Antonelli beats Hamilton in Silverstone Sprint

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli claimed the first Sprint victory of his Formula 1 career after passing pole-getter Lewis Hamilton in an exclusive duel for the lead.

Antonelli got the better launch off the line, but Hamilton slammed the door on the Italian into Abbey to hold top spot on the opening lap. A frenetic battery-assisted battle erupted between the other front-runners behind them that served to give the two victory contenders ample breathing room for their battle, pulling a second a lap on the field over the opening three tours.

Antonelli clearly had the pace to challenge, but Hamilton was wily with his use of the electrical boost button to keep himself at arm’s length and just beyond reach of the battery-boosting overtake mode. By lap 7, however, Antonelli was ready to pounce, signaling his intention with a first look into Brooklands.

At the start of the following tour he ran Hamilton side by side through Village and had another look into Brooklands, but the Briton was muscular in his positioning to keep the sophomore diver at bay. But his defenses had cost him too much of his battery charge, and by the time they exited Chapel and began to power down the Hangar straight, the Ferrari was already critical on power. Antonelli, with more battery boost, cruised easily past to lead into Stowe.

Hamilton attempted to keep himself within a second to benefit from overtake mode, but Antonelli needed only three laps to eke out a great gap, and he powered to the checkered flag with a 2.745s advantage.

“It was a very fun first laps with Lewis,” he said. “We were both pushing very hard.

“When I got into overtake, I knew my chance was coming. I decided to wait, then going into Stowe I used everything I had, and then I was able to overtake.

“From that point on I just tried to get into my rhythm. I just tried to break the overtake [mode] that he had and tried to bring it home.”

The victory extended his championship lead to 43 points.

Hamilton said he had no chance of keeping Antonelli behind him.

“I was pushing as hard as I could,” he said. I gave it absolutely everything.

“Once he got overtake mode, I couldn’t hold him back after that, because he has extra deployment through the lap. I couldn’t break that one-second barrier then. As soon as that was lost, I knew he was coming.”

The battle for third devolved into a five-way scrap in the opening laps of the sprint as the contenders for the final podium place boosted past each other with different approaches to their battery usage.

A strong start by Lando Norris had him run briefly as high as second on the first lap before fading into a battle with George Russell for the place.

Max Verstappen soon emerged to challenge Norris, deposing Russell for P4 on lap 3, but then Charles Leclerc joined the duel, moving past Oscar Piastri to complicate the battle. The three-way fight allowed Norris to establish a healthy margin for the final place on the podium until Russell got the move for fourth place made definitively on Verstappen with better battery deployment down the Hangar straight on lap 10.

The margin between Russell and Norris at more than 3s shortly afterwards, but Norris began shipping time to the field with four laps remaining to hold off his compatriot by just 0.856s.

“That was a very good race,” he said. “I’m very, very happy.

“Good start, good first lap. Not the pace to go with [Hamilton and Antonelli], but I had a good battle with George and all behind me. I’m pleasantly surprised by today.”

Russell finished fourth ahead of Leclerc, Verstappen and Piastri, while Liam Lawson scored the final point for eighth.

Lawson, however, will see the stewards after the session for appearing to dangerously move under braking defending his position ahead of Isack Hadjar in the late stages as the Frenchman recovered from a poor start that left him running in 13th on the first lap.

Arvid Lindblad completed the top 10, with Alpine teammates Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto, Audi teammates Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, Haas duo Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon, and Williams pairing Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon.

Valtteri Bottas finished 19th ahead of Fernando Alonso, who was tipped into a spin early in the race by Sergio Perez. The Cadillac driver was penalized 10s for the mistake, dropping him to 22nd behind Lance Stroll.

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