Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc secured his first victory since Austin 2024 at Silverstone, which also marked Ferrari's 250th win in Formula 1.
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| Photo by Alastair Staley |
The European tour of Formula 1 continued as the pinnacle of motorsport moved from the Austrian Red Bull Ring to Great Britain, specifically to the place where it all began in 1950-Silverstone.
This phenomenal circuit served as an airfield during World War II, and now hosts one of the most popular Grands Prix on the Formula 1 calendar. The numbers speak for themselves, as the 2026 British Grand Prix attracted 564,000 fans over the entire weekend.
British fans had every reason to be excited before the main race, as home hero Lewis Hamilton started from third position and George Russell from fourth. Meanwhile, championship leader Kimi Antonelli lined up on pole position, with Charles Leclerc alongside him.
When the red lights went out, Leclerc and Hamilton immediately challenged Kimi. Right after Turn 1, the Ferrari duo took the top two positions. Ferrari's one-two at the front was then broken by Kimi, who overtook Hamilton on lap 11 at Copse Corner.
Verstappen used the same corner on lap 17 to overtake Russell, moving up to fourth place. Shortly afterwards, the Dutch driver headed into the pits.
Among the front-runners, Hamilton was the first to pit. George followed him and had a very solid pit stop, while Hamilton had to serve a five-second penalty for a jump start. This allowed Russell to move ahead of Lewis.
From lap 29 onwards, the screens were dominated by the British duo of Hamilton and Russell as they fought wheel-to-wheel until lap 31, when Russell finally managed to keep Hamilton behind. George was then informed by his race engineer that he had suffered a puncture, forcing him to pit on lap 35.
Meanwhile, Hamilton was chasing down Verstappen for third place, and it did not take long before Lewis overtook the four-time world champion.
Drama struck on lap 41 as Kimi Antonelli, who was running in second place, suffered an issue with the safety cover of one of his tyres. He had to pit twice so the mechanics could fix the problem. Kimi was then handed a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits after running off the circuit several times before his pit stop.
This unfortunate moment proved beneficial for Verstappen, who inherited third place on the podium, but not for long. He spun off the track on lap 48 after his rear wing failed to close in time, which triggered a safety car.
The race was supposed to restart for the final lap, but that never happened, and the Grand Prix finished behind the safety car.
Therefore, the winner of the British Grand Prix was Charles Leclerc. British fans still had something to celebrate, as George Russell finished second and Lewis Hamilton completed the podium in third place.
"It feels incredible. Unfortunately the end was maybe not the one I will have dreamt of, but to win after the last few weekends that have been particularly difficult, all the work that we put into trying to get the feeling back in the car," said the Ferrari driver.
"I felt like I had found something yesterday between the Sprint and Qualifying but I had to confirm that today. And today, the feeling was back where it needs to be. I'm so incredibly happy."