pm
Q3 – It’s a 1:29.231 for Piastri
I don’t think that will stay top for very long.
Russell with the fastest first sector, a tenth up on Antonelli.
Verstappen moves into first place, but for how long? Two seconds, Leclerc beats him by half a second… and Hamilton beats him by 0.029sec!
04:59pm
Q3 – The McLarens start their quick laps
28.473 for Piastri in sector one. The car does not look easy to drive. Norris is a bit slower than his team-mate after one sector. Leclerc is a couple of tenths up after one sector.
04:56pm
Q3 is under way!
Looks like a four-way shoot-out for pole. Verstappen, who did well in sprint qualifying is not happy today. Or fast.
04:50pm
⁉️Gasly and Piastri incident has been noted
Not sure what that was, actually. Impeding, I assume. Gasly is already being investigated for that in Q1.
04:50pm
🏁Q2 ends – Antonelli fastest
- ANT 1:28.493
- LEC +0.133
- HAM +0.371
- RUS +0.427
- HAD +0.576
- VER +0.620
- PIA +0.725
- LIN +0.831
- NOR +0.890
- LAW +0.936
OUT: BOR, GAS, HUL, BEA, SAI, ALB
04:48pm
Q2 – Antonelli does go faster
0.133sec ahead of Leclerc in the dress rehearsal for Q3.
04:48pm
Q2 – What can Piastri do on his next lap?
Only seventh, 0.354sec off Hamilton’s best so far. Hmmm. McLaren not in a good position this weekend. They have not often been in 2026.
Leclerc improves to go fastest by 0.238sec over Hamilton. Bearman will not be in Q3, neither will Bortoleto, Sainz or Albon.
Antonelli improving, can he dislodge Leclerc from the top?
04:45pm
Q2 – Better from Verstappen?
He is faster than Hadjar after two sectors and is faster than Hamilton after two sectors, too.
Can he sneak into first provisionally? Er, no. A poor final sector leaves him fifth, 0.249sec off Hamilton. That means he stays behind team-mate Hadjar.
“This is… what a disaster, unbelievable,” Verstappen responds on the radio.
04:42pm
Q2 – Current order
- HAM
- RUS +0.056
- ANT +0.179
- LEC +0.205
- HAD +0.319
- VER +0.444
- LIN +0.460
- LAW +0.839
- NOR +0.993
- BOR +1.052
DROP ZONE: PIA, BOR, GAS, BEA, SAI, ALB, HUL
No time from Hulkenberg yet.
04:40pm
Q2 – Actually it was the start of the lap where Antonelli made a mistake
Both McLarens, in eighth and 10th, were on scrubbed tyres. Antonelli begins another hot lap.
04:39pm
Q2 – Both Williams cars through to Q2
That is something, but they will both certainly be out in Q2. They are currently seventh and eighth, last of the drivers to set a time.
Hamilton is now top, 0.205sec faster than team-mate Leclerc. Piastri a long way back in eighth, 1.1sec off Hamilton.
What does Russell have? Splits the Ferraris.
Not sure what has happened to Antonelli, perhaps two prep laps for some reason. A sloppy middle sector, actually.
04:37pm
Q2 – Hadjar posts the first time
He posts a time that is 0.125sec faster than Verstappen at the moment. He is performing well this weekend.
In fairness, he has been quietly impressive most of the season, rarely that far from Verstappen.
04:34pm
🟢Q2 begins
Verstappen says his engine “is not responding normal”.
04:30pm
Q2 to restart in five minutes
A delay because of track cleaning. I think Ocon may be getting a grid drop looking at the replay of him following Colapinto’s spin at Becketts. Gasly, in the other Alpine, investigated for blocking Lance Stroll. I am less sure about that one, to be honest. Stroll was annoyed, though, but what difference does it make? They may as well drive golf buggies around Silverstone this weekend.
Broom broom! 👍#F1#BritishGPpic.twitter.com/Wuz1h8OKme
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 4, 2026
04:28pm
Aston Martin having a painful weekend
Both Cadillac drivers out in Q1 again. Bottas 18th and Perez 20th, the former around 0.6sec off Albon in 16th. But you would expect that. I had lunch with Cadillac team principal Graeme Lowdon today. He said it was a compliment that his team were being judged against established teams given how difficult it is to get a team off the ground. Aston Martin don’t have that excuse. 21st and 22nd. Horrific.
