Kimi Antonelli warns ahead of the Silverstone GP: “I’ve got two Ferraris hot on my heels”

Kimi Antonelli demonstrated his pace in the Grand Prix qualifying session at the Silverstone Circuit. The young Mercedes driver set the fastest lap at the crucial moment and, with a time of 1:28.111, secured pole position for the ninth race of the year. Afterwards, he explained: “I was a bit stressed because I never like being the first out on track when it comes to the final attempt, but the last lap was very clean.”

“Everything went to plan, even though the wind made it very tricky – it made everything more unpredictable. That’s why it feels even better to take pole,” the teenager explained. “We didn’t change the car; we found a good set-up and that helped me get through qualifying well,” he added.

Looking ahead to the race, the Mercedes star added: “It certainly won’t be easy; I’ve got two Ferraris hot on my heels, and they’ll definitely be working together. We also know they’ve got good pace, but our speed was good in the sprint too. I hope that will be the case in the Grand Prix as well and that we can have a good race.”

How qualifying went

Just as in Saturday morning’s sprint, the Grand Prix drivers were greeted by bright sunshine and warm temperatures at the start of qualifying. The thermometer read 24 degrees outside and 42.8 degrees on the track. The historic circuit in southern England filled up quickly, and it wasn’t long before the first lap times appeared on the board.

After seven minutes, the yellow flags were waved as George Russell skidded through the gravel trap at Turn 7 and made very light contact with the barriers, but was then able to return to the pits under his own power, where he was fitted with a new front nose. “That was really weird – I’ve never braked too hard there in my whole life,” the Briton radioed.

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At that point, Charles Leclerc was leading the timesheets ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli. And because Russell was able to drive back to the pits himself, the yellow flag period didn’t last long, and soon the GP stars were back out setting fast laps. One driver, however, had to be patient: Gabriel Bortoleto disappeared back into the pits after an untimed installation lap and didn’t return to the track until the fourth-last minute.

Strong lap from Isack Hadjar

Alongside the Brazilian, Franco Colapinto, Sergio Pérez, Valtteri Bottas, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll also needed to improve their times to make it through to Q2. And most of the drivers did head out again – so it got quite tight on the track. Pierre Gasly came under scrutiny from the stewards as he was suspected of having got in Lance Stroll’s way.

Isack Hadjar impressed with a new fastest lap, completing the 5.891 km circuit in 1:29.276, beating his team-mate Max Verstappen’s time by 0.273 seconds. Liam Lawson was also in top form, missing Hadjar’s fastest time by 24 thousandths. Leclerc, Nico Hülkenberg, Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Arvid Lindblad, Antonelli, Oscar Piastri and George Russell rounded off the top 10. The latter had managed to improve his time once more after going off the track.

Franco Colapinto had no chance, spinning off the track at Turn 12 before heading for the pits. He was therefore stuck in 19th place. Along with him, Esteban Ocon (17th), Valtteri Bottas (18th), Sergio Pérez (20th), Lance Stroll (21st) and Fernando Alonso (22nd) were among the first group to be eliminated. Ocon complained: “When Franco spun, the yellow flag was shown. I tried to ease off the throttle whilst losing as little time as possible. It still cost me two-tenths of a second, so it would have been enough to go through.”

Nico Hülkenberg eliminated in Q2

In the second qualifying segment, Hadjar was once again the faster of the two Red Bull Racing drivers; his team-mate was 0.044 seconds slower and described the situation over the radio as a “total disaster”. At the top of the timesheets were the two Ferrari drivers, Leclerc and Hamilton, ahead of the Mercedes duo of Russell and Antonelli, followed by the two Red Bull Racing drivers ahead of Piastri, Lindblad, Norris and Lawson.

Antonelli took the lead with his second attempt. His best time of 1:28.493 min was 0.133 sec faster than Leclerc’s previous benchmark. For Bortoleto, Gasly, Hülkenberg, Bearman, Sainz and Albon, who finished in positions 11 to 16, qualifying was over. It was particularly bitter for Bortoleto, who missed out on Q3 by just 36 thousandths of a second.

Question marks at McLaren

When asked where the pace had gone that the Woking-based GP cars had still been able to demonstrate in the sprint, McLaren CEO Zak Brown explained: “Apparently, we’ve got no speed.” Meanwhile, the British media were discussing the possibility of an all-British top three at the home race.

The conversation quickly turned back to the action on the track, as the first fast laps were soon being set in Q3. And after the first attempt, Antonelli was in the lead with a time of 1:28.385. Behind him, Russell, Hamilton, Leclerc, Hadjar, Verstappen, Piastri, Norris, Lindblad and Lawson took the remaining top-10 positions.

Finally, as usual, everyone stormed out of the pits almost simultaneously, and there was a near-collision between Lindblad and Piastri. The stewards took note of the incident. The final attempt brought some movement in the timesheets, though not at the top: Antonelli was delighted to secure pole position with a time of 1:28.111, a fact he immediately announced over the radio. Leclerc, Hamilton, Russell, Hadjar, Norris, Verstappen, Piastri, Lindblad and Lawson rounded off the top 10.