Kimi

Verstappen was unhappy with his car for much of the race, but Red Bull pulled a masterstroke when they fitted soft tyres to his car at his second pit stop.

The aim was to challenge Hamilton in the later laps after the seven-time champion made an early second stop with 40 laps still to go.

It was heading towards a tense climax when Piastri’s retirement brought out the VSC.

That prompted a late round of pit stops, Ferrari bringing in both their drivers and putting them behind Verstappen.

Hamilton came out of the pits and passed Antonelli into the first corner, after the Italian stayed out under the VSC, but had to give the place back after the restart because the Mercedes driver had just passed the key line on the track in front.

Antonelli and Hamilton started chasing back towards Verstappen, but they were delayed while lapping Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto.

That looked as if it might be decisive, but in the end Verstappen was comfortably able to keep Antonelli at bay, crossing the line 3.6 seconds ahead.

Another key point in Verstappen’s race had been his re-passing of Hamilton after the Ferrari had got briefly ahead following the first pit stops.

That gave him clear air and enabled the Dutchman to consolidate his race position in third place behind the McLarens, laying the foundations for Red Bull’s late strategy call.

Hamilton will leave Hungary ruing another penalty – the one for speeding in the pit lane was his second in two days after behind penalised for blocking Piastri in qualifying, and follows two other penalties at the previous two races in Belgium and Britain.

Behind him, Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar was sixth, ahead of Russell, who dropped to 21st place on the first lap after his anti-stall kicked in at the start, and fought back strongly.

At Aston Martin, Lance Stroll finished in 13th, ahead of team-mate Fernando Alonso, their positions dictated to a degree by luck under the VSC and their divergent strategies.

But the key point was that Alonso, in particular, was able to fight with other cars for the first time, and he ran a long first stint on the soft tyres, before switching to the mediums, which was a bold strategy.

The long-awaited upgrade to their car, which was new apart from the front suspension, engine and gearbox, has reduced their lap times by about two seconds.

A Honda engine upgrade is due for the Dutch Grand Prix, the next race in four weeks’ time after the summer break, which the team hope will elevate them further and potentially bring the possibility of the occasional points finish into the picture.

Norris said: “Very happy to be back on top, especially at a track where you certainly want to be on pole.

“I had confidence the whole of today. My laps in Q3 were not the best, even the one at the end, so pleasantly surprised to be on top.”

Hamilton was a second slower on his second run than on his first, was unhappy he had been sent out for it first, and he also faces an investigation for impeding McLaren’s Oscar Piastri at Turn One after he finished his final lap.

“I had a clean out-lap, and when I started my lap, already into Turn One I had a snap and I was already 0.15secs down,” Hamilton said. “It just cascaded from there.

“So, the last lap was the worst lap of all, and all the other laps were really good. We clearly had the car to be on pole today, and I just didn’t deliver. So that’s tough to swallow.”

On the impeding scenario, Hamilton said he had not been warned of Piastri’s approach by the team: “I was told literally when he was at the apex behind me, so I had no idea he was coming. I thought everyone was on an out-lap.

“Everyone came out behind me. I was the first out, so I thought everyone had finished their lap. Charles, I think, was the car that was behind me when I left the pit lane, as far as I was aware. So, yeah, crazy, because it had been clean, and obviously it wasn’t intentional.”

Antonelli is another driver off to the stewards, in his case for an alleged yellow-flag infringement.

Verstappen, who railed about the unpredictable handling of the Red Bull over the radio after his spin, managed to take sixth, ahead of Russell and the second Red Bull of Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad and Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg.

Mercedes driver won his sixth GP of 2026 as championship rival and teammate George Russell crashes out on first lap.

Kimi Antonelli won the Belgian Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday to stretch his Formula One lead to 45 points over Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton on a bleak day for teammate George Russell, his closest title rival heading into the race.

Russell had been the 19-year-old Italian’s closest rival before the start at Spa-Francorchamps, but the Briton spun off into the gravel on the opening lap after a collision with Hamilton while trying to make up places lost at lights out.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was second in the 44-lap race, 1.952 seconds behind after leading, thanks to a pit stop while a virtual safety car was deployed, with Max Verstappen third to give Red Bull their 300th Formula One podium.

