Silverstone smashes Formula 1’s attendance record, there’s LEGO everywhere, and Cadillac gets back into the groove amid Fourth of July celebrations. Autoweek rounds up some of the other talking points from the British Grand Prix weekend.
Silverstone breaks F1 attendance record
Organizers of the British Grand Prix have claimed a new Formula 1 attendance record, smashing through the half-million figure for the weekend. Silverstone’s attendance has gradually trickled upwards in recent years, fueled by the general popularity of the sport in Britain in conjunction with the support for Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris. World Champion Norris’ “Landostand” was expanded, and covered much of the outside of Stowe corner, while there was notable growth across other hospitality areas around the enormous facility.
Silverstone reported 72,000 on Thursday, 150,000 on Friday, 167,000 on Saturday, and 175,000 on Sunday for a total of 564,000. That eclipses the previous record, thought to have belonged to the final race at Australia’s Adelaide in 1995.
The Brick-ish Grand Prix
Following on from the success of the Drivers’ Parade in Miami last season, when 10 LEGO F1 cars were created, the company produced 22 LEGO minicars for Silverstone. Each car was made of 28,000 bricks—and structurally glued down after the chaos of last year—and 6,400 hours were spent producing the cars. Each car weighed 617 lb (280 kg) and was capable of reaching 16 mph (25 km/h), and typically the 22 drivers produced carnage on the lap.
BEN STANSALL//Getty Images
A spate of drivers attempted to drive the most direct line and consequently got beached in the gravel trap around the outside of Village corner, Carlos Sainz hopped in with Lando Norris, and a handful used the old pit lane in an attempt to shorten the line even further. There were then some shenanigans along the Hangar Straight as Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon, and Valtteri Bottas battled for the “lead,” with the trio shortcutting the final complex to gun for the line, with Alonso coming out on top.
F1 still eyeing Bahrain
Formula 1 continues to hold out hope that it can insert Bahrain into this year’s calendar. The conflict in the Middle East prompted Formula 1 to call off its planned visits to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in April, but the championship has kept dialogue open with its race promoters in recent months. If the situation in the region sufficiently calms down then there is expectation that Bahrain could slot back into the calendar on October 4, between grands prix in Azerbaijan and Singapore, creating a run of three events in three weekends.
A definitive call is anticipated before the end of the month. Rearranging Saudi Arabia’s grand prix is believed to be an unlikely proposition owing to calendar congestion and the greater logistical difficulty due to Jeddah’s semi-permanent nature.
Racing Bulls right on Alpine’s tail
Racing Bulls continued its momentum since its Canada upgrade by comfortably leading the mid-pack. Liam Lawson was sixth, and Arvid Lindblad seventh, as both matched their best 2026 results at Silverstone, with the VCARB-03 holding a pace advantage over the chasing Alpine/Audi contingent. The strong result puts Racing Bulls just a point behind Alpine in the battle for fifth in the Constructors’ Championship. Alpine limited the damage by taking a double points finish, as Pierre Gasly recovered from a penalized 15th on the grid to 10th, while Franco Colapinto went even better and rose from 19th to ninth.
Rudy Carezzevoli//Getty Images
A joyous Racing Bulls team.
There was also, finally, some good news for Audi. Nico Hulkenberg may have retired due to a gearbox problem, having had a scrappy weekend, but Gabriel Bortoleto had an excellent event and while eighth was flattered by the late issues for a couple of front-runners, it was a well-deserved return to the points.
“We have been through a few races without scoring points, and that has been tough when you can see the potential in the car but haven’t been able to convert it into something concrete—so this surely is a big boost for everyone,” Bortoleto said. “We finally showed why we’re here and what our true pace is.”
Williams plans B-spec car but frustrations mount
Williams will introduce a B-spec car in 2026, in a bid to revive its flailing season, but Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz will have to wait until the Azerbaijan GP in late September—and patience is running thin.
Williams brought an updated front wing one round early but its woes continued at Silverstone, with Albon embarking on another extended test session after self-inflicted early contact, while Sainz was an uncompetitive 12th on the road.
“Alpine and Audi were too quick for us,” Sainz said. “We couldn’t hold them off. Concerning, frustrating, it starts to be a bad trend this year that we don’t seem to find a lot of lap time when the upgrades are coming. We need a good sit down to analyze what’s happening, we’ve shed a lot of weight out of the car by now but then gap to the front keeps increasing and the gap to the midfield keeps increasing, we don’t seem to be finding the lap time that we expected.”
“I don’t know if in these regs we’re not understanding the flow dynamics well or what is happening,” Sainz said. “But my feeling is at Suzuka we were 1.6 to 1.8 seconds [behind] with a very overweight car, here we were 2 seconds off with much better [sic: lighter] weight. It means something is not going in the car, there’s some load missing somewhere and we need to find why, this year is about finding the issues and create some bounce back from here.”
Sainz gets unusual penalty
If Sainz’s day wasn’t bad enough then it got worse, as he was the recipient of an unusual penalty—one that no one present could remember being issued in recent history. Sainz was docked an entire racing lap after he unlapped himself during the late Safety Car period when not authorized to do so, thanks to a quirk of Silverstone’s layout.
Mark Sutton – Formula 1//Getty Images
Sainz was one lap down when he entered the pit lane and due to the short pit lane entry he briefly unlapped himself—while the leaders were on the pit straight—but re-emerged having been lapped once more. Race Control issued the notice for the cars that could unlap themselves and Sainz was not one of them, but he did so anyway. Williams acknowledged the mistake, and Sainz was penalized an entire lap post-race, shuffling him from 12th to 17th in the final order.
