Andrea Kimi Antonelli admitted that Ferrari’s remarkable improvement in straight-line speed caught him by surprise after Sprint Qualifying for the 2026 British Grand Prix, with the Mercedes driver praising the Scuderia’s impressive progress while reflecting on his own performance at Silverstone.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli finishes just 0.011s behind Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari’s astonishing top-speed advantage during Sprint Qualifying at Silverstone proved to be one of the standout stories of Friday at the British Grand Prix. The Scuderia appeared extremely difficult to beat on the straights, with Lewis Hamilton making the most of the package to secure Sprint pole position in front of his home crowd.
Only Andrea Kimi Antonelli managed to seriously challenge the seven-time world champion. The young Mercedes driver came within touching distance of Hamilton despite the Ferrari driver making a mistake through the final chicane on his decisive lap. In the end, just 11 thousandths of a second separated the championship leader from the Ferrari star, underlining just how competitive the battle at the front has become.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s comments to F1.com
“I was really, really close, so it’s a shame. To be honest, in SQ1 I wasn’t feeling comfortable in the car at all. We made a small adjustment, and by SQ2 I was back in the groove. It was like night and day.
“I was incredibly close to Lewis, so congratulations to him. Now we’ll focus on our own job. The car felt good. Ferrari have made an incredible step forward, so it’s going to be tough. Lewis is in great form, but that’s okay—we love a challenge. We’ll give it our best because I believe we have everything we need to achieve a strong result.”
Antonelli’s analysis on Sky Italia
“At the start of the weekend I said everyone needed to keep an eye on Ferrari, and I have to say they really have been a surprise. What surprised me most was just how much they gained on the straights compared to the previous races.
“Now they’re as fast as us, or perhaps even a little bit faster, so I have to say they’ve made a really significant step forward. But we’re right there with them. Lewis and the whole Ferrari team did a fantastic job.
“On our side, I also think we did a very good job today. Tomorrow we’ll simply have to find a bit more performance, first to have a strong Sprint and then hopefully take another step forward in qualifying.
“I think today, from an energy deployment point of view, we weren’t quite in the ideal window. Ferrari seemed to be doing something slightly different, and it looked like it was working better. Even so, there’s still a bit of work to do on the car itself. Overall, though, we’re in a good position.”
With Ferrari appearing to have solved one of its biggest weaknesses by dramatically improving its straight-line speed, the battle between Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Mercedes and the rest of the front-runners promises to be one of the key storylines for the remainder of the Silverstone weekend. If the Scuderia can maintain this level of performance over longer runs, they could emerge as genuine contenders not only for the Sprint but also for Saturday’s qualifying session and Sunday’s British Grand Prix.
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