Charles Leclerc achieved his first victory in Formula 1 in nearly two years, after clinching the British Grand Prix, on Sunday, July 5, in a chaotic race that ended behind the safety car, while the leader of the standings, Kimi Antonelli, failed to score points again after his car suffered a problem.
Leclerc started strongly, overtaking Antonelli at the start, while the Mercedes driver dropped to third place. In the final laps, the Italian driver was pressing to catch up with the Ferrari driver, before he informed his team of a problem with the steering system.
Leclerc gave the Ferrari team its 250th victory in the history of Formula 1, after the safety car entered following a remarkable accident involving Max Verstappen, who lost control of his car and slid into the gravel while in third place.
Leclerc said on the radio after the victory: “Finally! This victory has a special taste, although I was hoping for a more natural ending.”
After the race, the Monaco driver got out of his car and ran towards the Ferrari team, where employees rushed to embrace him, until one of the barriers fell in front of him. Leclerc’s last Formula 1 win was at the United States Grand Prix in October 2024.
Antonelli’s race is collapsing
After Antonelli informed his team that there was a problem with the car, he entered the pit area, but that did not solve the problem, and he began to decline in the standings. Then Verstappen’s accident came to change the scene in the final stages.
George Russell, Antonelli’s teammate at Mercedes and his title rival, took advantage of the chaos to finish second and deny Ferrari a double, after remaining on old tires when Lewis Hamilton entered the pits under the safety car.
Hamilton got new tires, but he was unable to use them because the race ended behind the safety car, so he settled for third place.
Hamilton maintained his position after only receiving a reprimand in a post-race investigation, due to suspicion of violating yellow flag instructions. He said that he was busy looking in the mirrors to follow Verstappen, and did not realize that the latter had gone off the track and did not pay attention to the flag.
As for Antonelli, he crossed the finish line ninth, after ignoring his team’s requests to withdraw from the race to preserve the car. But he later lost his position due to a time penalty resulting from his departure from the track, falling to 16th place.
Although Mercedes has dominated the 2026 season so far, reliability has begun to become a clear weakness. Antonelli failed to enter the points in two of the last three grand prix races, after car problems also hindered him in the Barcelona-Catalunya race, which Hamilton won, while Russell suffered a major failure in Canada in May.
Russell takes advantage in the title fight
Second place gave Russell an important boost in the championship fight, although the Briton did not have the strongest pace all weekend. Antonelli’s lead in the lead was reduced from 43 points to only 25 points, equivalent to the value of one win.
Russell had finished fourth in the sprint race, fourth in qualifying, and was competing with Verstappen for fourth place in the race before the recent chaos.
“If I want to fight for the championship, the performances have to be better. I have to be better,” Russell said.
For his part, Mercedes director Toto Wolff said that the team believes that Antonelli’s car was damaged after colliding with one of the side barriers, describing the day as bringing mixed feelings for the team.
Verstappen’s accident raises questions
After watching a replay of Verstappen’s accident, Russell described what happened as “strange”, wondering if there was a problem with the rear wing of the four-time world champion’s car.
If true, this will be the second time in just over a week that Verstappen has faced a similar problem, after his accident in Austria when his wing broke in qualifying and collided with the barrier.
Lando Norris came fourth with McLaren, after his teammate Oscar Piastri’s race was damaged early, while Ishaq Hajjar came fifth with Red Bull.
The Racing Bulls duo, Liam Lawson and British rookie Arvid Lindblad, finished sixth and seventh, ahead of Gabriel Bortoletto, eighth with Audi.
As for Alpine drivers, Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly, they finished the race in ninth and tenth places, benefiting from Antonelli’s penalty. (asia one)
