Charles Leclerc earned his very first victory at the British Grand Prix after a race full of twists that sent shockwaves through the world championship battle.
Drivers’ championship leader Kimi Antonelli had begun on pole position but an issue with his front left tyre later in the race hampered his chances of claiming a famous win as he fell down the grid.
Lewis Hamilton and George Russell both benefitted from Antonelli’s misfortune, as well as a crash from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, but a decision from Ferrari to pit Hamilton and switch his tyres cost him second place as Russell nipped ahead of him.
The grand prix then ended in a whimper with a safety car deployed for the last five laps meaning Leclerc cruised to victory and Antonelli’s championship rivals all gained points on him.
From the start the signs pointed to a race that would be far from ordinary. Antonelli’s Mercedes was slower off the line than both Ferraris meaning Leclerc flew into the lead from the front row and was followed past Antonelli by Hamilton who shot into second.
Behind them Max Verstappen gained ground, passing Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar, allowing him to pile pressure on Russell in fourth.
As the race developed Antonelli completed an overtake on Hamilton and was closing on the race leader when Ferrari switched his tyres. Leclerc rejoined in second place as Mercedes kept on Antonelli out on a wearing set of medium compounds due to the battle for third behind him.
All of Verstappen, Russell and Hamilton were within a few car lengths of each other with the Ferrari and Mercedes leapfrogging each other several times in the space of a couple of laps.
Russell’s chances of a podium were suddenly in doubt as he picked up a slow puncture leaving Hamilton free to complete the overtake on Verstappen.
But there were twists to come as Antonelli’s pit stop on lap 36 sent him on the freshest tyres with the aim to catch and displace Leclerc at the front. That strategy lasted five laps as an issue caused serious harm to his chances.
“Something is broken,” yelled the 19-year-old, who had damaged the wheel shield on the left-hand side of his Mercedes after he ran wide at Copse. Amid a volley of frantic radio messages, he boxed twice to try to resolve the problem but he limped through the rest of the race and plummeted down the leaderboard.
A later twist saw Ferrari fumble a one-two as Verstappen went into the gravel at Stowe on the 48th lap sending Hamilton up to second and Russell, back in the game having fixed his puncture, into third.
The safety car was deployed with Ferrari deciding to pit both cars and put on fresh tyres in case of a race restart. That decision lost Hamilton second place as Russell remained on track and nudged ahead of him. The race then ended in a whimper under the safety car. Antonelli took the chequered flag in ninth but he was dealt a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits leaving pointless in 16th.
Leclerc, though, triumphed at Silverstone for the very first time and ended a 624-day winless streak. Antonelli’s pointless race has reduced his lead over Russell to just 25 points, though Hamilton, just is now only 32 points behind having earned a record-extending 16th podium at the British Grand Prix.
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