Kimi Antonelli continued his outstanding 2026 Formula 1 campaign by securing his sixth pole position of the season during qualifying for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The Mercedes driver delivered another superb performance, putting his W17 ahead of the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
After a difficult start to the weekend, Charles Leclerc bounced back impressively to secure a front-row start and will now aim to reverse the trend of recent races. George Russell endured another disappointing qualifying session, finishing only fourth, nearly four tenths behind his Mercedes team-mate. Isack Hadjar also impressed by beating Max Verstappen to fifth place.
Q1: George Russell escapes major damage as Ferrari saves a fresh set of Soft tyres
Following an action-packed Sprint Race, attention turned to the main qualifying session at Silverstone, with the competitive order still far from clear. While Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton had looked to be operating on another level throughout much of the weekend, the reopening of parc fermé created uncertainty over the balance of performance.
Sprint Qualifying had also highlighted just how competitive the field had become, with five drivers separated by less than one tenth of a second between the second and fourth rows. The question was whether that level of competition would continue in qualifying for the British Grand Prix.
The first major scare came from George Russell, who made a mistake on the entry to Luffield, slid into the gravel and brushed the barriers. Fortunately for the British driver, only the front wing was damaged, allowing him to return to the pits for repairs.
“I’ve had the strangest lock-up of my career,” Russell reported over team radio after climbing out of the gravel.
Ferrari, meanwhile, enjoyed a smooth opening session. Both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton comfortably progressed to Q2 while using a set of previously used Soft tyres, allowing the team to preserve an additional fresh set for later in qualifying.
The fastest lap of Q1 went to Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull, who edged Liam Lawson’s impressive Racing Bulls car by just 24 thousandths of a second. Eliminated in the opening session were Esteban Ocon, Valtteri Bottas, Sergio Perez, Franco Colapinto, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso.
Q2: Antonelli leads as Lando Norris flirts with elimination
The opening runs in Q2 confirmed Lewis Hamilton‘s strong pace, with the seven-time world champion finishing around two tenths clear of Charles Leclerc. Between the two Ferrari drivers sat George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, although the Italian only set his representative lap on his second attempt after making a braking error on his first flying lap.
Red Bull appeared to be the third-fastest team, although Max Verstappen was far from comfortable behind the wheel of the RB22.
“It’s a disaster… unbelievable,” the Dutch driver complained over the radio.
McLaren looked surprisingly vulnerable, with Lando Norris sitting only ninth and briefly at risk of elimination.
In the closing moments of the session, Antonelli and Charles Leclerc both improved their lap times, moving into first and second respectively, separated by just 0.133 seconds. Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, reported a deficit during the energy deployment phase of his lap.
Further down the order, Racing Bulls continued to impress by placing both drivers into Q3. Eliminated in Q2 were Gabriel Bortoleto, Pierre Gasly, Nico Hulkenberg, Oliver Bearman, Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon.
Q3: Antonelli takes Silverstone pole ahead of Ferrari duo
The opening runs of the decisive Q3 session saw Mercedes take control, with Kimi Antonelli and George Russell occupying the top two positions, separated by less than one tenth of a second and ahead of the Ferrari pair, who temporarily occupied the second row.
Behind them, the two Red Bulls lined up provisionally on the third row, followed by both McLarens, while the Racing Bulls drivers had yet to complete representative laps.
When it mattered most, however, Kimi Antonelli delivered another exceptional performance. His pole-winning lap of 1:28.111 put him almost two tenths clear of Charles Leclerc and around three and a half tenths ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
Charles Leclerc produced an outstanding final flying lap to secure a place on the front row alongside the championship leader. George Russell, by contrast, suffered another frustrating qualifying session, ending up fourth and nearly four tenths behind his Mercedes team-mate.
Isack Hadjar continued his impressive run of form by qualifying fifth, ahead of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, with the Dutchman repeatedly complaining throughout the session about his lack of confidence in the car.
Oscar Piastri finished eighth, while Racing Bulls rounded out the top ten with Arvid Lindblad in ninth and Liam Lawson in tenth.
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