Hamilton finished fourth, despite serving a five-second penalty for the collision with Russell, but remained under investigation for an unsafe release from a pit stop that could drop him to fifth and further stretch Antonelli’s lead.

It was Antonelli’s sixth win in 10 rounds this season, leaving him 50 points clear of Russell. Antonelli was first in qualifying, continuing Mercedes’ clean sweep of pole positions this season.

“It’s great to be back on the top step after a few difficult rounds,” said Antonelli, who had drawn a blank in two of the past three rounds.

“It was a hard-fought race. We lost first place with the VSC but then we managed to make our way back.

“The momentum was always there. It was just about getting the results,” he added. “Today we were a bit lucky with what happened in terms of the championship but you have to take every opportunity because we saw how much it can swing.”

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri finished fifth, with Isack Hadjar sixth for Red Bull from last on the grid. Reigning champion Lando Norris was seventh for McLaren after starting 13th due to a 10-place grid drop.

Gabriel Bortoleto brought more points for Audi in eighth place, with Arvid Lindblad ninth for Racing Bulls and Argentine Franco Colapinto completing the scoring in 10th place for Renault-owned Alpine.

Norris is one of a number of drivers who face a grid penalty this weekend, after exceeding his permitted number of batteries.

He is joined by Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar, fifth fastest overall behind Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari, and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.

The championship gap has closed largely because of problems for Antonelli, who retired from second place in the Barcelona Grand Prix, and lost a probable victory at Silverstone last time out by a wheel fairing failure and then a penalty, which dropped him out of the points.

Russell also took an impressive win in Austria, just fending off Verstappen and Antonelli, for his first victory since the first grand prix of the season in Australia.

Behind the top six of Antonelli, Norris, Verstappen, Hamilton and Hadjar, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, Russell and the Racing Bulls of Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson completed the top 10 ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Verstappen was complaining about gearshifts, as he so often does, but his pace was encouraging considering the team have had to shelve their ‘flip-flop’ rear wing after consecutive crashes for the Dutchman in high-speed corners in Austria and at Silverstone.

The failure was that the wing was closing too much, removing the so-called ‘slot gap’ between the main plane and flap, meaning the car had less downforce than the driver expected on corner entry.

Reverting to the standard wing, which opens like the old DRS overtaking aid, is said by insiders to cost around 0.2secs a lap.

Technical director Pierre Wache said: “It is a mechanical problem that we spot after the accident in Silverstone. We fixed it. It [the car] should be ready and bulletproof.

“I don’t want to be too precise on what we are doing because it is a performance benefit to use it. But we take it seriously, we discuss with the FIA because it is our duty to make the car safe and you will see the wing back soon.”

Red Bull hope to have a revised version of the new wing ready for the Hungarian Grand Prix next weekend.

Racing Bulls have an upgrade on Lindblad’s car this weekend. The team decided to give it to the Briton rather than Lawson after an agreement that the driver who qualified ahead at the British Grand Prix would have the new parts for Spa.

Lawson will get the next upgrade later in the year, which is also expected only to be ready for one driver initially, team principal Alan Permane said.

Antonelli’s pole, from a driver looking comfortable and confident around the fast sweeps of Silverstone, dealt Russell another blow in their title fight.

He had already extended his championship lead with victory in the sprint and their starting positions give Russell an uphill struggle as he seeks to take his first win at his home race.

Leaving the pits for his final lap, Antonelli complained about being the first driver to run but he need not have worried.

He beat his previous time by nearly 0.3secs to put himself well out of reach of his rivals.

“I was a bit stressed because I never really like going first for the last run but the last lap was very tidy. It came all together,” Antonelli said.

“It was very tricky with the winds because it was very gusty, unpredictable, and to build the car to pole was very satisfying.”

Leclerc’s second place was the first time he had beaten Hamilton in qualifying since the Miami Grand Prix in early May, and brings to an end a run of races in which he has been struggling for confidence in the car.