Honda to introduce update at Zandvoort
Honda has pinpointed the first post-summer event at Zandvoort for when it will introduce its revised power unit. Honda has struggled under the new engine regulations, amid a lack of power and reliability, though the exact level has been complicated by Aston Martin’s own issues with its chassis and gearbox.
Aston Martin boss Adrian Newey confirmed prior to the British GP that its substantially overhauled car will be introduced at the Hungarian GP, the last round before the recess in July, but Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will have to wait until the next round in the Netherlands for the upgraded engine.
Honda has nonetheless cautioned that it is not expecting miracles from the revised power unit, but big gains are needed. The fastest AMR26 during qualifying was a mammoth 1.8 seconds slower than the fastest Cadillac, with the remainder of the mid-pack over two seconds clear of Aston Martin. And that gap will surely increase a little more across the next couple of rounds, too. Alonso—despite stopping on the formation lap—made it to the finish, as did Stroll, which was about the only plus point from the weekend.
Tsolov giving Red Bull an excellent headache
Nikola Tsolov excelled at Silverstone to complete a rare double victory in Formula 2. Tsolov surged forwards in both the Sprint Race and Feature Race to take back-to-back wins, the highlight a stunning move for the lead around the outside of the high-speed Copse corner. The wins put Tsolov’s tally for 2026 up to six—no-one else has won more than twice—and gives him a 17-point cushion over Gabriele Mini at the midway mark of the campaign.
Alex Caparros – Formula 1//Getty Images
Tsolov is backed by Red Bull, and his performances and results are making a hard-to-ignore case for a step up to Formula 1 for 2027. However, Isack Hadjar is doing a solid job at the senior team, Lawson is finally showing his potential after much-needed stability, while rookie Lindblad has had standout moments, too. It won’t be easy to dislodge any of those.
To finish first, first you have to finish fourth
Formula 3 had an unusual outcome to its main Feature race as the driver who finished fourth on the road eventually ended up as the victor.
Maciej Gładysz had classified fourth but was immediately elevated to third due to a time penalty for Theophile Nael, and was then promoted to second when Ernesto Rivera was given a time drop a few hours later. That became first when Matteo de Palo was excluded for a technical non-conformity. Freddie Slater was promoted to second, with Ugo Ugochukwu third, having risen from 12th place. It capped a strong weekend for Ugochukwu, who won the Sprint race, and it means the American now has a 16-point advantage over Slater in the championship.
Palmowski strides clear in F1 Academy
Anni Graf – Formula 1//Getty Images
Red Bull-backed Alisha Palmowski claimed victory on home soil at Silverstone to extend her lead atop the F1 Academy standings. Palmowski took the lead of the main race from the outset and kept wildcard and surprise polesitter Chiara Battig at bay to take a third win as the series reached its halfway stage of the campaign. Palmowski extended her points lead to 30, in front of Audi’s Emma Felbermayr, who won the shorter first race of the weekend. American Ava Dobson had her strongest weekend of the year, taking a pair of top-eight finishes, but Mercedes-backed Payton Westcott failed to score for the first time all year, while Haas-supported Kaylee Countryman had a low-key outing towards the tail end of the field.
FORMULA 1 PIRELLI BRITISH GRAND PRIX 2026—RACE RESULTSSilverstone Circuit, July 3-5, 2026
Pos/Driver/Team/Time (Retired)/Pts
1. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 1:27:11.335, 25
2. George Russell, Mercedes, +0.427s, 18
3. Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, +0.772s, 15
4. Lando Norris, McLaren, +1.149s, 12
5. Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing, +1.598s, 10
6. Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls, +2.023s, 8
7. Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls, +2.214s, 6
8. Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi, +2.413s, 4
9. Franco Colapinto, Alpine, +3.229s, 2
10. Pierre Gasly, Alpine, +3.445s, 1
11. Oscar Piastri, McLaren, +4.014s, 0
12. Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team, +5.245s, 0
13. Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team, +5.512s, 0
14. Sergio Perez, Cadillac, +7.403s, 0
15. Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, +8.005s, 0
16. Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac, +8.162s, 0
17. Carlos Sainz, Williams, +1 lap, 0
18. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, +1 lap, 0
19. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, +1 lap, 0
20. Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, DNF, 0
NC, Alexander Albon, Williams, DNF, 0
NC, Nico Hulkenberg, Audi, DNF, 0
Race Notes: Antonelli received a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits. Sainz received one penalty lap for overtaking the Safety Car.
2026 FORMULA 1 DRIVER STANDINGSAfter the British Grand Prix
Pos/Driver/Team/Pts
1. Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, 179
2. George Russell, Mercedes, 154
3. Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, 147
4. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 108
5. Lando Norris, McLaren, 97
6. Oscar Piastri, McLaren, 82
7. Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 76
8. Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing, 52
9. Pierre Gasly, Alpine, 42
10. Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls, 39
11. Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls, 20
12. Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team, 18
13. Franco Colapinto, Alpine, 18
14. Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi, 6
15. Carlos Sainz, Williams, 6
16. Alexander Albon, Williams, 5
17. Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team, 3
18. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, 1
19. Nico Hulkenberg, Audi, 0
20. Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac, 0
21. Sergio Perez, Cadillac, 0
22. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, 0
2026 FORMULA 1 CONSTRUCTORS’ CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGSAfter the British Grand Prix
Pos/Team/Points
1. Mercedes, 333
2. Ferrari, 255
3. McLaren, 179
4. Red Bull Racing, 128
5. Alpine, 60
6. Racing Bulls, 59
7. Haas F1 Team, 21
8. Williams, 11
9. Audi, 6
10. Aston Martin, 1
11. Cadillac, 0
Source: Formula 1 constructors’ standings following the British 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.