Marco Rossi · F1 Correspondent
A wheel shield failure for Antonelli, a late pit call under the Safety Car, and a race that never restarted: Charles Leclerc won his first Grand Prix of the season at Silverstone, while the real story of the afternoon played out in the championship leader’s cockpit.
After eight races without a win, Charles Leclerc steered his Ferrari to victory at Silverstone, his first success of the season and his first win anywhere since the Austin Grand Prix in 2024. He did not start from pole, however, that honour went to Kimi Antonelli, who had also won Saturday’s sprint. By the chequered flag, the picture had been turned on its head: Antonelli finished outside the points after a technical failure, while Leclerc drove a controlled race to a victory that was ultimately decided by a Verstappen crash and a Safety Car finish with no restart.
Pole, Sprint Win, Failure: Antonelli’s Weekend Turns in the Afternoon
For much of the race distance, another Mercedes triumph looked to be on the cards. Antonelli had taken pole, won the sprint, and led for long stretches of the Grand Prix itself. Then a problem emerged with the left-front wheel shield, cutting into his pace and forcing repeated extra pit stops. A five-second penalty for exceeding track limits compounded matters. He ultimately crossed the line in 15th, without points, his second scoreless weekend of the season as championship leader. He does at least keep the fastest lap of the race, set on lap 37 in 1:31.777.
Verstappen’s Crash at Stowe and a Finish Without a Restart
The decisive moment of the afternoon came on lap 48, when Max Verstappen, running third at the time, went off at Stowe and retired. The Safety Car was deployed again, and there was not enough time left for a restart, the FIA later attributed the outcome to a software error. The race therefore finished behind the Safety Car, which reshuffled the positions behind Leclerc once more: Ferrari had pitted Hamilton during the Safety Car period, while Russell stayed out and took second place from him as a result. Hamilton was reprimanded after the race for a yellow-flag infringement but kept his third place. Carlos Sainz, meanwhile, was handed a time penalty for illegally overtaking the Safety Car.
Leclerc Moves Up as the Championship Tightens
For Leclerc, the win meant above all a jump to fourth in the drivers’ standings, overtaking Lando Norris. Antonelli still leads the overall standings on 179 points, but Russell has closed to within 25 points after his Silverstone podium, moving up to 154. Hamilton, on 147, is within reach as well. In the constructors’ standings, Mercedes leads clearly on 333 points, ahead of Ferrari on 255 and McLaren on 179. After a weekend that scrambled the established order at the front, the title fight looks set to tighten further in the races ahead, more than the table alone suggested before Silverstone.
