Kimi Antonelli won the British Grand Prix Sprint after overtaking Lewis Hamilton on lap eight of a race that the championship leader resolved with patience from second on the grid. The Mercedes stayed in the shadow of the Ferrari for seven laps, used the Boost on the Hangar Straight and pulled away to the checkered flag with a 2.7‑second margin to score his first victory in a Formula 1 Sprint.

Photo By Mercedes F1

Hamilton had taken pole on Friday by 11 thousandths and defended the position at the start with an aggressive move to the inside that forced Antonelli to lift. In the early laps he built a one‑second margin and seemed to have the race under control, but the Mercedes never dropped away. On lap 8 he tried a first attack at Brooklands that Hamilton held off, and on the following lap he found a gap on the Hangar Straight to draw alongside and take the lead. Hamilton had no answer to the pace Antonelli set from that point on and settled for second place.

The Silverstone Sprint, the fourth of the 2026 calendar, was split in two from the start. Hamilton and Antonelli opened a four‑second gap in the first three laps and never looked back, but behind them a five‑car fight for third place lasted until the middle of the race. Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, George Russell, Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc swapped positions with different energy levels throughout the lap, a dynamic that Silverstone amplified with its fast corners and long straights.

Norris emerged from that group to take third place, followed by Russell eight tenths behind. Leclerc was fifth and Verstappen dropped to sixth on two consecutive laps, passed by Russell at Stowe and then by Leclerc shortly after. Piastri was seventh and Liam Lawson took the final point in eighth, although his defence against Isack Hadjar at Stowe came under stewards' investigation.

Photo By Mercedes F1

The lower end of the grid saw an incident between Sergio Pérez and Fernando Alonso that ended with the Mexican receiving a ten‑second penalty for causing a collision and Alonso out of the race. Williams modified the suspension of Alexander Albon's car under parc fermé conditions without technical delegate approval, forcing the Thai driver to start from the pit lane. Franco Colapinto finished 12th without incident, behind Pierre Gasly and ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto.

Antonelli extended his championship lead over Russell to 43 points, with Hamilton four points behind the Mercedes driver, ahead of Sunday's Grand Prix qualifying.