Charles Leclerc Wins the British Grand Prix as Kimi Antonelli Hits Trouble

SILVERSTONE, England. Charles Leclerc won the British Grand Prix on Sunday, finishing ahead of George Russell of Mercedes as the race ended under the Safety Car. Lewis Hamilton was third for Ferrari, and championship leader Kimi Antonelli dropped to 16th after a problem with his car.

It was Leclerc's ninth career win and his first at Silverstone. Antonelli's lead over Russell was cut to 25 points.

"It feels incredible," Leclerc said. "Unfortunately the end was maybe not the one I will have dreamt of but to win after the last few weekends that have been particularly difficult, all the work that we put into trying to get the feeling back in the car. I felt like I had found something yesterday between the Sprint and Qualifying, but I had to confirm that today. And today, the feeling was back where it needs to be."

Ferrari jumps the polesitter

Antonelli had won the Sprint (opens in a new tab) on Saturday and then took pole. At the start, Leclerc made a flying launch into the lead and Hamilton also passed Antonelli. Hamilton later received a five-second penalty for a false start, and Antonelli passed him at Copse on Lap 11.

Leclerc pitted for hard tyres on Lap 26, which put Antonelli in front. Antonelli stretched his first stint until Lap 36 and rejoined 7.5 seconds behind Leclerc.

Antonelli's race unravels

Antonelli had closed to 3.1 seconds by Lap 41 when he reported that something was broken. Mercedes changed his front wing and tyres, and the team suspected a failure of the left front wheel shield. He told the team the car was not turning and pitted again so the part could be removed.

He fell to 10th, and a five-second track limits penalty later dropped him to 16th.

On Lap 48, Max Verstappen spun into the gravel at Stowe in his Red Bull Racing car and the Safety Car came out. Both Ferraris and many others pitted, but Russell stayed out and jumped Hamilton for second. The race never restarted, so Leclerc won with Russell 0.427 seconds behind.

Hamilton kept third after the stewards gave him a reprimand for a yellow flag infringement.

The rest of the order

Lando Norris was fourth for McLaren, a year after his first British Grand Prix win, ahead of Isack Hadjar. Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad were sixth and seventh for Racing Bulls, and Gabriel Bortoleto took eighth for Audi. Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly scored for Alpine.

Oscar Piastri was 11th after pitting for a new front wing at the end of Lap 1. Carlos Sainz was 12th, and Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon were 13th and 14th for Haas. Sergio Perez was 15th for Cadillac, followed by Antonelli, Valtteri Bottas, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.

Verstappen, Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg retired.

After a weekend off, the season resumes at the Belgian Grand Prix on July 17 to 19.

For more, see Formula 1's race report (opens in a new tab).

This was Round 9 of the 2026 season. It came after Russell's Austrian Grand Prix win and before Antonelli's win at Spa. For the full title picture, see our 2026 F1 standings breakdown.

Sources: Formula 1. More Formula 1 coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: Richard Pardon / Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team