@CharlesLeclerc scores victory in dramatic #BritishGP as trouble strikes #Antonelli.
Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari HP, SF-26, celebrates on the podium after taking his ninth-career victory at the Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2026, Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Northampton, England. Image credit to Clive Rose/Getty Images. Leclerc British GP Victory, 2026 British GP Results, British Grand Prix Results, 2026 F1 British GP Results, Ferrari 250th Win Silverstone.
Leclerc British GP Victory – Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc scored his first victory since the 2024 United States Grand Prix in a dramatic British GP which ended under the Safety Car following Max Verstappen’s crash. Home favourites George Russell and Sir Lewis Hamilton came home second and third for Mercedes and Ferrari respectively. Championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli finished down in 16th after suffering an issue of a part being lodged in his front wheel shield and a five-second-timed-penalty for a track limit infringement.
This was Leclerc’s ninth-career victory, Ferrari’s 250th Grand Prix win and the Scuderia’s 18th British Grand Prix triumph.
Antonelli’s lead in the World Driver’s Championship has reduced to 25 points over team-mate George Russell (175-54) as Formula 1 heads to Spa in a fortnight for the Belgian Grand Prix.
Mercedes lead the World Constructor’s Championship standings with 333 points and hold a 78-point gap to Ferrari who are second on 255 points.
Antonelli’s championship lead has been cut down to 30 points following his 16th-placed finish
When the 52-lap British GP began, pole-sitter Antonelli lost a couple of positions into Abbey as Leclerc and Hamilton swept by the championship leader to make it a Ferrari one-two.
Further back – Hadjar was fighting with Russell, side-by-side and Russell just about stayed fourth.
Further back there’s some contact – Haas’s Oliver Bearman was off, possibly Albon and Alonso too who started from the pit lane in the end.
On the beginning of the second lap – Leclerc held a 0.500 second lead over team-mate Hamilton who was second with Antonelli third, Russell fourth, Hadjar fifth, Verstappen sixth, Norris seventh, Lawson eighth, Lindblad ninth as Sainz rounded out the top ten runners.
Piastri had radioed to say he suffered damage – the Australian was down in 14th. Sainz had a mega start and just avoided the chaos, he was 10th.
Albon had pitted with front wing damage; Piastri was told to pit next time around.
The 3rd tour – Hamilton had Overtake Mode, so did Antonelli. Russell did not – he had dropped outside the one second window behind his team-mate.
Verstappen got past team-mate Hadjar, he looked the quicker Red Bull driver. Hadjar fought back, so that was not team orders.
Piastri pitted for a new nose. Hulkenberg had an adventure somewhere and was down to 19th.
Lap Four – Hamilton remained within a second of Leclerc as he mounted a challenge for the lead. How would Ferrari play this was the question? Antonelli was in third and biding his time, also within a second of Hamilton.
Russell was 1.7 seconds adrift of his team-mate Antonelli.
Albon and Piastri were both on the hards – and could debate going to the end.
Leclerc’s lead on lap five was up to 1.3 seconds over team-mate Hamilton with Antonelli third, Russell fourth, Verstappen fifth, Hadjar sixth, Norris seventh, Lawson eighth, Lindblad ninth whilst Sainz completed the top ten.
Piastri and Lawson tangled, hence the Australian’s front wing damage. Albon hit Bearman too, and that one is under investigation so that could add to the Williams man’s woes.
Albon was given a ten second timed penalty for causing a collision with Bearman at turn six. Replays showed he oversteered into the back of Bearman’s Haas VF-26 entry and tagged him into a spin.
Championship leader Antonelli got wheel spin, hence his slow start, which dropped him behind the two Ferrari’s.
On the seventh tour – Leclerc had broken free – he was 2.3 seconds in-front of Hamilton, who was under investigation by the stewards for a false start.
Lap eight – Hamilton was hit with a five-second-timed-penalty for a false start. Replays showed it was clear cut, he moved, stopped and moved again. Just within fractions.
The ninth tour – Sainz was 10th, but the Spaniard was struggling for pace in his Williams FW48 entry and had dropped to 12th – Bortoleto was now in the points for Audi. With Piastri down in 21st, it looked like there could be points on offer for three midfield cars.
Antonelli was the only man with Overtake Mode in the top 10 at this stage of proceedings, with Hamilton ahead complaining about front-left graining.
Lap 10 – With Hamilton struggling with graining, Leclerc was able to grow his lead to over three seconds. He’ll have a different afternoon on his hands if Antonelli can get past Hamilton – and he was just half-a-second back.
Fourth-placed Russell radioed to ask about his gearbox, he thought something strange was going on. “No concerns,” was the reply.
