Ferrari has ended another drought in Formula 1 just three weeks after Lewis Hamilton took his first victory in a Rosso Corsa. Charles Leclerc won the British Grand Prix on Sunday, partly due to the SF-26’s genuine on-track speed and bad luck with the rest of the field. Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli was putting pressure on Ferrari during the closing laps of the race, but his charge was completely derailed by a front-left wheel shield failure. