‘Incredible’ Ferrari step at Silverstone shocks Mercedes drivers

Kimi Antonelli says Ferrari has made an “incredible” step forward at the British Grand Prix, while Mercedes teammate George Russell was left trying to understand the pecking order after Sprint qualifying.

Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the Sprint after topping FP1 and all three sections of the shorter qualifying session, beating Antonelli by just 0.011s. Antonelli believes he had some time still available to him after making improvements to his car, but was surprised to see the progress from Ferrari.

“It was so, so close, and it was a shame,” Antonelli said. “To be fair Q1 I felt a bit bad, I didn't feel great in the car, but then we made a slight balance adjustment, and SQ2 felt night and day [different], and we suddenly were back on the pace.

“SQ3 was a little bit left on the table, but it was a decent lap, and unfortunately it was super close to Lewis, but of course congrats to him, and on our side we'll focus on tomorrow now.

“The car felt good, Ferrari have done an incredible step forward, so definitely it's going to be very tough. Plus Lewis is in great form, but that's good, we like the challenge, and we'll try to make the best out of it.

“Of course [Mercedes can fight for the win]. We'll go for it, and we'll try to do our best. It's not going to be easy, but everything is on the table to do well, so we'll make sure that we do well.”

It was a tougher session for Russell who ended up fifth on the grid for the Sprint. While he’s searching for answers for his own performance struggles, he says the Ferrari pace was particularly unexpected.

“Very surprised, very surprised,” Russell said. “They've been on the back foot with the PU and energy management, and here they look the best at the moment, so that's been a real surprise.

“We’ve always known they've had a great chassis, but I think some things aren't quite making sense. If I were to have predicted, I'd have said Ferrari quick last week, and us to be quick this week. Obviously Kimi did a great job, but still, Ferrari have had the upper hand all day.”

Max Verstappen, who will start from third, believes the top two are likely to have too much pace for him to be able to compete with in the Sprint on Saturday.

“They look a bit quick,” Verstappen said. “They look quick, so normally, teammate related, they should be quick also in race pace, if everything calms down a little bit. So I think it will be more of a battle with the guys behind me.”