British GP victory ends Leclerc's win drought, as Antonelli's car woes continue

SILVERSTONE, England — Charles Leclerc took his first Formula One win in nearly two years, as a chaotic British Grand Prix ended behind the safety car on Sunday, and standings leader Kimi Antonelli missed the points again with a damaged car.

Leclerc surged past Antonelli at the start, as the Mercedes driver dropped to third. The Italian, however, was chasing Leclerc down in the final laps, when he reported a steering problem. Leclerc took a landmark 250th victory for Ferrari under the safety car, triggered by a spectacular spin into the gravel of third-placed by Max Verstappen.

"Finally!" Leclerc said over the radio after taking the win. "This one felt particularly good, even if I wished it was a more normal ending."

Leclerc leaped out of his car and ran to a crowd of Ferrari staff who surged forward to embrace him, toppling a crowd barrier onto their driver. Leclerc's last F1 victory was at the United States Grand Prix in October 2024.

Kimi's race falls apart

After Antonelli reported issues with his car, he came into the pits, but it didn't help and he started dropping back through the field. Later, Verstappen's spin off shook up the race again.

Antonelli's Mercedes teammate and title rival George Russell went on to finish second, denying Ferrari a one-two finish, staying out on old tires when Lewis Hamilton came into the pits under the safety car.

Hamilton had fresh tires, but couldn't use them, finishing third behind that safety car.

That position was in some doubt though, after allegedly infringing yellow-flag conditions. He held onto third after getting only a reprimand following a post-race investigation. He said he was distracted by looking in his mirrors for Verstappen, not realizing he had gone off, and didn't notice the flag.

Antonelli was ninth across the line after ignoring the team's pleas to retire the car so he could fight for the final points places. He ended up outside the points anyway. The Italian dropped to 16th with a time penalty for going off-track as he wrangled his damaged car around the corners.

Mercedes has dominated the 2026 season so far, but reliability is becoming its weak spot.

Antonelli has now missed the points twice in three Grand Prix races, after car trouble also derailed him when Hamilton won the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, and Russell had a dramatic car failure in Canada in May.

The lack of racing at the finish was a disappointment to fans, especially after a graphic was wrongly displayed indicating the safety car would come in, leaving a one-lap sprint to the finish.

Russell unhappy

For a driver who's firmly back in the Formula One title chase, Russell didn't seem very satisfied after slashing Antonelli's lead further at Silverstone.

For the second time in three races, Russell benefited from Antonelli having car trouble, with his second place cutting the 19-year-old Italian's lead from 43 points to 25.

Russell still hasn't got a handle on why he isn't consistently getting as much out of the Mercedes — F1's dominant car this year — as his younger teammate.

"I'm still struggling to understand this car. I probably still leave this weekend, albeit extremely grateful to stand on the podium, less satisfied than Canada, when I broke down from the lead," Russell said after Sunday's race.

"If I want to fight for the championship, the performances need to be better. I need to be better. I need to be working better with my team. We need to be maximizing everything. We've got a close fight now with Ferrari. So it's not just Kimi and I. Lewis (Hamilton) is still very close."

Russell had his own share of bad luck this season, with his car failing him in Canada and a mistaken penalty in Monaco, which was then compounded by a Mercedes pit crew blunder.

Russell has beaten Antonelli on level terms, without any car issues, twice this season, but hasn't come close to the consistent form which saw the Italian win five races in a row.

A win in Austria last week seemed like Russell's season was finally back on track, only for him to run into the same trouble at Silverstone — a lack of pace, seemingly without a clear cause.

"The feeling was good, but the lap times were slow," he said. "I left Monaco, three races ago, 68 points behind and I leave here 25 points behind, so I'll take it, but it won't continue like that forever unless the performance gets better."

Verstappen crash

When he saw a replay of Verstappen's crash post-race, Russell called it "weird", and questioned whether there'd been a problem with the rear wing on the four-time champion's car.

If so, it would be the second time in just over a week that's happened to Verstappen, who was thrown into a barrier when his wing broke in qualifying in Austria.

Lando Norris was fourth for McLaren after his teammate Oscar Piastri's race was ruined by early damage, while Isack Hadjar was fifth for Red Bull.

The Racing Bulls duo of Liam Lawson and British rookie Arvid Lindblad were sixth and seventh, ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto in eighth for Audi.

AP