04:25pm
More troubles for Russell, then
Kind of sums up his season. He is clearly not out of this yet but it has been a stop/start season, in the extreme, for him so far. A clean weekend will be one he dearly wants. Not to be at Silverstone, clearly.
Session restart delayed slightly. Ocon being investigated after the session for a yellow-flag infringment.
04:21pm
Q1 – Top 16
- HAD 1:29.276
- LAW +0.024
- LEC +0.258
- HUL +0.263
- VER +0.273
- HAM +0.368
- LIN +0.385
- ANT +0.443
- PIA +0.695
- RUS +0.709
- NOR +0.910
- BOR +0.993
- GAS +1.069
- SAI +1.286
- BEA +1.249
- ALB +1.362
04:20pm
🏁Q1 ends – Hadjar fastest
Drivers out: OCO, BOT, COL, PER, STR, ALO
04:19pm
Q1 – Hadjar and Lawson currently top
But that is slightly unrepresentative. Alonso fails to out-qualify Stroll. Ocon is out after Bortoleto gets into 12th.
04:18pm
Q1 – Into the final stages
Bearman moves up into 13th so should be safe. Bottas trying to get through and posts a respectable time. Colapinto looks to be out.
04:15pm
Q1 – Who is in the drop zone?
COL, PER, BOT, ALO, STR, BOR
Bortoleto yet to set a lap time.
04:15pm
Q1 – Russell starts his hot lap
He needs to find a half-decent time here. He is nearly a tenth down on Colapinto after one sector but is much better after two, around 0.7sec up on where he currently needs to be.
He crosses the line in fifth, a couple of tenths slower than team-mate Antonelli.
04:13pm
Q1 – Russell is back out
A new front wing. He said on the radio that it was “very weird” and that he had never locked up there in his career before. Either way it’s another head-scratcher for the Briton.
Five minutes on the clock.
04:11pm
Q1 – Russell is still in the pits
He has yet to set a lap time. Lindblad has moved up into the top four with a decent lap, Hulkenberg in fifth.
04:10pm
Q1 – Eight mins remain
Here is the current top 10:
- LEC
- HAM
- ANT
- NOR
- VER
- HAD
- PIA
- GAS
- BEA
- COL
Plenty of drivers yet to set a lap time. Russell is one of them.
04:09pm
🟨Yellow flags – Russell in the gravel
Russell is in the gravel but he manages to get it going again. Haven’t seen really what happened yet and his front wing looks damaged. Whether he has hit the wall or the gravel caused it I do not know.
Oh no! 😮
Russell’s gone off and almost hits the barriers #F1#BritishGPpic.twitter.com/otZ3EAeV2v
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 4, 2026
It is a strange incident at Luffield. He went straight on into the gravel. Difficult to know what happened there, it’s not a fast corner. I wouldn’t be surprised if something failed there or went wrong in another way.
04:07pm
Q1 – Norris fighting the car
At the start of the lap, anyway. He is a tenth or so down on Leclerc after one sector. Where is he after two sectors? Nearly four tenths down, though he was strong in the final sector yesterday.
What is his final sector like? Not great, he ends third but 0.652sec off Leclerc’s best time.
04:05pm
Q1 – Hamilton on his first hot lap
Leclerc has crossed the line first but Hamilton cannot match him, around a tenth of a second behind.
04:03pm
Q1 – 15 mins left
A little cloudy overhead at the moment. Perez is the first driver to set a time closely followed by Carlos Sainz and the Esteban Ocon.
04:00pm
🟢GREEN LIGHT – Q1 starts!
18 minutes, six drivers eliminated from the 22.
03:55pm
Five minutes to go…
Predictions? The wind has picked up a little. That could play a factor. I think Antonelli will be challenged closely but will claim pole position ahead of Russell, Hamilton, Verstappen and Leclerc. In that order.
03:46pm
Nigel Mansell interview: The doctor told me I had an hour to live
Racing Nigel Mansell down a zip wire in the New Forest was not what I imagined when I agreed to interview the 1992 Formula One world champion. But interesting things tend to happen in Mansell’s company. They always have. Despite the famously dour Brummie monotone, which often made even his greatest victories sound like a minor inconvenience, Mansell has always been a man who has embraced life.
