Kimi Antonelli had a perfect Saturday at the British Grand Prix to put himself on pole position for Sunday’s race and create the opportunity to increase his lead at the top of the drivers’ championship.
Antonelli was fastest in qualifying on Saturday afternoon with a rapid time of 1:28.111 which was two tenths of a second quicker than Lewis Hamilton’s sprint qualifying time from Friday.
The 19-year-old improved throughout the session and set the marker for the other teams to hit with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc coming closest to join Antonelli on the front row for the Grand Prix.
Hamilton, who set the pace on Friday, begins the race in third +0.347 seconds behind Antonelli while George Russell claimed P4 as he looks to maintain his title challenge.
Isack Hadjar will start fifth, two places ahead of his team-mate Max Verstappen, with Lando Norris sixth for McLaren.
“I was a bit stressed because I never really like going first for the last run but the last lap was very tidy, I have to be honest,” Antonelli admitted after claiming a fifth pole position of the season.
He added: “It all came together. It was very tricky with the wind because it was very gusty, unpredictable. We built our way through qualifying and to bring the pole home is very satisfying.”
Hamilton’s pace through the weekend has been very strong but he was disappointed by his P3 start on the grid for Sunday especially in comparison to teammate Leclerc who has struggled at Silverstone.
“Am I satisfied? Of course not I’m P3,” Hamilton said.
“But I am happy to be up here, both these guys did a great job today. Charles has been making good improvements.
“We just didn’t have the pace unfortunately over the Mercedes. It has been a thing for a while but we are slowly closing the gap and to have us both up here is great for the team.”
Hamilton then revealed that a P2 and P3 finish for Ferrari was a positive sign for the team and hopes to battle Antonelli and Mercedes during the race on Sunday.
He added: “It is definitely great to have us both up here. Because that means hopefully, whether or not we can fully keep up with Kimi, we will see tomorrow but hopefully we can play with the strategy and work as a team to try to topple them. We will do our best for sure.”
Earlier in the day, Antonelli became the youngest ever winner of a Formula 1 sprint race after a slick overtake on Hamilton down Hanger straight.
The Mercedes driver fought from P2 on the sprint grid to maintain a gap of less than a second to Hamilton who needed to use up his battery power to defend against the 19-year-old. That allowed time for extra boost meaning Antonelli could whip around Hamilton to move out in front and extend his lead to victory.
A chaotic start to the sprint saw plenty of overtaking behind the front row with all of Leclerc, Russell, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen jostling for position. Norris won the battle to clinch third place with Russell fourth and Leclerc fifth.
The result of the sprint means Antonelli extended his lead in the drivers’ championship and takes a 43-point advantage into Sunday’s Grand Prix.