The 11th lap – Hamilton survived that previous tour with Antonelli on his tail – could he survive another? Both would have learned from yesterday about when to deploy their battery power.
No – Hamilton could not keep the Italian behind. Into Copse, Antonelli gets past to move up into second place.
The 12th tour – The gap was 4.2 seconds between race leader Leclerc and second-placed Antonelli. Hamilton done a good job holding the Mercedes at bay to buy his team-mate a few tenths.
Further back, Verstappen was increasingly frustrated in fifth place.
“Already a few laps now, I haven’t said anything but the downshifts are *****,” he said to Race Engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase.
The four-time World Champion was unhappy with his RB22 under deployment yesterday too.
Lap 13 – Leclerc brought the lead out to 4.4 seconds, when most expected Mercedes to have the race pace. But Antonelli could see Leclerc on the straights already.
The 14th tour – Leclerc was gaining again. Not much, but he was eking out of undercut range from the Mercedes. There was still a long way to go. Both would be expected to pit and swap to C1 white side-walled hards at some point in the next 10 tours.
Verstappen might be unhappy with his downshifts, but he was closing in on Russell and had Overtake Mode to his advantage.
Lap 15 – Reigning World Champion Norris was in seventh place. He had Overtake Mode too, having closed the gap to Hadjar. He was in a fight with the Red Bulls today, unless some chaos unfolds in-front.
Cameras have showed Piastri’s harder tyres already graining. The rest would be watching closely.
The 16th lap – Up-front, Leclerc and Antonelli matched times – so the gap remained at 4.4 seconds. Further back, Albon was in. The Thai-Briton driver was a lap down and it appeared the Williams man could be retiring. No – he served his penalty and came back out. For now.
Lap 17 – There was very little movement at the front. The gap for the lead remained just under 4.4 seconds, Antonelli taking half-a-tenth on that last tour.
That meant the fight to watch was Verstappen on Russell and…. The move was already done at Copse again. Russell did not fight that; he was going to fight back on the straight.
Yes but no – Verstappen pitted for a fresh set of harder rubber.
Lap 18 – A tidy 2.6 second stop from Verstappen and he emerged ahead of Lawson with a very nice gap.
Russell was told to do whatever Verstappen did not do, but that did mean the Dutchman could undercut Russell.
The 19th lap – No immediate reaction from Mercedes, they were accepting the undercut in the hopes of having a tyre offset on Verstappen later on in the Grand Prix.
Back to the fight up-front. Antonelli was not making the sort of inroads many expected in the battle with Leclerc. It did look like tyre degradation is a little higher than expected.
The 20th tour – Hadjar pitted from fifth for his fresh set of the harder tyres and came out in tenth place behind Bortoleto’s Audi with the Frenchman suffering a slow stop meaning it would not help him in his battle with Norris.
Verstappen on a new set of harder tyres had posted a new fastest lap. The undercut was powerful at Silverstone.
Third-placed Hamilton still had a five-second time penalty to serve.
The 21st tour – Like Russell with Verstappen, Norris did not react to Hadjar’s stop. Despite the undercut being powerful, some teams were obviously worried about how long the hard tyres will last.
Hadjar had overtaken Bortoleto quite easily as he sets about fighting back.
Lap 22 – “Oscar tangled with Lawson, but we haven’t seen the replays. He had front wing damage,” explained Zak Brown, McLaren CEO. “Lando is hanging in there, tyres seem to be okay. Our race is with Red Bull. Lando is comfortable with where we are. With how early they pitted, think they are on a two-stopper.” Brown concluded.
A brief Virtual Safety Car was brought out to clear an umbrella on-track with Haas’s Oliver Bearman taking the free pit-stop.
The 23rd tour – Up front, Leclerc had grabbed himself another four tenths under the VSC, as Hamilton radioed to complain about “crazy” understeer.
Lap 24 – Both Hamilton and Russell stopped with the former serving the five-second-timed-penalty and both bolting on a set of the C1’s with Russell emerging in fifth and Hamilton behind in sixth.
The 25th lap – Leclerc lead from Antonelli and Norris. Those three were yet to pit.
Verstappen was next in-front of Russell and Hamilton. Lawson was ahead of Hadjar, Racing Bulls were yet to pit either of their cars.
Leclerc was told to box and peeled off from the lead.
Lap 26 – Leclerc came out on a fresh set of the harder compounds and 17.1 seconds down on Antonelli – Behind them Hamilton set the fastest lap of the race and was right behind Russell.
Antonelli’s tyres looked okay and he was starting to gain on Leclerc at the end of that opening stint.
