Kimi Antonelli has claimed pole position for the British Grand Prix and extended his lead in the championship with victory in the sprint race as McLaren’s struggles continued.

With five British drivers on the grid including the resurgent Lewis Hamilton, the home crowd would have been hoping for a British winner this weekend at Silverstone, but Antonelli looks set to spoil the party.

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The Italian teenager expertly overtook Hamilton in the sprint race, picking up eight championship points, before producing the fastest lap in qualifying to take pole position.

“Nothing is going to take the smile off his face today,” David Croft said on Kayo Sports.

“This has been a very satisfying Saturday for the championship leader.”

Martin Brundle added: “He’s looking ever more comfortable in that role.”

“It’s impressive how he’s calm and kills with a smile,” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said.

“It’s a pleasure to watch. There’s no mistakes, he’s really performing, considering it’s his second year, at such a high level. He doesn’t’t show any weaknesses.”

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was second fastest, while Hamilton and George Russell will start on the second row on the grid.

McLaren was well off the pace as Ferrari looked the only team capable of challenging Mercedes for the race win.

Lando Norris was third in the sprint while Australia’s Oscar Piastri was seventh in the 17-lap dash.

The Australian struggled for pace and qualified eighth for the main race, nearly a second slower than Antonelli.

Piastri was summoned to the stewards following an incident in the pits where involving a near miss with Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad ahead of their final flying laps in qualifying.

Red Bull was fined 5,000 euros for Lindblad’s unsafe release in the pits.

The Aussie slammed on the brakes to avoid ramming into the back of Lindblad as the rookie came out of the garage.

“Ah yep. It’s a good thing my underwear bottoms are black today and not white,” Piastri quipped to his engineer.

As he struggled in qualifying, Piastri said on team radio “I just have zero grip”, while McLaren boss Zak Brown all but conceded the team was no chance of making the podium at Silverstone.

“We don’t seem to have it,” Brown said. “Both drivers are complaining of a lot of lack of grip and not great balance.”

Martin Brundle said in commentary: “McLaren once again look very stiff with the vertical stiffness of the competition. It jumps about a bit.”

“Just struggled a lot with rear grip,” Piastri said.

“We thought we made some pretty sensible changes in qualifying but they just didn’t really have the impact we were hoping for.

“A bit of a surprise why it’s been such a battle all weekend. I’ve been battling with the balance of the car. We lack grip and downforce. This weekend it’s been a pretty big handful to drive the car.”

“Trying to beat the Red Bulls is probably the main opportunity,” Piastri added.

“Maybe we can beat the Ferraris, but I’m not particularly optimistic. The first few laps of the sprint were chaos so hopefully we can get amongst it.”

George Russell Russell was nearly four tenths of a second slower than his younger teammate and his hopes of challenging for the championship appear to be fading as Antonelli’s confidence continues to grow.

“It’s a big gap. Around any racetrack it’s a big gap for a driver and that hurts when it’s your teammate,” 2009 world champion Jenson Button said.

“We’ve all been there. He’ll be scratching his head a little bit and trying to understand how Kimi’s able to do that every time he gets in the car.”

Provisional British GP starting grid

1st row: Kimi Antonelli, Charles Leclerc

2nd row: Lewis Hamilton, George Russell

3rd row: Isack Hadjar, Lando Norris

4th row: Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri

5th row: Arvid Lindblad, Liam Lawson

6th row: Gabriel Bortoleto, Pierre Gasly

7th row: Nico Hulkenberg, Ollie Bearman

8th row: Caros Sainz, Alex Albon

9th row: Esteban Ocon, Valtteri Bottas

10th row: Franco Colapinto, Sergio Perez

11th row: Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso