The day seemed bleak for the British drivers until the airwaves crackled with a distressing call from the world championship leader, sending a ripple of anticipation through the crowd.
Kimi Antonelli, while not destined to claim victory at Silverstone—an honor reserved for Charles Leclerc—was comfortably stationed in second place. He was steadily racking up more points than his competitors in the championship race.
Among his closest challengers, Lewis Hamilton trailed right behind in third, while George Russell was positioned even further back. These standings in the race bolstered Antonelli’s situation, offering a favorable outlook for the Italian driver.
However, the tide turned when Antonelli’s car clipped the curb at the exit of Stowe, impacting his Mercedes and slowing him down significantly. As panic set in during the 41st lap of the 52-lap race, he urgently radioed, “Something is broken in the car.”
In response, his race engineer, Peter Bonnington, requested more details about the issue. “I don’t know,” Antonelli confessed. That prompted a swift pit stop for a front wing replacement. Despite his efforts to continue, further distress signals emanated from the cockpit.
He pitted again in a final and futile attempt to mend the injury, then thought to be a wheel shield out of joint or, as Antonelli feared, a wrecked suspension. He was weaving off track and so attracting a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc celebrated his first British Grand Prix triumph on Sunday afternoon
All this was delight for Hamilton and Russell. They were running third and fourth at the time. Antonelli was second and applying his foot to their jugular, extending his point advantage by stealth. Not now.
A further twist really fell Russell’s way. He had not been in the contest, never a match for his Silver Arrows team-mate Antonelli. But Max Verstappen, then running third, a place ahead of him, lost control at Stowe and ended up facing the wrong way in front of the Landostand, the 16,000-seater haven of Norris’s fans decked out in fluorescent yellow shirts.
The Dutchman cursed his car as the gravel flew around him.
Hamilton pitted and Russell moved up to second as the late safety car came out.
Would the green light be waved and a final lap contested? It seemed it would, the screens flashing that the safety car would be withdrawn. Inexplicably, it wasn’t. What a damp squib. It was as if the driver forgot to turn in? More likely, the message didn’t reach him.
The upshot was that Russell climbed from 43 points back at the start of the afternoon to only 25 points off the top as Sir Mo Farah waved the chequered flag; Hamilton went down from 47 to 32.
A farcical end, but a happier one for the home drivers than could have been imagined during a pretty dull first two-thirds of the race.
Norris took fourth for McLaren, way ahead of Antonelli, cursed on the day and now with something to think about. With his penalty applied, the 19-year-old finished 16th. He has failed to score in two of the last three races. His lead once stood at 66.
George Russell benefitted from a late safety car to pip Lewis Hamilton to second place
Hamilton, however, faces a post-race investigation for a possible yellow flag infringement.
As for Leclerc, it was his first win since the American Grand Prix of 2024, 624 days before. How will his win swing moods and minds at Maranello, where Hamilton’s win in Barcelona last month went down well, his ‘new’ team warming to him.
The Monegasque was impeccable, very cleanly away from second on the grid, capitalising on a wheel-spinning getaway by Antonelli. Hamilton also passed the Mercedes from third, but he had jumped the start. His wheels turned a quarter of their circumference as he dropped the clutch a fraction early. He paused. But he was still hit with a five-second penalty. Other than for his overeagerness he might have finished runner-up and not third.
There were a few highlights earlier, most notably when Verstappen, Russell and Hamilton were nose-to-tail just after the mid-point of the race. All kept it clean. Russell, who was on his way to his first podium at Silverstone, passed Verstappen for third place but then had to pull in to have a slow puncture dealt with.
This was before the late drama unfolded and Antonelli’s bad luck struck.