2026 British Grand Prix Sprint Review

Linus O'Howell
15 hours ago
3 min read

Kimi Antonelli Takes Maiden Sprint Win at Silverstone

Just like he did in Formula 2 two years ago, Andrea Kimi Antonelli scored his first-ever F1 Sprint victory around the Silverstone Circuit with a decisive overtake on Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton! Lando Norris managed to round out the Sprint Podium for McLaren, meaning the British crowd had multiple things to celebrate!

Way Too Easy

Lewis Hamilton got a good enough start to cover off Andrea Kimi Antonelli into Turn 1, whilst Max Verstappen dropped multiple places after a poor start! On the contrary, the two McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri got great starts, only for George Russell to pull off a fantastic move around the outside of both in as many corners! However, George clearly used a little bit too much energy, dropping back behind Norris as Verstappen was climbing his way back through the field! With heavy battling from P3 to P7, it allowed Hamilton and Antonelli to pull away out front, very much making it a 2-way battle for the win! Whilst Lewis defended well in the first sector, Kimi was easily able to breeze past midway through the Hangar Straight; a move that was just far too easy and anticlimactic! Personally, I’ve enjoyed these new cars, but this is definitely an example of what isn’t good with this new era of Formula 1! In the fight for the Podium, both Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri didn’t quite have enough pace to remain in the fight, whilst George Russell caught Lando Norris up pretty quickly after McLaren asked Lando to lift and coast in order to save enough fuel to finish the Sprint! The only other real thing of note in this Sprint was Isack Hadjar complaining about Liam Lawson for potentially moving under breaking in the battle for the final point! For me, I didn’t see an awful lot wrong with this!

The Highs and Lows of the Sprint

I’ve given out two 10’s for today’s Sprint, and the first one is obviously for Andrea Kimi Antonelli! After making mistakes in each of the first three Sprint Races in 2026, Kimi Antonelli didn’t put a foot wrong today, remaining in position at the start to eventually clear Lewis Hamilton to take the victory! The other driver I’ve given out maximum points to is Liam Lawson, as scoring a point in a Sprint with a midfield team is excellent work; Liam couldn’t have asked for anything more! I think Lando Norris also deserves a ton of praise, as I’m not sure many people would’ve expected him to end up on the Silverstone Sprint Podium given how yesterday went!

On the other end of the spectrum, I have actually given out a 1 for the 2026 British GP Sprint, and that is unfortunately for Sergio Perez! Sergio took out Fernando Alonso early on, with him having to pit whilst also receiving a 10-second time penalty! I don’t give out very many 1’s anymore, but this feels like a valid one!