Kimi Antonelli took pole position for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, edging Charles Leclerc by 0.175 seconds and leaving Lewis Hamilton third on the grid at his home event. Antonelli will start from pole for the fifth time this season after a final Q3 lap of 1m 28.111s.
The result set up Sunday’s British Grand Prix from a front row that now has Antonelli and Leclerc, while Hamilton has to settle for third after claiming Sprint Qualifying pole on Friday. George Russell qualified fourth, and Isack Hadjar was fifth ahead of Lando Norris, with the top 10 rounded out by Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson.
That shift mattered because Silverstone had already produced one sharp change of pace in the same weekend. Hamilton looked strongest in the sprint session, but Antonelli found more when it counted in Qualifying, and the gap at the front was small enough to keep the order live right through the final runs. Gabriel Bortoleto was just 0.032 seconds shy of Q3 and said it was “very, very gusty on the start-finish line,” a reminder of how little separated the midfield from the front when the wind picked up.
There was also movement further back. Pierre Gasly initially qualified 12th, then dropped to 15th after a three-place grid penalty for impeding Lance Stroll in Q1, which promoted Nico Hulkenberg to 12th. Esteban Ocon exited Q1 in 17th, and the stewards took no further action over an alleged failure to slow for single yellow flags. Franco Colapinto qualified 19th after a run off track at Becketts caused the yellow flags in that incident.
Sunday’s race will now run from the grid Antonelli earned on his last flying lap, with Hamilton forced to chase from third after a weekend that had already put him on the sprint pole. The front of the field is set, but Silverstone has already shown how quickly the balance can change when the pressure builds.
