Raceday Recap: A Scenic Weekend at Silverstone
Welcome back to another round on the F1 calendar! The Silverstone race weekend held many surprises this season, from a return of the LEGO race to a disappointing last few laps. Let’s debrief everything that happened at the British Grand Prix!
Kimi Antonelli took pole position along with the sprint race win, with Charles Leclerc taking the 2nd grid spot and Lewis Hamilton starting from 3rd at his home grand prix. George Russell went 4th fastest, followed by Isack Hadjar and Lando Norris starting Sunday’s race from 5th and 6th. Max Verstappen qualified 7th while Oscar Piastri occupied the 8th grid spot. Lastly, the Racing Bulls put on a great show on Saturday, with Arvid Lindblad starting from 9th at his first home race and Liam Lawson qualifying 10th.
A breathless Kimi Antonelli after going fastest in qualifying. Photo courtesy of F1.
The race started a little more rocky than usual: Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin stalled out on the formation lap but quickly recovered, and the Spaniard was called to the pit lane to give a fair advantage to all drivers, as his tires were technically the warmest. On lap 1, all drivers in the first few rows went wide, allowing the Ferraris to take P1 and P2 from the start, with Leclerc leading the pack. Meanwhile, Alex Albon collided with Ollie Bearman, causing both of them to fall back. Behind the two Ferraris were the two Mercedes in 3rd and 4th, with Antonelli in front, and the two Red Bulls, with Hadjar going faster than his teammate. Oscar Piastri had to box on lap 2 because of front wing damage. Verstappen moved up to P5 on lap 3, while Albon received a 10 second penalty for his previous collision.
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton received a 5 second penalty for moving before the lights went out at the race start. Commentators disagreed over whether he deserved the penalty or not, but Hamilton served it at his pit stop anyways. Norris worked his way past the two Racing Bulls, obtaining P7 behind Hadjar. Hamilton’s penalty allowed Antonelli to move to P2, and on lap 13 Leclerc was still leading the race confidently! The virtual safety car came out on lap 22 because of an umbrella on the track that flew from the Landostand, and around this time, Verstappen and Hamilton went into the pits. They started the chain of drivers going in for fresh tires, except for Antonelli, who stayed out and took the lead of the race. Hamilton and Russell started battling through one corner after another, going wheel to wheel and overtaking each other multiple times. On lap 31, Hamilton made a gutsy move around the outside and got ahead of Russell, just to be passed by the Mercedes driver once more. Neither of them were able to get by Verstappen. After everyone pitted, Leclerc passed Antonelli to retake P1. Hamilton was on Verstappen’s tail on lap 38, and could finally overtake the Dutchman by activating overtake mode. Nico Hulkenberg’s car had an issue and pulled over on the same lap, bringing out the yellow flag and VSC. This was vital timing for Verstappen to pit for new tires again along with Norris and Hadjar, but Leclerc stayed out.
Max Verstappen’s destroyed car, tires covered in gravel. Photo courtesy of Planet F1.
It wouldn’t be a true grand prix without some Lance Stroll drama: he received a 5 second penalty for exceeding track limits, later receiving another of the same penalty. On lap 42, Kimi Antonelli struggled with significant understeer, so he pitted and his engineers tried to fix the issue. This allowed Leclerc to take the lead once again, with Hamilton behind him and Russell in 3rd ahead of his Mercedes teammate. Antonelli again veered off the track track and appeared to need to retire due to what seemed like a broken suspension. The Italian driver said over the radio that he could try to keep going to get at least one point. Mercedes agreed with him and called him in to remove his left wheel shield and continue the race. Eventually though, Antonelli ended the race in 10th and dropped to 15th after receiving multiple track limits warnings and a controversial 5 second penalty. This grand prix marked the first race of the season that Antonelli was not on the podium. Alex Albon also retired at the end of the race on lap 48. The last few laps were absolute nail-biters! Verstappen spun into the gravel right in front of the Landostand, bringing the safety car back out. The Ferraris double stacked their pit stops, while Russell moved to P2 and Hamilton got pushed back to 3rd. Lapped cars were allowed to unlap themselves on lap 51, and the safety car was supposed to come in on the last lap to allow for one last shootout. However, the safety car was redeployed, forcing the race to end in an anticlimactic way.
Charles Leclerc achieved his first win since 2024 - and well deserved, considering his race began with a perfect start and ended with no mistakes. George Russell stood on the second spot of the podium, with Lewis Hamilton in 3rd for his 16th Silverstone podium. Lando Norris finished 4th at his home grand prix, followed by Isack Hadjar in 5th and Liam Lawson in 6th. Arvid Lindblad crossed the line in P7 for his first home race, and Audi driver Gabriel Bortoleto found success in 8th place. Franco Colapinto achieved a 9th place finish after starting from P19, and his teammate Pierre Gasly claimed the last point for Alpine.
This weekend was both uneventful and a little bit disappointing - what are your thoughts on the way the race ended? Let me know at @thewinningformulablog on Instagram, and don’t forget to follow for fun and relatable F1 social media content! As always, thanks for reading.
Lights out and away we go,
Lucy xx