We arranged to meet at Avon Tyrrell, an outdoor activity centre operated by the charity UK Youth, of which Mansell has been the president since 1999. Mansell is in the process of raising £4m for a new sports complex and has come to inspect the site. We have barely said hello before he is coaxing me into a harness. There is no question of saying no. At 72, and despite various health setbacks (more on which later), Mansell is still a force of nature.
He is also, believe it or not, scared of heights. “Ironic, isn’t it?” says a man who thought nothing of going wheel-to-wheel with Ayrton Senna at 200mph, sparks flying literally and metaphorically. “My legs have gone to putty.”
03:34pm
How fast have the teams been in qualifying so far this season?
Mercedes clearly ahead, but they are being reeled in. The state of Aston Martin, though. It is a thoroughly miserable state of affairs. I am struggling to remember the last time a team of their stature was this far adrift. Williams had some poor seasons between 2018 and 2021 but this bad? At least they have scored a point…
03:29pm
Norris gets a bit cheeky
Lando Norris jokes that he has ‘better fans’ than George Russell! 😆 pic.twitter.com/LnUoUozOGp
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) July 4, 2026
03:22pm
Updated constructor standings
03:10pm
Updated driver standings
That sprint race does not change things too much, but Antonelli extends his lead over Russell by a handful of points and Hamilton makes up ground on Russell by a similar margin.
03:05pm
British Grand Prix, sprint classification
- Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes 8pts
- Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari 7pts
- Lando Norris, McLaren 6pts
- George Russell, Mercedes 5pts
- Charles Leclerc, Ferrari 4pts
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull 3pts
- Oscar Piastri, McLaren 2pts
- Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls 1pt
03:04pm
Report: Hamilton denied by Antonelli in British GP sprint race
Kimi Antonelli handed Lewis Hamilton’s army of fans a reality check with a controlled victory in Saturday’s sprint race at the British Grand Prix.
Hamilton had sent Silverstone’s grandstands into raptures on Friday when he claimed a dramatic sprint pole, by just 0.011sec, from Italy’s precocious teenage championship leader.
But despite a good start, in which Hamilton had to defend robustly from Antonelli into turn one, the seven-time world champion was powerless to prevent the Mercedes from cruising past him into Stowe on lap eight.
Antonelli feinted as if to overtake into Brooklands, forcing Hamilton to deploy energy to defend, and then powered past him on the back straight.
And Antonelli take the lead! 🔀#F1Sprint#BritishGP | LAP 8/17 pic.twitter.com/I3JwlMSrmj
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 4, 2026
Antonelli wasted little time in breaking the one-second gap to Hamilton – in which drivers can deploy “overtake mode” and was able to surge to victory by nearly three seconds, setting the fastest lap on the final lap.
“Kimi, well done. Did the fastest lap make you happier at the end?” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff asked him.
“Yeah it made me happier,” came the response.
McLaren’s Lando Norris was a distant, albeit encouraging third, ahead of George Russell, who will be increasingly concerned at his inability to match his Mercedes team-mate so far this weekend.
The fans at Silverstone will also be a bit deflated at what this result might mean for Sunday’s feature race.
“It’s tough race to keep the Mercedes behind,” Hamilton admitted. “I did say that would potentially be the case, and also [there was] a big big headwind down the back straight and he came flying past.
“Once he got the overtake mode I couldn’t hold him back. As soon as that was lost, I knew he was coming.”
Qualifying for the main race takes place at 4pm UK time.
01:02pm
What was Norris’s issue?
He does not specify. “Just something that we should be doing a better job on,” he says. “Just some things we need to better as a team,” he adds.
He is then asked about whether there should be a Russell grandstand…
“I just have more passionate fans and I think better fans,” Norris says. “Mine [the ‘Landostand’] was just more wanted from a public point of view,” he says.
12:59pm
Press conference quotes
Hamilton says there is more time to find from himself, the drivers say the quality of the racing was pretty much how they expected it to be if not a little better. Hamilton surprised that Ferrari were strong. Norris pleased in his sprint race performance.