Lap 27 – Antonelli lead the Grand Prix but still had to pit. Leclerc was second in-front of Norris, Verstappen, Russell and Hamilton.
The man on the move was the seven-time World Champion Hamilton, who was crawling all over the back of Russell’s Silver Arrow.
Ferrari had gotten this right, that, and Russell did not have the same sort of pace as his team-mate Antonelli.
Antonelli said over the radio: “Don’t let other people undercut me!”
The 29th tour – Norris pitted from third for his fresh harder tyres and came out behind Hadjar in sixth place
Lap 30 – The yet-to-pit Antonelli was 14.7 seconds clear of Leclerc with Verstappen a further 12.5 seconds down in third, Russell fourth, Hamilton fifth, Hadjar sixth, Norris seventh, Lawson eighth, Lindblad ninth as Bortoleto rounded out the top ten.
In the battle for the final podium place, Hamilton picked off Russell in Copse, but Russell fought back. Verstappen ahead was actually third, but knows when these two stop fighting each other, they were coming for the Dutchman.
The 31st lap – “Guys let’s box!” Antonelli yelled.
“Let’s go round one more,” Bono responded.
Antonelli was going to have fresher tyres – but he has got to have enough laps to chase down Leclerc and pass the Monegasque driver for the win too.
A delicate balancing act, and they need to drop the championship leader in fresh air, which was not being helped by this Hamilton – Russell battler, the duo were going for it again, this time at Brooklands.
Russell was still in front after some swapping places around again.
Lap 32 – Antonelli lead by just 14 seconds so he would lose that lead when he pits.
Verstappen was third, 27.8 seconds back from the Mercedes driver. So Antonelli would come out well in-front of the Dutchman, and the battle behind him.
Hamilton was told to “be patient” in his fight with Russell.
The 34th tour – Antonelli still did not pit – but the team would be out there soon for Russell. “Slow puncture,” Russell was told. “Me?” he asked, sounding confused.
Russell now made a move on Verstappen. He could pull it off, and he did not pit. The Briton was told to come in next time around.
Lap 35 – Russell pulled alongside Verstappen and then dived into the pits. A bit of payback, the Dutchman having done the same in reverse earlier. The Briton boxed for a used set of the medium tyres.
The 36th lap – Antonelli pitted for his fresh set of the harder tyres and emerged 7.7 seconds behind Leclerc with the tyre off-set 10 laps between the pairing.
Lap 37 – The situation was Leclerc leading the race, by just seven seconds. It was a two-horse race today between him and Antonelli for the win.
Verstappen was third but on much older tyres than Hamilton in fourth place, the gap between those two was 0.8 seconds.
Norris was fifth, Russell sixth having overtaken Hadjar – Russell having had to pit a second time for a slow puncture.
Lawson, Lindblad and Bortoleto were also in the points.
The 38th lap – Antonelli had got what was a 7.7 second gap down to just five seconds.
Further back, Hamilton was going to make his move on Verstappen. these two have previously at this track. Hamilton used Boost and got past down the Wellington Straight.
Yellow flags were out – Hulkenberg had stopped near Copse, which brought out the VSC a second time.
Verstappen pitted. Antonelli had taken another eight tenths out of Leclerc but will lose a tour.
Norris also pitted, as did Hadjar.
The 39th tour – A slow stop for the Red Bull driver, it looked like they were adjusting the front wing. The VSC ended quickly.
Leclerc led from Antonelli by 4.9 seconds.
Hamilton was third in-front of Verstappen, Russell, Norris and Hadjar.
Lap 40 – The question was should Ferrari have pitted Leclerc? They left him out, and he was going to have to fight Antonelli in a few laps. The gap was under five seconds.
Further back, confirmation that Hadjar did get a new nose rather than an adjustment, and Stroll was slapped with a five-second time penalty for track limit infringements.
Lap 41 – Antonelli reported something broke in the car and came straight into the pits for a new front wing.
He came back in fifth place on lap 42 behind Russell.
Leclerc suddenly was on course for the win in a Ferrari 1-2.
The 43rd lap – “The suspension is broken,” Antonelli replied. The Italian came back out but was now limping after going over a few corner apexes.
“I can try to keep going,” he said, as Bono told him they think it is the wheel shield.
“The car is not turning,” Antonelli said a few more corners on.
He was down to seventh place.
Lap 44 – “There’s something fundamental mate,” Antonelli said as he limped past the end of the pit-lane.
“We’ll box and retire the car,” said Bono
“I can try – for one point, for one point,” was his heart-breaking response.
The 45th tour – Antonelli was back in, and something was pulled out of the wheel shield, which looked like it was also lodged into the front suspension.
Antonelli emerged back out in 10th place.
