Lewis Hamilton insisted he gave “absolutely everything” after he was unable to hold off Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli in the Sprint at Silverstone.<\/p>\n
The Ferrari driver had started from pole position after a last gasp lap in Sprint Qualifying<\/a> saw him set a time just 0.011s clear of the young Italian\u2019s effort.<\/p>\n As Saturday’s Sprint got underway Hamilton<\/a> managed to keep Antonelli at bay for some time but was soon overtaken on Lap 8 by the current championship leader \u2013 who eventually crossed the line 2.745s ahead to take his maiden Sprint victory.<\/p>\n Reflecting on how his Sprint panned out after jumping out of the cockpit, Hamilton explained: “I said yesterday, that could be difficult. With the strong headwind down the back straight today, Kimi came flying past.<\/p>\n “I was pushing as hard as I could and gave it absolutely everything. Well done to Kimi. We\u2019ve got work to do to close that gap.”<\/p>\n As Antonelli extended his championship lead with his triumph in the Sprint, Hamilton further explained how the energy management played a significant role in his race on Saturday.<\/p>\n “(Mercedes) were particularly quick up to Turn 6, so sometimes I had to use the Boost there,” he said. “One of the biggest areas was coming out of Stowe, Turn 15, where you get all the power. That\u2019s where he was catching me massively.<\/p>\n “Once he got into Overtake mode, I couldn\u2019t hold him back because he had extra deployment throughout the lap. I couldn\u2019t keep him outside the one-second gap anymore and, once that was gone, I knew he was coming.”<\/p>\n However, despite missing out on another victory in front of his home crowd \u2013 Hamilton’s nine British Grand Prix wins at Silverstone is a record at a single circuit \u2013 the Ferrari<\/a> man seemed pleased with his P2 result.<\/p>\n “It\u2019s never fun to go back, but great day yesterday,” he continued. “We were right in the fight, which I was really not expecting this weekend.<\/p>\n “So, with that, I\u2019m really, really happy, and I\u2019m really happy with the effort the team is making to try and close that gap. We\u2019re slowly getting closer, but just not quite there yet”.<\/p>\n