Antonelli storms to British GP pole

Having won the sprint race earlier in the day, the championship leader took his first pole since Monaco with a time of 1m28.111s to keep Mercedes’ 100 per cent pole record intact for 2026.

Charles Leclerc got one over Lewis Hamilton to line up on the front row for the second consecutive race, finishing 0.175s behind Antonelli, while Hamilton was a further two tenths back and unable to repeat his sprint pole heroics from Friday.

George Russell was lucky to survive an earlier crash in qualifying to line up fourth on the grid, ahead of the impressive Isack Hadjar, who outqualified Max Verstappen for the third time this season.

Verstappen could only manage seventh, with the Red Bull pair separated by Lando Norris in sixth.

Oscar Piastri could only manage eighth, his lowest qualifying result of the season, while the Racing Bulls duo of Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson once again did well to finish in the top 10, with Lindblad outqualifying Lawson for the first time since Canada.

Antonelli said he was happy with pole, although admitted the windy conditions made it tricky on his final run.

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

“I have to be honest it came all together. It was very tricky with the wind, because it was very gusty [and] unpredictable.

“But we built our way through qualifying, and to bring the pole home is very satisfying.”

 

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He said there were no major changes made to the car since his win in the sprint earlier in the day, adding a few setting changes had helped him secure top spot in qualifying.

“We didn’t change the car at all,” he said.

“It was just about within differential, brake migration, driving, we worked around it and we managed to find a good setting that helped me to progress through qualifying.”

The championship leader added he was hopeful of maintaining the same pace advantage he had over the Ferraris in the sprint during Sunday’s grand prix.

“It’s not going to be easy. I’ve got two Ferraris behind me and they’re going to work together,” he said.

“But their pace is good. But ours was strong in the sprint race.

“So hopefully we can keep that tomorrow and hopefully we can do a good race.”

Leclerc, meanwhile, said he was happy to be back on the front row, saying he felt good in the car for the first time in several races.

“I’m pleased. It’s been a few tough races where the feeling was not quite right,” he said.

“Where I was struggling to put everything together. On the Sunday we’ve had things that sometimes we couldn’t score points.

“So to be back with a good feeling, there’s been so much work behind the scenes to get back that feeling inside the car. But today is probably the first time where I had it back. So that is a good thing.

“But at the same time I know how much I’ve struggled to be consistent recently. So it’s only the beginning. But it’s a good step in the right direction.”

He added that several elements had been worked on to help him improve his feeling with the SF-26.

“At the moment I’m obviously trying to look a bit of everything because I was losing quite a bit of time,” he said.

“I just didn’t have much pace recently. So you’ve got to look at every single thing you do. Whether it’s driving style, whether it’s everything really. So we’ve worked, I think, really, really well.

“And I’m happy with that P2. Obviously I wish I was on pole, but Kimi did an incredible lap and he deserves it.”

Hamilton also said he was happy to be in the top three, but admitted Ferrari had work to do to catch Antonelli in the race.

“I’m happy to be up here,” he said.

“Both these guys did a great job today. Charles obviously been making good improvements. We just didn’t have the pace unfortunately of the Mercedes.

“It’s been kind of I think for a while. But we’re slowly closing the gap, and to have both of us up here is great for the team.”

He said having Leclerc alongside him could play into Ferrari’s hands when it came to race strategy.

“It’s definitely great to have both of us here, because that means hopefully, whether or not we can fully keep up with Kimi, we’ll see tomorrow, but hopefully we can maybe play with the strategy and work as a team to try to topple them,” he added.

“We’ll do our best for sure.”

Antonelli ended Q2 at the top of the timesheets as the top four teams in the constructors’ championship, along with both Racing Bulls drivers, locked their places in the final part of qualifying.

Gabriel Bortoleto couldn’t quite crack Q3 for the second time in 2026, missing out by just three hundredths of a second.

He was joined in Q2 elimination by Pierre Gasly, Nico Hulkenberg, Oliver Bearman and the Williams duo of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon.

 

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Russell was counting himself lucky after Q1 following his crash that saw him appear to understeer under braking into Luffield, spearing across the gravel and into the barriers, with the Briton claiming over the radio “I’ve never locked up there in my whole career.”

The Mercedes driver only made light contact with the wall and was able to immediately recover and limp back to the pits, where repairs allowed him to head back onto the circuit and set a time good enough to safely escape the opening phase of qualifying.

Q1 was topped by Hadjar, who beat the impressive Lawson, with the Kiwi finishing second behind his sparring partner from the earlier sprint race.

Esteban Ocon failed to get out of Q1 for the fourth time in the last five races, finishing 17th, one spot ahead of the first Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas, while Franco Colapinto missed Q2 for the first time in 2026 after a late spin at Becketts cost him time, leaving the Argentinian in the drop zone.

Sergio Perez joined his teammate in being eliminated in the first part of qualifying, while Lance Stroll outqualified Fernando Alonso for just the second time in 2026 as the Aston Martin pair brought up the rear of the field once again.

The British Grand Prix gets underway at 3pm local time Sunday (12am AEST Monday).

Results: Formula 1 British Grand Prix, Qualifying