Kimi Antonelli stamped his authority on the British Grand Prix weekend by taking victory in the Sprint Race before scoring pole position on Saturday.
The 19-year-old claimed victory in Saturday’s 17-lap Sprint Race, the fourth of six to be held this season, having passed home favorite Lewis Hamilton mid-distance.
The race was dominated by energy management and battery usage, and a return to the yo-yo style of racing that was prevalent across the opening rounds, owing to Silverstone’s energy-starved layout, particularly through the second half of the lap.
Antonelli easily cruised past Hamilton along the Hangar Straight and quickly built a comfortable buffer, indicating the pace advantage that he and Mercedes are likely to have during Sunday’s main grand prix—with similar weather conditions expected.
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While Hamilton just pipped Antonelli during Sprint qualifying, it was the Italian youngster who ruled the roost during the main qualifying session.
Antonelli posted a time of 1:28.111 to finish 0.175 second clear of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for his fifth pole position of the campaign.
“The last lap was very tidy, it came all together, it was very tricky with the wind, gusty, unpredictable, but to bring the pole home is very satisfying,” Antonelli said.
Leclerc has endured a tough run of form in recent grands prix—he has not scored a podium since March’s Japanese Grand Prix—and was buoyed by locking down a front-row starting spot.
“It’s been a few tough races where the feeling was not quite right,” Leclerc said.
“Today is probably the first time I’ve had it back… I know how much I’ve struggled to be consistent recently, it’s only the beginning, but it’s a step in the right direction.”
Hamilton, chasing a record-extending tenth British Grand Prix, will do so from third position on the grid.
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Lewis Hamilton (left) and Kimi Antonelli.
It was a scrappy day for Antonelli’s Mercedes teammate and title rival George Russell.
Russell was only fourth in the Sprint Race, behind the reigning World Champion, and replicated that position during qualifying, having survived a scare in the first part of the session when he ran wide at Luffield and lightly tapped the wall.
Antonelli’s Sprint Race victory puts him 43 points clear of Russell in the championship while pole position provides him with the best opportunity to extend that gap further in Sunday’s 52-lap grand prix.
U.K.-based Phillip Horton started covering Grands Prix while still at university and swiftly deemed that writing about Formula 1 and the behind-the-scenes machinations was much more engaging than reading centuries-old novels. Degree gained, he went on to cover the sport full-time from 2014 and is as intrigued and excited by the destinations Formula 1 visits during its lengthy annual world tour as the racing itself. Phillip joined Autoweek in 2021 and while he has just about learned to spell in American English he has yet to find anywhere in America that makes a proper cup of tea.