Kimi Antonelli claims British Grand Prix pole at Silverstone, beating Leclerc and Hamilton

Kimi Antonelli takes pole at Silverstone

What happened? Kimi Antonelli secured pole position for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on Saturday, team officials confirmed after qualifying, finishing 0.175 seconds ahead of Charles Leclerc.

The 19-year-old Italian, who had already won the sprint race earlier the same day, produced a final lap nearly 0.3 seconds faster than his previous run to put his Mercedes out of reach of the field.

Lewis Hamilton qualified third in the second Ferrari, with team-mate George Russell in fourth, 0.370 seconds behind Antonelli.

Antonelli said he had been tense about running first on the last run but that the lap came together despite gusty winds affecting the circuit.

Russell suffered an early setback when he locked up and damaged his front wing at Luffield on his first lap, forcing a pit stop for repairs; he was unable to improve on his final run and described the session as frustrating due to an unexplained straight-line speed deficit.

Max Verstappen also reported a mystery straight-line speed problem that affected balance and battery usage, describing the issue as worsening lap time toward the end of runs.

Qualifying produced several notable results: Isack Hadjar outqualified Max Verstappen to take fifth, Lando Norris was sixth as McLaren cited straight-line and drag-related pace issues, and Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad reached Q3 to place ninth ahead of team-mate Liam Lawson.

Pierre Gasly qualified 12th but will start 15th after a three-place grid penalty for impeding Lance Stroll, applied by the stewards.

The top 10 from qualifying were: 1. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) 1:28.111; 2. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.175; 3. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.347; 4. George Russell (Mercedes); 5. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +0.635; 6. Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.766; 7. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.782; 8. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.921; 9. Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1.194; 10. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) +1.605.

The British Grand Prix is scheduled for 15:00 BST on Sunday, with live coverage on BBC Radio 5 Live and text updates via the BBC Sport website and app.