British Grand Prix: The safety car plays a crucial role again at the end of a chaotic race

Leclerc’s win was Ferrari’s second in three races. Hamilton in Barcelona. Although Mercedes was faster and Antonelli could certainly have won, Ferrari were more competitive than they expected at Silverstone.

They already had the fastest car in the corners, and the engine upgrade in Austria cut the Mercedes shortfall on the power and handling front.

“It’s amazing to see the pace we had this weekend at a circuit like this. We definitely didn’t expect it. So to have a strong weekend as a team and come away with some really good points is really special,” Hamilton said.

Leclerc and team principal Frédéric Vasseur, however, were cautious about their chances of becoming Mercedes’ series rivals.

“It’s too early to say,” Leclerc said. “This weekend in particular was a big surprise for the whole team. Not today’s win, but the overall performance.”

We were much faster than we thought, and I think we need to analyze when things are worse than expected, we also need to analyze when things are much better than expected.

“Going into the weekend, I remember our meetings on Thursday and we thought it would be at least 0.6 seconds, 0.5 seconds lower, and we were a lot better than that, and we actually won today. So, it’s a very special feeling.”

Even 19-year-old Antonelli was relaxed. Although the competition turned sour, this was another weekend in which he was the fastest man out there. The speed is coming to him more easily than Russell, he looks unbeatable if he doesn’t hit problems, and 25 points is still a huge lead.

“We lost a lot of points but this weekend we showed the pace and we showed what the potential is,” said Antonelli.

“When I’m in a good position with the team, when we’re in a good position with the car, we’ve shown what we’re capable of.

“So the momentum is still there, and it really makes the fire grow bigger, to get out there, to inspire and try to make it even better.”