12:51pm
Updated driver standings
12:42pm
Antonelli reacts to sprint victory
“It was a very fun first 10 laps with Lewis, we were both pushing very hard. When I got into overtake I knew my chance was coming and that lap was very close I went alongside in Brooklands. I decided to wait and going into Stowe I used everything I had. From that point on I tried to get into my rhythm and tried to break the overtake I had and tried to bring it home.
“The momentum is there and we are doing a great job together with the team. We cannot let our guard lower because Lewis and Ferrari are doing an incredible job, red bull and McLaren are going and obviously George is super quick. We just need to keep raising that bar and keep delivering performances.”
12:39pm
Hamilton on second
“Tough race to keep the Mercedes behind. With it being so windy today, big headwind down the back straight he came flying past. We’ve got work to do to try to close that gap so we can keep up.
“They were particularly quick up to turn six so I had to sometimes use the boost there. One of the biggest places is turn 15… you get on the power and there’s no power. Once he got the overtake mode I couldn’t hold him back. As soon as that was lost, I knew he was coming.”
12:37pm
Norris reacts
“That was a very good race, I am every happy. Good start, good first lap… not the pace to go with these guys but I had a good battle with the guys behind me. It’s just a sprint so we have to do it all again tomorrow. There was a couple of things we can do better for later and tomorrow. Good race, good points. George was catching me pretty quickly at the end.”
12:33pm
Norris not happy with something
Asks his team to “just get it right”. Not sure what he is referring to exactly. Or even generally.
Antonelli gets the fastest lap on the final lap, for what it’s worth. 2.745sec his winning margin.
12:31pm
⏱️British GP sprint classification
- ANT 8pts
- HAM 7pts
- NOR 6pts
- RUS 5pts
- LEC 4pts
- VER 3pts
- PIA 2pts
- LAW 1pt
12:30pm
🏁KIMI ANTONELLI WINS THE BRITISH GP SPRINT RACE!
He crosses the line to take his first sprint win and extend his championship lead. Just too quick for Ferrari and Hamilton in the end.
12:29pm
FINAL LAP
Not sure we will see a change of position anywhere here. Possibly Lawson and Hadjar might swap.
Hadjar is fighting Lawson for the final point! ⚔️#F1Sprint#BritishGP | LAP 16/17 pic.twitter.com/1wGicfkmfQ
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 4, 2026
I don’t think Russell has the pace to trouble Norris for third. Hamilton appears to have settled for second now; 2.5sec behind he is.
12:29pm
Lap 16 of 17 – Hadjar unhappy
He says Lawson moved under braking “so hard” into Stowe. He very much did, though how much of it was him just taking the corner. Think Hadjar has a point, though. Can he get eighth and take a literal championship point, though?
12:27pm
Lap 15 of 17 – Can Russell catch Norris?
One second is the gap now and 0.6sec faster the Mercedes was on the last tour of this track.
Antonelli leads Hamilton by more than two seconds.
12:26pm
Lap 14 of 17 – Antonelli leads Hamilton by 1.3sec
Bodes well for a competitive Sunday, this. Mercedes look to have the ultimate pace, though.
A proper Noah’s Ark look to the bottom half of the order: Alpines in 11th and 12th, Audi in 13th and 14th, Haas in 15th and 16th, Williams in 17th and 18th and Aston Martin in 20th and 21st. Perez is a lap down, not sure what happened to him.
12:24pm
Lap 13 of 17 – Hamilton slipping back now
1.7sec the gap to leader Antonelli now. Norris a further 5.4sec behind. Not sure Hamilton has the pace to challenge for victory here. But he does close the gap by a few tenths by the time the lap is done.
12:22pm
Lap 12 of 17 – Top eight and gaps
- ANT
- HAM +1.7
- NOR +6.9
- RUS +9.9
- LEC +10.8
- VER +11.8
- PIA +13.5
- LAW +21.1
12:21pm
Lap 11 of 17 – Hamilton still sticking around
He is back to within a second at the start of the lap, but then that stretches to 1.2sec by the end of the lap…
The RUS-LEC-VER battle continues to yo-yo. Positions not changing yet, but it is closing up. Norris 2.5sec or so ahead of Rusell and in the final podium spot.