Lap 46 – Leclerc is leading by the way – from Hamilton. Verstappen is third, Russell fourth and Norris fifth.
Antonelli explained something was still wrong, and he was told to box to retire. But he managed to continue, and he was under black-and-white flags for running off the track so many times – so could be in for a penalty.
“What place am I in?” Antonelli asked.
“P10, Colapinto behind,” was the response from Bono. Colapinto was 1.4 second back and would be told he could be on for a point.
The 47th tour – Antonelli was hit with a five-second-timed penalty for track limit infringements.
Lap 48 – Albon was the second retiree of the Grand Prix as Verstappen beached it into the gravel trap at Stowe with the Safety Car deployed.
The 49th tour – Verstappen was third, he was on course for a podium but now he was out. A heap of drivers headed for the pits; Leclerc was already past the pit-lane.
Leclerc did pit for a set of the softs – Hamilton followed. Used softer compounds for both.
Russell stayed out and jumped Hamilton.
Replay showed Verstappen just got a little sideways, corrected it and then the rear of his RB22 stepped out.
Lap 50 – Hamilton had been noted for a yellow flag infringement. Leclerc led from Russell, Hamilton, Norris and Hadjar.
Colapinto was on for a point for Alpine thanks to Verstappen retiring.
The penultimate tour – The lapped cars were coming through.
Antonelli was ninth, with a five-second penalty to come.
The Safety Car was coming on the final tour for a one-lap dash to the finish.
The final lap – the Safety Car was deployed and continued on.
Leclerc crossed the line to take the British GP victory under the safety car ahead of Russell as Hamilton completed the top three.
Hamilton is currently under investigation by the race stewards for a yellow flag infringement. (Race stewards confirmed Hamilton did not receive any penalty following a post-race investigation and keeps the podium).
Norris followed in fourth and in-front of Hadjar who placed fifth and the two RB entries of Lawson and Lindblad who were sixth and seventh respectively.
Bortoleto followed in eighth whilst the two Alpine’s of Colapinto and Gasly who completed the top ten.
2026 British GP – The Top Three
2026 British GP Winner – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari HP, SF-26 – (25 Points):
“It feels incredible. The end was maybe not the one I dreamt of, but to win after the last few weekends that were particularly difficult… I felt I had found something yesterday between the Sprint and Qualifying, and today the feeling was back where I wanted it to be. I am so, so happy. I really hope I can keep this momentum going forwards.”
2nd Position – George Russell, #63, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team, F1 W17 – +0.636s – (18 Points):
“My first podium [here] even though, I don’t know, a very unlucky race – got the puncture, then very lucky. From my side, my tyres were stone cold so I was glad to bring it home in second. These Ferrari guys look really quick, so game on.”
3rd Position – Sir Lewis Hamilton, #44, Scuderia Ferrari HP, SF-26 – +1.339s – (15 Points):
“Big, big congratulations to Charles, this is a great result for our team. I just didn’t have it today, I jumped the start, already got a penalty and Charles had to edge on me today. The team is doing a phenomenal job, look at these results – two wins for the team this year, this is fantastic.”
Formula 1 Pirelli British Grand Prix 2026 Race Results Classification (52 Laps)
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Laps | Time / Retired | Pts. |
| 1 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 52 | 1:27:11.335 | 25 |
| 2 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 52 | +0.427s | 18 |
| 3 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 52 | +0.772s | 15 |
| 4 | 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 52 | +1.149s | 12 |
| 5 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull Racing | 52 | +1.598s | 10 |
| 6 | 30 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | 52 | +2.023s | 8 |
| 7 | 41 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | 52 | +2.214s | 6 |
| 8 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | 52 | +2.413s | 4 |
| 9 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | 52 | +3.229s | 2 |
| 10 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 52 | +3.445s | 1 |
| 11 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 52 | +4.014s | 0 |
| 12 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 52 | +4.391s | 0 |
| 13 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | Haas F1 Team | 52 | +5.245s | 0 |
| 14 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Haas F1 Team | 52 | +5.512s | 0 |
| 15 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | 52 | +7.403s | 0 |
| 16 | 12 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 52 | +8.005s | 0 |
| 17 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | 52 | +8.162s | 0 |
| 18 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 51 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 19 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 51 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 20 | 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | 46 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 43 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | 36 | DNF | 0 |
* Provisional results. Note – Antonelli received a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits.
FORMULA 1 PIRELLI BRITISH GRAND PRIX 2026 – RACE RESULT
Round 10 of the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the legendary Circuit De Spa-Francorchamps for the Formula 1 Moet & Chandon Belgian Grand Prix 2026 from Friday July 17-Sunday July 19.
