Charles Leclerc wins British Grand Prix after late drama for Antonelli and Verstappen

Charles Leclerc secured a surprise British Grand Prix victory as he escaped a late-race attack from Kimi Antonelli after the Mercedes driver broke his front left wheel shield, costing him time in the pits and on the track.

After that, Leclerc was on course to win by almost 30 seconds over his teammate Lewis Hamilton when Max Verstappen’s off at Stowe brought out a late Safety Car, with the race ending behind the SC. Ferrari pitted Hamilton behind the SC, handing second place to George Russell.

Charles Leclerc wins British Grand Prix

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

21 drivers lined up at a warm Silverstone circuit with Kimi Antonelli on pole position ahead of the Ferrari teammates, Max Verstappen in seventh and telling Sky Italia that it would have to “ask the team why” they didn’t change his engine and set-up as “I would have done it differently”, and Lance Stroll at the very back of the grid after a Honda engine change. Fernando Alonso headed into the pit lane at the end of the formation lap.

Charles Leclerc made a flying launch and took the lead ahead of Lewis Hamilton, with pole-sitter Antonelli dropping to third. He was hounded by his teammate George Russell, but stayed ahead. Isack Hadjar made a solid start to hold onto fifth place with Verstappen up one place in sixth.

Behind them, there were cars off the track with Oscar Piastri reporting damage and dropping to 19th place. Piastri got involved with Liam Lawson into Brooklands and came off second best.

Alex Albon was also into the pits for a new nose after an incident at Turn 6 with Oliver Bearman, with the Williams driver given a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision.

Verstappen took fifth place off Hadjar and, despite Hadjar trying to fight back, the four-time world champion held off his teammate. But going wide in Copse, Hadjar was all over Verstappen’s rear wing.

Hamilton was noted for a false start, which became a stewards’ investigation that resulted in a five-second penalty.

F1 2026: The season’s winners and losers

The results of the F1 2026 championship

The F1 2026 Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship standings

Leclerc was three seconds ahead of Hamilton after 10 laps, with the Briton under pressure from Antonelli. Hamilton complained of his left front tyre graining. Russell, running in a lonely fourth place, asked Mercedes to check his gearbox as he had strange downshifts.

Into Copse on Lap 11, Antonelli dived up the inside of Hamilton to take second place. Leclerc was 4.1s up the road.

Meanwhile, in fifth place, Verstappen told Red Bull that while he was being quiet about his engine, the downshifts were *beep*. He later exclaimed: “You can’t tell me this deployment is normal!”

Albon came in on Lap 16 to serve his penalty, but it appeared to be setting him up to retire the Williams as his car sustained damage in his opening lap contact. He, however, stayed out.

Verstappen closed in on Russell and challenged him for fourth place on Lap 17. Russell shot to the inside of Copse and Verstappen for a moment thought of doing the same and quickly took avoiding action – and also P4. And then he pitted. He came back out in seventh place.

Hadjar was the next in with Norris warned by McLaren that the undercut could be powerful given Verstappen’s times on the hard tyres. The VSC was briefly out on Lap 22 for an umbrella on the grass next to the track. Esteban Ocon was the only driver near enough to the pit lane to benefit from it.

Back at the front, Ferrari told Hamilton to box on Lap 24 but although he yelled that his tyres are still good, he came into the pits to serve his penalty and change tyres. Russell also pitted. Hamilton came out behind Russell, effectively losing two positions, and was 1.3s behind his former teammate.

Leclerc was in at the end of Lap 25 and relinquished the lead to Antonelli. The Ferrari driver came out in second place, but Antonelli ahead of him and Norris behind him, still had to pit. Norris pitted on Lap 29.

Behind the race leaders, Hamilton attacked Russell for position only for the Mercedes driver to fight, the two wheel-to-wheel. That gave Verstappen, who was just ahead of them, a lap of breathing space. Hamilton then tried to attack Russell down the Wellington Straight before getting passed around the outside at Brooklands. And Russell took back the position into Copse.

“Slow puncture, right rear,” was the message to Russell. But shocked up the message, Russell promptly tried to overtake Verstappen, almost made it, and then stayed out instead of pitting. Russell and Verstappen down at Stowe has been noted. Hamilton’s race engineer Carlo Santi told the Ferrari driver: “We think Russell has a puncture, he will come in.”

Russell passed Verstappen and then immediately pitted, a gift for Hamilton as he closed in on them both as they squabbled. His teammate Antonelli was in on Lap 35 for his first pit stop, relinquishing his 13s lead and coming out seven seconds behind. His tyres, though, were 10 laps fresher.

Hamilton finally made his move on Verstappen on Lap 38, using his boost to pass the Red Bull driver on the Wellington Straight. The yellow flags were out a few seconds later as Nico Hulkenberg came to a halt on the outside of Copse. Red Bull pitted Verstappen for a new set of tyres. Norris also pitted as did Hadjar.

Leclerc was leading at the restart, but only by four seconds ahead of Antonelli, with Hamilton third ahead of Verstappen, Russell, Norris, Hadjar and Liam Lawson.

“Something is broken in the car!” was Antonelli’s pained cry. “Something is broken!” He pulled into the pits with his W17 fitted with a new front wing. He came out behind Russell in fifth place. It, however, wasn’t the wing as he went straight on with Norris taking sixth off him.

Mercedes told him the team thinks it is just the “wheel shield on the left hand side” of the car. Although he wanted to try finish the race, he was told to box. Mercedes ripped off the shield and Antonelli returned to the track in 10th place.

Despite his and Mercedes’ efforts, he got a track limit violation for exceeding track limits more than five times. The championship leader, though, stayed out.

Leclerc went into the final laps holding a 27 second lead over his teammate Hamilton, only for the Safety Car to be deployed on Lap 48 as Verstappen lost it into the gravel.

The Monegasque driver pitted for a set of soft tyres, as too did Hamilton. Russell stayed out, taking second place ahead of Hamilton.

The Safety Car was reportedly set to pit before the final lap only to stay out, with the race ending behind the Safety Car.

Leclerc won the Grand Prix ahead of Russell and Hamilton, with Norris, Hadjar, Lawson, Lindblad, Bortoleto, Antonelli and Colapinto in the top ten at the line. But Antonelli’s penalty dropped him outside the top ten into 16th place with Gasly taking the final point.

British Grand Prix: Top Ten

1 Leclerc Ferrari
2 Russell Mercedes +0.4s
3 Hamilton Ferrari +0.7s
4 Norris McLaren +1.1s
5 Hadjar Red Bull +1.5s
6 Lawson Racing Bulls +2.0s
7 Lindblad Racing Bulls +2.2s
8 Bortoleto Audi +2.4s
9 Colapinto Alpine +3.2s
10 Gasly Alpine +3.4s

The full result from the British Grand Prix

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: First look! Horner returns to F1 paddock for first time since Red Bull exit