Antonelli wins the first Sprint with the fastest lap: “I wanted to, you can recover even if you start further back”

Andrea Kimi Antonelli wins the first Sprint with style An overtaking so peremptory that, unfortunately, it wasn’t even spectacular, even though it was worth first place. Thus Andrea Kimi Antonelli took the top spot in the Sprint Race of the 2026 British GP at Silverstone, certifying a technical supremacy that everyone expected and which then only actually materialized in the race – and only on his, Mercedes’. The 19-year-old Italian therefore collects his first career victory in a Sprint event and extends his lead in the standings, recovering one more point from Lewis Hamilton and three from teammate George Russell. He even does it with style, obtaining the fastest lap in the last of the 17 scheduled laps, when it seemed that he had now asked everything possible from his tyres. Click here to add Formula Passion as your favorite source on Google Discover: you will find our content more easily The winner of the Sprint Race speaks “I wanted to do the fastest lap – explains Andrea Kimi Antonelli to the Sky microphones immediately after the checkered flag – because in any case it was a race where we pushed in all the laps, but I felt good in the car. The only thing I wanted to show is that the pace is still there, and that you can recover it even if you start a bit further back. In the end, I had a good feeling behind the wheel, I had gotten into my rhythm and was enjoying myself. It was a good race and a good battle with Lewis, but now I have to shift my attention to qualifying.” A sentence, the one about the possibility of recovering when starting from further back, which is difficult to decipher given that Antonelli started 2nd: perhaps a message to his team recalling the events of the Austrian GP won by his teammate Russell? Precisely in qualifying, which starts at 5.00 pm and which we will tell you live minute by minute from 4.45 pm, we need to verify the excellent management of the Ferrari battery which, at least on the flying lap, managed to put a spanner in the wheels of Mercedes with Hamilton in the Sprint Qualifying on Friday: “Yesterday the way in which they used energy was very interesting and even today in the race it was a bit of confirmation of this aspect. Lewis used much more energy in sector 2, us much more in the first. It was interesting and the team is certainly working hard to find a better compromise, especially in view of the official tests this afternoon”, concluded Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Automobile Magazine – Formula1 English, News

2026-07-04 12:45:00