By Alan Baldwin
SILVERSTONE, England, July 4 (Reuters) – Formula One leader Kimi Antonelli was too fast for Ferrari, and dealt another stinging blow to Mercedes teammate George Russell, as the Italian seized pole position for the British Grand Prix on Saturday after winning an earlier sprint race.
His closest title rival Russell qualified only fourth at a windy Silverstone, behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton.
Leclerc was 0.175 of a second slower than the 19-year-old, whose fifth pole of the season extended Mercedes’s record of securing the top slot at all nine grands prix so far in the campaign, but ahead of Hamilton for the first time since Miami in May.
“It was a very tidy lap, a lap where I put everything together,” said Antonelli, of his best time of one minute 28.111 seconds set after going out first for the final run on the fast, sweeping circuit.
“It was very tricky with the wind because it was very gusty and unpredictable.”
LECLERC BACK AHEAD OF HAMILTON
Antonelli won the 17-lap sprint ahead of Hamilton, a record nine-times winner at Silverstone in a career that started in 2007, to go 43 points clear of Briton Russell in the standings.
Winner of five races in a row until Hamilton ended the streak in Spain last month, Antonelli has taken the sport by storm in his second season and appeared to have the measure of the experienced Russell in front of what is sure to be the biggest crowd of the year.
“It’s not going to be easy because I have two Ferraris behind me and, for sure, they will work together,” Antonelli said of the challenge he will face on Sunday.
“Their pace is good but ours was strong in the Sprint. Hopefully we can keep that for tomorrow and do a good race.”
Leclerc said it was good to get back to speed on a Saturday.
“It has been a few tough races when the feeling was not quite right, struggling to put everything together,” he said.
“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.”
Isack Hadjar qualified fifth for Red Bull, ahead of McLaren’s reigning world champion and last year’s winner Lando Norris.
Red Bull’s four-times world champion Max Verstappen will line up seventh, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri eighth and the Racing Bulls pair of rookie Arvid Lindblad — on his home debut — and Liam Lawson completing the top 10 places.
Russell, who started the season as title favourite, had a torrid afternoon — smashing his car’s front wing when he speared wide across the gravel on the entry to Luffield and into the barriers in the first phase of qualifying.
He returned to the pits for a front wing change and managed to salvage the session, which saw Hadjar go fastest.
“That was very weird. I’ve never locked up there in my whole career,” said Russell of the incident.
The Briton was a provisional second after the first round of flying laps in the final session but could not improve his time as the Ferraris went faster, his hopes of a first home Formula One win now looking more distant.
Alpine’s Franco Colapinto also lost control in the first phase, the Argentine’s car bouncing backwards across the grass after a high-speed spin at Becketts.
There was then a 15-minute delay between Q1 and Q2 as marshals cleared up the track and scattered gravel.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ros Russell and Clare Fallon)