The battle for P4 😮
Russell ⚔️ Verstappen ⚔️ Leclerc#F1Sprint#BritishGP | LAP 10/17 pic.twitter.com/7GmJ22PYWk
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 4, 2026
12:19pm
Lap 10 of 17- Verstappen and Russell battle
Russell forces Verstappen wide at the start of the lap and onto the Wellington Straight. He has the track position into Brooklands and Luffield. Verstappen now vulnerable to Leclerc behind.
Hamilton has dropped back to outside of a second behind Antonelli. Is the race done and dusted now?
Leclerc then overtakes Verstappen up the inside as they head into Stowe. Russell has just moved a little further ahead of that battle now.
12:18pm
Lap 9 of 17 – Antonelli looking quick
0.9sec ahead of Hamilton now. He hasn’t dropped back dramatically since being overtaken. Russell and Verstappen having a strong battle for third and Russell then gets fourth place without too much fuss. I don’t think that will be the end of that battle, though. Norris next up the road…
12:16pm
Lap 8 of 17 – Antonelli takes the lead!
Antonelli is closer than he has been before. He goes onto the Wellington Straight but Hamilton defends well. That was as vulnerable as Hamilton has been so far. Might just be a case of biding his time as he closed up on the Hangar Straight.
Has he got the power into Stowe? Yes, he has. Well, in fact a long time before that… Hamilton evidently used up his battery to defend and Antonelli took the lead out of the corner…
12:15pm
Lap 7 of 17 – Hamilton leads Antonelli by 0.7sec
The battle behind them is closing up to Norris. Verstappen, Russell and Leclerc, to a lesser extent, are gaining ground.
Here is the top eight:
- HAM
- ANT
- NOR
- VER
- RUS
- LEC
- PIA
- LAW
12:12pm
Lap 6 of 17 – The gap at the front is fairly steady…
Antonelli manages to close up in the middle sector but he cannot get quite close enough to consider a move. He is been around 0.7-0.9sec behind consistently, though.
12:12pm
Lap 5 of 17 – Hamilton leads Antonelli
Antonelli looking marginally faster. The top two have separated themselves from the rest of the pack, a five-second gap back to Norris.
12:09pm
Lap 4 of 17 – Hamilton leads Antonelli by 0.9sec
More positions switching, it is hard to keep up frankly.
Lots of chopping and changing in the early laps behind the race leader Hamilton
Here’s Russell getting past Piastri 👀#F1Sprint#BritishGP | LAP 3/17 pic.twitter.com/u0A6XMjXgP
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 4, 2026
Russell has dropped back from the battle for third and Leclerc is closing in on him for sixth.
12:08pm
Lap 3 of 17 – Top 10 as it stands
- HAM
- ANT
- NOR
- VER
- RUS
- PIA
- LEC
- GAS
- LAW
- LIN
12:07pm
Lap 2 of 17 – Norris hunting down Russell again
And he gets him, back into third… Hamilton leads Antonelli by 1.2sec, meanwhile.
Leclerc down into seventh…
Verstappen’s turn to make progress, overtakes Russell and moves into fourth. Yo-yo racing is well and truly back.
12:06pm
THE BRITISH GP SPRINT RACE IS GO!
It’s not a brilliant start from Hamilton and it is a better one from Antonelli. Hamilton goes around the outside and manages to make it stick. He was ahead, just about, but he had to defend. Verstappen has slipped down the order into sixth from third…
The McLarens are charging… Norris is through into second! Piastri into fourth behind him… Antonelli back through, though into second, which helps Hamilton.
Russell makes progress, though and gets Norris for third, with Antonelli ahead… a dramatic opening lap.
12:03pm
The formation lap is go
Everyone away cleanly…
11:59am
Starting tyre types
Not much variation in the top 10. Everyone but Lawson, on the softs, is on the mediums. In fact only three other drivers are on the softs: Bottas, Alonso and Stroll.
11:53am
It is busy out there…
Full house on the grid! 😅#F1Sprint#BritishGPpic.twitter.com/DfCspRzK84
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 4, 2026
565,000 is the predicted attendance this weekend, which would be an F1 record… not sure how many are on the grid, though. Or indeed whether team members and media count as attendees. They are attending, though, so surely they must.
