Kimi Antonelli follows up sprint race success with pole at British Grand Prix
Kimi Antonelli claimed pole for Sunday’s race. Pic: David Davies/PA
Kimi Antonelli boosted his championship bid with a superb Silverstone Saturday and he backed up sprint victory by claiming pole for Sunday’s British Grand Prix.
The Italian had his title lead cut from 68 points to 40 by team-mate George Russell over the previous two rounds of the championship but enjoyed a glorious day in the Silverstone sunshine.
The 19-year-old blasted past pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton to win the sprint and stretch his advantage to 43 points over Russell, with the seven-time world champion a further four points adrift.
And Antonelli had the edge in qualifying, seeing off Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by 0.175 seconds as Hamilton edged out Russell to line up third.
Hamilton said afterwards: “We just didn’t have the pace of the Mercedes but we are slowly closing the gap and to have both cars up here is good for the team.
“To have both of us here, hopefully we can play with the strategy and work as a team.”
Isack Hadjar will start fifth, two places ahead of his team-mate Max Verstappen, with Lando Norris sixth for McLaren.
Hamilton pipped Antonelli to sprint qualifying pole on Friday before the Italian reeled in the seven-time world champion to clinch victory in Saturday’s 17-lap dash.
The 41-year-old vowed to drag every bit of performance out of his Ferrari to keep up the fight with the man 22 years his junior as he set his sights on a second Silverstone pole of the weekend.
But nobody had the answer for the impressive Italian as he tamed Silverstone to strengthen his grip on the title race.
Russell qualified only fifth on Friday, before claiming fourth in the sprint.
His struggles continued early in qualifying as he understeered off the track at Luffield and was saved by the gravel as he only trundled lightly into the barriers, limping back to the pits to leave himself only one shot at making it through.
“That was very weird. I’ve never locked up there in my whole career,” Russell said over the radio.
Russell strung together a lap good enough to progress but Alpine’s Franco Colapinto was the second driver to have an adventure off the track in Q1 as he was one of six drivers eliminated.
The British driver improved in the second session as Antonelli led the way, with a shoot-out between Mercedes and Ferrari teed up for the final running.
Just 0.096 seconds separated Russell from Antonelli’s pace the first time around, but the Italian had more in hand and duly delivered it to pull over three tenths clear of his Mercedes team-mate.
Russell found no answer and was subsequently beaten by both Ferraris.
Norris gave his 16,000 strong ‘Landostand’ something to cheer by charging from sixth on the grid to finish third in the sprint.
The reigning champion, who won the race last year, could not offer such cheer a few hours later. He squeezed through Q2 in ninth but again was well off the pace, finishing almost eight tenths off the leader.
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