“I am pleased,” Leclerc said. “It has been a few tough races when the feeling was not quite right, struggling to put everything together. There has been so much work behind the scenes to get back that feeling. This was the first time I had it back, I have struggled to be consistent but it is a good start.”

Hamilton, who was passed by Antonelli on the Mercedes driver’s run to victory in the sprint, said: “Of course I’m not satisfied. I’m third. Both these guys did a great job today.

“Charles has been doing good improvements and we just didn’t have the pace of the Mercedes but we are slowly closing the gap and to have both of us here is good for the team.”

Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli caught and passed Lewis Hamilton to win an action-packed sprint race at the British Grand Prix.

While McLaren’s Lando Norris, Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen staged a frantic place-swapping scrap in the opening laps at Silverstone, Antonelli bided his time before homing in on Hamilton at the front.

The 19-year-old Italian let the race settle down before remorselessly homing in on the Ferrari and blasting past Hamilton on the Hangar Straight on lap eight after strategically saving his battery charge.

Hamilton hung on bravely but could do nothing to stop Antonelli extending his championship lead still further to 43 points over Russell.

Behind them, Norris drove an excellent race to blast up from sixth on the grid to fourth on the first lap before passing Russell on the second lap.

There were a few hectic laps as Norris, Russell and Verstappen swapped places before Norris managed to consolidate third place and move clear of the the battle behind him.

Russell managed to pass Verstappen on lap nine before the four-time champion fell back into the clutches of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who moved past the Red Bull a lap later.

Verstappen dropped back but managed to hold off McLaren’s Oscar Piastri to take sixth.

Racing Bull’s Liam Lawson held off an attack from Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar in the closing laps as they took the final points positions.

Qualifying for Sunday’s main grand prix is at 16:00 BST on Saturday.

More to follow

Lewis Hamilton took his first victory for Ferrari in a compelling Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix as championship leader Kimi Antonelli retired from second place with four laps to go.

It was a dramatic end to a gripping race that had tension and jeopardy throughout as Hamilton secured his first victory since the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix, when he was still driving for Mercedes.

The win turned on a virtual safety-car period which allowed Hamilton, on a different pit-stop strategy to Mercedes, to pit and retain the lead.

Meanwhile, Antonelli had just passed Russell for second place with five laps to go after a race-long battle when his car ground to a halt with a technical problem.

Russell finished second and McLaren’s Lando Norris was third in the first all-British podium since the 1968 US Grand Prix.

The key stories of a momentous race were:

Antonelli takes his fifth Grand Prix win in a row in race interrupted by crashes after asphalt breaks apart.

Formula One championship leader Kimi Antonelli stayed ice-cool to ⁠win a ⁠chaotic Monaco Grand Prix and extend his run of victories this season to five.

The 19-year-old Italian built a ⁠commanding lead on Sunday after starting from pole in his Mercedes but that evaporated after a late red flag to inspect a crumbling ⁠surface at the final corner following a crash that took out Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

After a delay of about 40 minutes while repairs were carried out, the race resumed with a standing start but Antonelli remained unfazed ‌as he became the youngest-ever winner of the iconic race.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was runner-up for the second successive Grand Prix with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar provisionally third, although he was one of a number of drivers under investigation for a variety of infringements.

Hamilton, who equalled the late Ayrton Senna’s eight Monaco podiums, ⁠moved above Antonelli’s teammate George Russell into ⁠second place in the standings, 66 points behind Antonelli.

“It’s been an incredible weekend and an incredible race,” said Antonelli, who was not even born the last time an ⁠Italian won the Monaco Grand Prix – Jarno Trulli in 2004.

“We had incredible pace and it all ⁠came so natural and that gave me ⁠the confidence to push.”

A year after finishing last on his F1 debut at Monaco, Antonelli showed incredible poise to shrug off the red flag drama that meant he effectively ‌had to win two races.

“I wasn’t super keen on re-starting but once the notification came out I just gathered my emotions and ‌re-focused ‌again. Once I got away and was P1 into the first corner I could enjoy the last few laps.”