Anyway, about six or seven minutes until we get going…
11:45am
Driver standings
It is difficult to gain too much from a sprint race, but you can lose a chunk if something goes wrong. It might be damage limitation for Russell and a couple of others today. Hamilton, meanwhile, will be looking to overtake Russell and put himself back into second in the standings after a tough week in Austria last weekend.
11:42am
British GP sprint: starting grid
1. HAM 2. ANT
3. VER 4. LEC
5. RUS 6. NOR
7. PIA 8. HAD
9. LAW 10. LIN
11. GAS 12. BOR
13. HUL 14. COL
15. SAI 16. ALB
17. OCO 18. PER
19. BOT 20. ALO
21. STR
PIT LANE: ALB
Albon is starting from the pit-lane for these reasons: “Alex will start today’s sprint from the pit lane, allowing us to make setup changes and gather learnings for the rest of the weekend and season,” Williams report.
11:39am
Average qualifying position in 2026
The chart above is inclusive of sprint races as well as main grand prix qualifying sessions. It is all relatively close between the team-mates. The closest-matched pairs are Russell and Antonelli and Ocon and Bearman, with just 0.83 places on average between them whilst the biggest gap is between Albon and Sainz, an average of two places. It has not been a good season for Williams, and especially Albon.
11:35am
The pit lane is open
Good morning from Silverstone! 🇬🇧
We have a green light in the pit lane 🤩
T-minus 30 mins until the start of #F1Sprint ⏳#F1#BritishGPpic.twitter.com/sizNuS1fRv
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 4, 2026
A little more cloud cover today than yesterday. Air temperature is around 22C and track temperature at 35.2C. Only the lightest of breezes around in the air.
11:28am
What’s eating Charles Leclerc?
It has not been a happy season for Charles Leclerc. In fact, it is arguably his trickiest season in Formula One to date, and a significant contrast to last year. He trails team-mate Hamilton by 46 points after eight rounds and is being beaten 7-5 by Hamilton in qualifying. Across the entirety of last season, he only beat Leclerc seven times, so he has already matched that.
Worse than that is the recent trend. Post Miami, Leclerc trails 5-1 in qualifying and has lagged behind in races (a consequence of the former issue) too. The Monegasque does not look quite as lost as Hamilton was last season, but he is struggling to understand what is happening (beyond struggling with the brakes), let alone being able to reverse it
11:22am
Watch: Hamilton takes sprint pole
Take it away, Crofty…
Comms cam for that Lewis Hamilton Sprint pole at Silverstone! 🎙️ pic.twitter.com/tI8lmKxraE
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) July 4, 2026
Mercedes have not often been beaten over one lap this year, but this lap was worthy of that.
11:12am
Sprint qualifying classification
Aston Martin are in a real pickle.
11:04am
Good morning
Welcome to our live coverage for the Saturday of the 2026 British Grand Prix, which is an action-packed day. First up is the sprint race, at noon, where Lewis Hamilton will start on pole position.
This is a track he knows so well and where he has triumphed more than anybody else in F1. Still, it was at least a little surprise to plenty here to see him take pole. He did not expect it and I am not sure many others here expected it. Mercedes were thought to be too strong on a track that places a strong premium (or so we thought) on energy recovery.
The question is whether Hamilton and Ferrari have the pace over a sprint race distance to hold onto the win. Supplementary questions are whether Mercedes can overcome their deficit (which, admittedly was small) to take pole in qualifying for the main grand prix later today. As for the race tomorrow, well, there are so many unknowns. As strong and surprising as Hamilton’s lap was, let us not get too far ahead of ourselves. He may not even finish on the podium this weekend.
There was more frustration for George Russell, who was down in fifth and more than 0.3sec adrift of his team-mate and championship leader Kimi Antonelli. The Italian has been better at hitting the ground running this season, and that sets up nicely for a sprint race weekend. Again, he did not seem to be able to explain the size of the deficit. That said, he was not the only one of the front-running teams’ drivers who struggled relative to their team-mate.
The problem for Russell is not just the gap, but these types of performances. Plenty of time to turn it around, though. Starting with the sprint, which starts in around an hour.
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