British GP predictions: False Lewis Hamilton hope, Russell on toast, McLaren resurgence

The British Grand Prix, held at Silverstone, will host the ninth round of the F1 2026 season this weekend.

Will Lewis Hamilton make Formula 1 history, or will Ferrari’s hopes fade? What about an all-British podium or will Kimi Antonelli quash that? Our writers cast their predictions for Silverstone.

Double Ferrari podium as Hamilton makes history

By Michelle Foster

Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust

History beckons Lewis Hamilton at Silverstone, and the Briton will answer the call with a tenth British Grand Prix victory.

Better yet for Ferrari, Charles Leclerc will join his teammate on the podium.

Hamilton has won nine of the last 19 British grands prix, with the circuit bringing out the best of the British racer. And this year, he’s going to need every little bit of added inspiration that he can muster from the cheers.

Ferrari’s SF-26 is semi-suited to the Silverstone circuit in that the car is fantastic in mid-speed corners and those are what Silverstone is renowned for. However, it’s also a power circuit and that’s where the Ferrari is lacking.

Hamilton and Leclerc won’t have it easy on Sunday, they may even have to fight their way from the second row of the grid, but they’ll get it done with Hamilton on the top step of the podium and Leclerc in P3.

Ferrari’s false hope

By Mat Coch

The Barcelona Grand Prix did something dangerous; it offered Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton fans hope.

In Austria, that led to great expectations, partially filled in the early laps as Hamilton chased down race leader George Russell.

But that effort in pursuit of the Mercedes came at a cost, and the lead Ferrari quickly faded out of contention during the second stint.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the garage, Charles Leclerc was anonymous throughout the weekend.

There is no question that Hamilton is in a rich vein of form, and his pedigree around Silverstone in unrivalled, but it’s not going to be enough.

The improved Ferrari is a rapid machine, but it doesn’t yet have that over a full race – at least not conclusively so.

Deployment issues don’t help nor does a car that’s perhaps a little more draggy than those around it.

Combined, that suggests a competitive Saturday showing (and potentially even Sprint performance) giving rise to hope of a 10th British Grand Prix win for Hamilton.

I fully expect the Scuderia to fade, just as it did in Austria, but not before raising the hopes and dreams of the patriotic crowd to stratospheric levels.

More on the British Grand Prix from PlanetF1.com

F1 British Grand Prix 2026 event centre – Live updates, reports, results, schedule, weather, preview

British Grand Prix weather: What is the risk of rain this weekend?

All-British podium at Silverstone

By Jamie Woodhouse

Mercedes is back to winning ways, but what is clear is that challengers are starting to emerge.

Lewis Hamilton ended the Mercedes streak in Barcelona. Max Verstappen, with an alternate strategy, could have taken the chequered flag in Austria.

Skip forward to Silverstone, and I reckon there will be three different teams represented on the podium, with one flag flown, the home flag.

George Russell gets my vote to make it back-to-back wins, further strengthening his title race comeback.

Lando Norris, on home soil, matches his best result of season with a P2.

And in P3, the record nine-time British Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton.

The Ferrari deployment concerns, and climbing temperatures in Northamptonshire, are probably not going to help Hamilton’s cause.

But no driver has experienced more success at this event than Hamilton, who will complete the podium this weekend.

McLaren gets both its cars on the podium

By Henry Valantine

Too far-fetched? I don’t necessarily think so.

McLaren has always been there or thereabouts in the battle to be best of the rest, and with the team (in that stunning M2B-inspired livery) in need of a strong performance, I wouldn’t put it past both drivers to be spraying champagne on Sunday.

I know he’s already had a podium in Miami, but that quietly assured drive from Oscar Piastri in Austria was probably his best of the season so far, and Lando Norris – who will get a rousing reception from grandstands bearing his name at Stowe – will be fully up for the weekend as well.

Norris also appeared on the podium in Miami with Piastri, and with lots of fast sweeps mixed in with its technical middle sector and long back straight, I reckon the McLaren pair will be eyeing up a result this weekend.

Yes, Silverstone is a very different challenge overall with far fewer slow corners, but if (it’s a big ‘if’) the team can manage its deployment as well as the factory team, I’d put them right in the hunt this weekend.

Kimi Antonelli will put George Russell back in his place

By Oliver Harden

George Russell may have won, but the fastest Mercedes driver in Austria last weekend was Kimi Antonelli.

The race was lost for Antonelli not only with the yellow flag drama of qualifying, but also at the start.

It seemed that he was so fearful of repeating his mistake on the opening lap of the 2025 race, when he missed his braking point in the pack and piled into Max Verstappen at Turn 3, he decided the best course of action was to keep out of danger entirely by repeatedly running off track.

An unorthodox way of approaching a first lap, but expect him to come roaring back at Silverstone.

Like in Monaco, where his technique and natural touch and feel for a racing car saw him outclass Russell, there isn’t a single corner at Silverstone where you’d expect Antonelli to be slower.

He’ll have George on toast in the slower change-of-direction sequence of Brooklands/Luffield and the faster one of Maggotts/Becketts; those softer inputs of his will make for a turn in to die for at Copse.

Inevitably, there has been talk this week that Austria was some kind of breakthrough for Russell.

In the same way that so many rushed to declare Lewis Hamilton a title contender after Barcelona (honestly, where has our sense of perspective gone?).

Antonelli will prove at Silverstone that reports of a Russell resurgence are greatly exaggerated and that, in almost every area as a racing driver, he is already more advanced.

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!

Read next: Lewis Hamilton Ferrari privilege uncovered in hilarious Leclerc exchange