Before long, what had been a soporific race turned into a surreal one.

First, Stroll crashed his Aston Martin at the final corner, causing a first safety car.

As the cars prepared to get going again, Leclerc crashed at the same place in the same way even before the race had restarted.

That led to a red flag as officials took a look at the track surface at the crumbling final corner, known as Antony Noghes.

And that meant another restart that Antonelli had to negotiate, this time with the fast-starting Ferrari alongside him.

But again he was perfect and the race surrendered to him.

Hadjar drove an excellent race battling power-unit problems and was helped by a masterstroke from Red Bull in not stopping under the first safety car, which gained him positions on Russell and Piastri.

Racing Bulls had a good day with Arvid Lindblad taking the best result of his rookie season with sixth place behind team-mate Liam Lawson.

Gasly was seventh ahead of the Williams of Alex Albon and Esteban Ocon’s Haas.

And Sergio Perez took 10th for what could be the first point for the new Cadillac team, although he faces an investigation for being incorrectly positioned on the restart after the red flag.

If he is penalised, the final point will mark the first of the season for Aston Martin, for whom Fernando Alonso finished 11th.

And there may be questions as to why so many drivers – more than a quarter of the grid – ended up speeding in the pit lane.

A Monaco pole is a statement performance for any driver and one of the biggest prizes in Formula 1. To deliver in this fashion, at the age of 19, underlined his potential as the most likely world champion this year at this early stage.

He and Verstappen were separated by just 0.001secs after their first runs in the final session and Antonelli said he had produced a “magic lap” to beat the Dutchman.

Leclerc went out early for the final runs after missing his first lap with a lock-up at Mirabeau, and he put himself at the top with his first effort.

Verstappen then beat that mark by 0.257secs to take top spot, only for Antonelli to displace him.

Leclerc was not finished – he had given himself time to have one final lap as the last driver on track. But he went over the limit and slid wide on the entry to Tabac, crunching his right rear wheel against the wall and breaking his rear suspension.

Antonelli said: “I was able to put everything together. It was such a close qualifying session. The last lap was good.”

Verstappen said he was surprised to be able to compete for pole position.

“If you would have told me yesterday I would be on the front row, I would have taken it,” he said. “So heading into qualifying and being up there was extremely positive. Very happy with how qualifying went. I am happy to be on the front row.”

Ferrari had been quickest on Friday, first and second in both sessions, but Hamilton said the car felt different as soon as qualifying started.

“We were looking so good in practice and then the car was drastically different in qualifying,” Hamilton said, “so we have to take a look at that. But I was giving it everything. What a privilege it is to be one of the 22 drivers who gets to do this. I loved every second of it.”

Russell struggled for grip throughout the session and never looked likely to get into the fight for pole, and he ended up 0.394secs behind his team-mate.

The Canadian Grand Prix was the race in which the Formula 1 title battle finally came alive this year.

It was also, however, the race in which it took a potentially decisive turn, putting a huge dent in George Russell’s hopes of beating his 19-year-old Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli to the championship.

Russell’s retirement from the race came after 30 laps of frenetic battling between the pair which lit up the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on a damp, gloomy day so cold it tempted world champions McLaren into a seemingly inexplicable decision to start the race on a dry track on wet-weather tyres.

Russell’s retirement handed the win to Antonelli, his fourth in a row, and the Italian now has a massive 43-point lead.

Doubtless there are many twists and turns to come in the remaining 17 races. Even so, that will take some recovering.

Afterwards, Russell was stoic but understandably downbeat.

“Right now it’s his to lose,” he said. “He is so many points ahead. It feels like the gods don’t want me to be in this fight, when I look at the safety-car timing in Japan, breaking down in China Q3, fighting for pole, breaking down from the lead here today.

“But, you know, the pressure’s off. Go out, enjoy every single race. Try to win every single race. And I’ve got nothing to lose.

“I don’t want to be stood here talking like that. It is, of course, frustrating, but I want to be in that fight. Hopefully, the luck will turn.”