Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli caught and passed Lewis Hamilton to win an action-packed race at the British Grand Prix.
As McLaren’s Lando Norris, Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen hinted at switching positions in the opening laps at Silverstone, Antonelli made up his time before joining Hamilton at the front.
The 19-year-old Italian allowed the race to settle down before unnervingly slotting into the Ferrari and blasting past Hamilton on the Hangar straight after strategically conserving battery power.
After strategically saving his battery charge, he made one attempt at Brooklands corner at the end of the Wellington stretch before blasting past Hamilton on the Hangar straight on lap eight.
Hamilton hung on valiantly but Antonelli could do nothing to stop Russell extending his championship lead to 43 points.
“The first 10 rounds with Lewis were very interesting,” said Antonelli. “We were both pushing really hard. When I got into the previous[mode]I knew my chance was coming.
“When I met Brookland, he used the boost and I decided to wait and then I got closer and took advantage of everything.”
“Like I said, it’s going to be a tough race to keep Mercedes at the back. And because it was so windy today, there was a big wind coming down the back straight. We can keep working to close that gap,” Hamilton said.
Behind them, Norris drove a good race to push Russell from sixth to fourth on the grid before passing him on the second lap.
There were a few challenging laps as Norris, Russell and Verstappen swapped places before Norris consolidated third place and pulled away from the battle behind him.
“It was a great race,” said the world champion. “I’m very, very happy, I had a good start, a good first round, not the pace to go with these guys, but a good fight with George. I’m very surprised.”
Russell overtook Verstappen on lap nine before falling into the laps of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, the four-time champion.
He fell behind Verstappen but held off McLaren’s Oscar Piastri to take sixth.
Racing Bull’s Liam Lawson held off an attack from Red Bull’s Issac Hadjar in the closing laps as they took the final points position.
Qualifying for Sunday’s Main Grand Prix is Saturday at 16:00 BST.
