At Silverstone the Italian driver is absolutely dominant: he wins the Sprint ahead of Hamilton and then sets the best time in practice ahead of the two Ferrari drivers: Leclerc second and Lewis third
The perfect afternoon of Kimi Antonelli and his Mercedes. Now there is nothing more to add about this Italian talent who is dominating Formula 1, at 19 he is already a champion and he doesn’t give up anything like all great champions. First the victory in the Sprint and then the fastest lap to earn the pole positionn in view of tomorrow’s race. Kimi was leaving and saw him go by Hamilton’s Ferrari who gives the impression of being a tough nut to crack for the World Championship, but then on the eleventh lap he overtook him with momentum thanks to the greater power of his Ferrari and then maintained the lead all the way. His first victory in the Sprint can only make him happy. “With Lewis in the Sprint we had funIt was a very intense lap because we were very close. I decided to wait to pass at the right moment and then managed to maintain the position, a good result for the start of this weekend. We are doing a great job with the team, but we can’t stop: we have to continue to grow and maintain the same performances because the others are getting closer. Ferrari is very fast and so are Red Bull and McLaren“. The attention then switches to his teammate: “George always finds something during the weekend, so I think he will be strong in qualifying. I feel good in the car and I’ll still do my best, we’ll see how it goes.”
The pole
Just a few hours later Kimi Antonelli wanted to reiterate to the world of Formula 1 that he is the fastest. His round closed with was spectacular 175 thousandths of a second over Charles Leclerc and 347 over Lewis Hamilton. But the real surprise of these two days are the Ferraris, the step forward of the SF-26s is unexpected especially on a fast circuit like Silverstone. Hamilton feels at home in England, but today’s tests also brought Charles Leclerc back to the fore after the bad period the Monegasque went through due to the errors in Monaco and Barcelona. “We know that Mercedes is ahead – explained Leclerc – but I’m happy to have finally found a feeling with the car and the result is positive, especially thinking about the premises with which we arrived here at Silverstone, very worried about the power deficit on this circuit. We were happily surprised and we have to keep pushing.” An attitude that will make the start of tomorrow’s race even more interesting: “Because Kimi has a great pace – concluded Leclerc – but we will try to make life as difficult as possible for him.” Behind the two Ferraris fourth place went to Russell then the surprise Hadjar on the Red Bull then Norris, Verstappen and Piastri with the Mc Larens in obvious difficulty and Max preceded by his teammate for the first time.
