British Grand Prix: Kimi Antonelli beats Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to Silverstone pole
Leclerc’s second place was the first time he had beaten Hamilton in qualifying since the Miami Grand Prix in early May and ended a run of races in which he had struggled to gain confidence in the car.
“I’m pleased,” said Leclerc. “There were a few tough races where the feeling wasn’t quite right, trying to get it all together. There was a lot of work behind the scenes to get that feeling back. This was the first time I got it back, I struggled to be consistent but it’s a good start.”
Hamilton, who passed Antonelli in the sprint as the Mercedes driver raced to victory, said: “Of course I’m not happy. I’m third. Both guys did a great job today.”
“Charles is making good progress and we didn’t have the pace of Mercedes, but we are slowly closing the gap and it’s good for the team to have both of us here.”
Russell had a difficult start to qualifying when he crashed on his first lap after locking onto Luffield’s long right arm on entry.
Although the incident broke his front wing, he managed to return to the pits for repairs and participate in the second session.
However, he remained behind Antonelli from start to finish, and although the Mercedes drivers were less than 0.1 seconds apart after their first run, the gap widened as Russell did not advance and Antonelli was 0.274 seconds clear of him.
