Leclerc won the surprise-filled 2026 British GP

Charles Leclerc secured Ferrari’s historic 250th victory in Formula 1 during the 2026 British GP race, which was full of surprises. Several top drivers had bad luck, the situation kept changing, and the final results of the race at Silverstone are surprising.

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The 2026 British GP race was held in ideal conditions, with the track temperature slightly exceeding 40 degrees Celsius. During the race, we had two short virtual safety car periods, one due to an umbrella that fell from the stands, and the other due to Hulkenberg’s failure, and at the end a long safety car period due to Verstappen, who got stuck in the gravel trap.

Results of the 2026 British GP race

Time differences are very small due to the safety car on the last laps.

Discussion of the drivers who finished on the podium

Charles Leclerc, after a great drive, won the race, but it must be honestly admitted that he was greatly helped by Antonelli’s technical problems (more on that later). Leclerc won the start and took the lead, then made a really great stint on intermediate tires. He maintained a safe lead all the time and, according to plan, made the only scheduled pit stop on lap 25. Then on hard tires, the Monegasque’s pace was still good, but not as remarkable as on intermediates. He made up very little time on Antonelli, who stayed on track 10 laps longer. After switching to hard tires, the Italian quickly started to make up his 7.5-second deficit, but then he had technical problems. Thanks to this, Leclerc easily maintained the lead to the finish; the final safety car was a threat, but fortunately, there was no restart. Leclerc competed in this race only with Antonelli; together they escaped the rest of the field. After the sprint, the Monegasque made changes to the car that worked, and he feels confident in it again. He is supposed to use such settings during the next races, so it looks like the form crisis is over. Update 06.07.2026 According to Hamilton’s statements during the press conference, Leclerc used settings like his, which contradict what the simulator suggested. That is, Leclerc started the weekend with settings developed in the simulator, which turned out to be bad, then switched to Hamilton’s settings and the car was better. If this is confirmed in the coming weekends, it will turn out that Ferrari’s problem is a poorly calibrated simulator.

George Russell at one point was the unluckiest driver in the race but ended up the luckiest at the end. It was not a good race for him; he lagged behind Antonelli in pace. In the first phase of the race, he defended fourth place against Verstappen’s attacks, who overtook him just before his pit stop. After the tire change, Russell came out behind the Dutchman, whom he quickly chased, but he was also pressured by Hamilton. On lap 34, Russell had to make an unplanned second pit stop due to a puncture, from which air was slowly leaking. He then dropped to seventh place, and it seemed he lost chances for a good result. However, at the end, Antonelli and Verstappen had problems, Norris and Hadjar made additional pit stops during the VSC, and at the end, Russell did not change tires during the SC and overtook Hamilton thanks to that. Russell finished the race in second place, and a dozen laps earlier, there was no sign of any chance for the podium, and he was also driving slightly slower than the very front runners.

Lewis Hamilton took third place, whose race had two faces. At the start, he moved up to second place, but his pace on intermediate tires was not as good as the two leading drivers. He was losing ground to them, and additionally, he received a 5-second penalty for moving on the starting grid (he gained nothing from this, but the penalty was fair). For this reason, after his pit stop, he came out in fifth place just behind Russell. On hard tires, Hamilton revived, driving a really competitive pace. He fought with Russell, and when the latter had to change tires, he overtook Verstappen. At this stage of the race, he was 18 seconds behind Leclerc, so he had no chance to fight for the win, but he was driving for a sure third place. Even when Verstappen changed to intermediate tires during the VSC and tried to chase, Hamilton was able to respond. The Briton was unlucky during the safety car because after changing tires, he came out literally half a second behind Russell, who took a risk. Lewis Hamilton ultimately took third place and should be satisfied with that, as his race start was weaker. He was also threatened with a penalty for an infraction under the yellow flag, but it ended with a reprimand.

Max Verstappen lost control of his car in the Stowe corner and got stuck in the gravel at the end of lap 47 of the planned 52 laps. The field was very spread out then, several drivers were lapped, and two twice. The Dutchman got stuck in the middle of a large gravel trap. Almost all drivers then changed to soft tires, it looked like the race would resume for one or two laps. However, the removal of the car took longer, and only at the beginning of lap 51 did the information appear that lapped drivers could overtake the SC and regain a lap. This meant the race would end behind the SC because according to the regulations, in such a situation, the race restart occurs after the completion of the next lap. In this case, it would be lap 53, and the race counted 52 laps. A few seconds were missing with this key message. In the 2021 Abu Dhabi GP, Michael Masi did not follow the regulations and forcibly restarted the race for one lap.

A message about the race restart on the last lap appeared incorrectly on the screens, but this was a FIA software error. The safety car was leading the field all the time and did not turn off the lights; it was known that the race would end behind the SC.

Unlucky drivers from the top four teams

There were several unlucky drivers in the top group during the race. Oscar Piastri broke his front wing on the first lap in a clash with Racing Bulls drivers. McLaren did not know how serious the damage was, so they did not call him to the pits immediately; he came in after the second lap. After the pit stop, he was in second to last place with over a minute deficit. He finished the race but had no real chance to fight for points. A very unlucky performance.

Kimi Antonelli drove a really exemplary race except for the start, when he lost two positions. On intermediate tires, he drove as many as 35 laps maintaining competitive pace until the end. After switching to hard tires, he was only 7.5 seconds behind Leclerc, and at times he made up 2 seconds in one lap. Everything indicated he would win, but at some point, he damaged the car after hitting a curb. He broke some parts that damaged the front suspension. He could not steer, made two additional pit stops while mechanics checked his car. Ultimately, he was able to continue and finished in ninth place but received a 5-second penalty for going off track, which meant losing several positions. These off-track excursions were caused by car damage. He did not gain time from this, but such are the rules.

Verstappen retired from the race on lap 47 after suddenly losing grip in the fast Stowe corner. Everything indicates the same rear wing failure as in qualifying in Austria, meaning the flaps did not fully close. For the Dutchman, this is huge bad luck because at that moment he was in fourth place and was counting on catching Hamilton. His race pace was the best this weekend. For Verstappen, this is another unlucky situation this year; after the race, he criticized the team, and from his perspective, it does not look good. Now key weeks for the Dutchman, as he can activate a clause and leave Red Bull after this season. He has never been so close to this decision. Update 06.07.2026 Apparently, there has been considerable tension for several days between Red Bull and Verstappen’s camp because the Dutchman does not want to commit to staying with the team for another year. The team wants to know this as soon as possible to possibly react and find another driver.

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Discussion of other top drivers

Lando Norris dropped to seventh place at the start; the race did not go his way, and he realistically competed only with Hadjar. He simply did not have good enough pace to chase the front runners. At the end, he gained positions due to the bad luck of Antonelli and Verstappen. It was a very poor performance for McLaren. I hope it will be much better in two weeks because they are supposed to get improved Mercedes engines, and they themselves are preparing a package of upgrades spread over Belgium and Hungary. For now, they have fallen behind and were slower than Red Bull.

Red Bull was not as good as in Austria, but I would place them third in the power hierarchy. Isack Hadjar drove very well and ultimately secured fifth place, being able to compete with Norris. Red Bull completely rebuilt the car in Austria; there is great potential here, but it does not work perfectly on all tracks. I expect better results in Belgium in two weeks.

Discussion of other significant results

Another excellent race was driven by the Racing Bulls team drivers. Lawson and Lindblad drove close to each other all the time, they were not able to compete with the leading drivers but calmly kept rivals behind. If they had made the only planned pit stops around the middle of the race, they would not have lost any positions, which shows how good their pace was. Racing Bulls is currently the fifth force; the car is good, and the drivers do not disappoint. It has been a long time since Red Bull’s junior team regularly drove so well.

The best result in history for the Audi team was achieved by Gabriel Bortoleto, who was eighth. The Brazilian, despite a poor start, quickly made up positions and was constantly in a points-paying position, gaining at the end due to problems of rivals from the front. Hulkenberg, on the other hand, retired due to gearbox failure, so mixed feelings at Audi.

Alpine scored double points, whose drivers started very well and from the first lap fought on the edge of the points-paying top ten, mostly with Bortoleto. Colapinto was higher than Gasly thanks to an earlier pit stop, which allowed him to make a strategic undercut. Their performance over the distance was comparable. Let’s be honest, these points were possible due to the problems of the favorites, but Alpine did everything optimally.

Haas and Williams drivers were too slow to fight for points. Albon was eliminated by a collision on the first lap with Bearman, for which he received a 10-second penalty; at the end of the race, he retired because he was driving a damaged car. Sainz received an unusual penalty of a lap addition because he was lapped when he was not lapped – such is the specification of this track and the layout of the last corners. Cadillac drivers drove very decently, not losing much to rivals. Traditionally, the weakest were Aston Martin drivers. Alonso had a failure already on the formation lap. Stroll received three 5-second penalties for track limits violations – probably due to car problems.

Current overall standings after the British GP can be found here. In the drivers’ standings, the gaps have narrowed, and Antonelli’s lead has decreased.

Summary

It was another very interesting race this year. There were plenty of direct duels and big surprises. The battles at Silverstone were followed by a record number of spectators throughout the entire F1 history over the weekend. Now two weeks break and the Belgian GP on the very fast Spa track, where the power balance should be somewhat different. We will see if the rumors that Mercedes will introduce an important upgrade package there are confirmed. Mercedes is the fastest but very unreliable and does not have a safe lead; they will have to react.

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