Leclerc's Victory at the 2026 British Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc won again four races after his victory in Spain and Ferrari reached 250 victories in Formula 1 at a British Grand Prix that Kimi Antonelli had under control until the left‑front wheel of his Mercedes failed. The championship leader had started from pole, lost the first two positions to Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton at the start, recovered them with the pace he had already shown on Saturday in the Sprint and was already closing in on the Ferrari when the wheel cover broke on lap 41. The failure sent him to the pits, ended any chance and left him in 16th place with a five‑second penalty for exceeding track limits. Leclerc took the lead and held it to the checkered flag, in a race that finished under Safety Car after Max Verstappen's crash on lap 48.

Photo By Ferrari

Leclerc and Hamilton repeated the Sprint start, and in the first corner both Ferraris were already ahead of Antonelli, who had taken pole on Saturday with 1:28.111. Hamilton was penalised with five seconds for moving before the start signal, a penalty he served on his lap 23 stop that cost him position to George Russell. Antonelli took twelve laps to get rid of Hamilton, and when he did he went after Leclerc, who was running a steady pace at the front on hard tyres. The Italian stretched his first stint to lap 35 and gave up the lead, but as soon as he returned to the track he began to close the gap. The chase came to nothing six laps later.

Photo By Ferrari

Russell was the big beneficiary of the chaos, as the Mercedes stayed out while other drivers pitted under the Safety Car caused by Verstappen's crash, and that decision allowed him to jump from fourth to second. Lando Norris was fourth in the McLaren, Isack Hadjar fifth in the Red Bull, and the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad scored points with sixth and seventh. Gabriel Bortoleto put the Audi eighth, and the Alpines of Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly closed out the points zone, with two valuable points for Colapinto in his season.

Photo By Ferrari

Verstappen went off into the gravel at Turn 14 and left the Red Bull wrecked against the barriers, one of the three retirements of the race. Alexander Albon retired after contact with Oliver Bearman at the start that damaged the Williams and earned him a ten‑second penalty, and Nico Hülkenberg stopped his Audi at Copse with a mechanical failure that triggered a Virtual Safety Car on lap 38. Fernando Alonso stalled on the formation lap in the Aston Martin, started from the pits and finished 18th, one lap down. Sergio Pérez finished 15th in the Cadillac.

Antonelli remains at the front of the championship with 171 points, but Russell and Hamilton have cut the gap.

British Grand Prix 2026

Pos.	No.	driver	team	time
1	#16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	-
2	#63	George Russell	Mercedes	+0.427s
3	#44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+0.772s
4	#1	Lando Norris	McLaren	+1.149s
5	#6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull Racing	+1.598s
6	#30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+2.023s
7	#41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+2.214s
8	#5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+2.413s
9	#43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+3.229s
10	#10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+3.445s
11	#81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+4.014s
12	#55	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+4.391s
13	#87	Oliver Bearman	Haas F1 Team	+5.245s
14	#31	Esteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	+5.512s
15	#11	Sergio Perez	Cadillac	+7.403s
16	#12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+8.005s
17	#77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	+8.162s
18	#14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+1 LAP
19	#18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+1 LAP
DNF	#3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	-
DNF	#23	Alexander Albon	Williams	-
DNF	#27	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	-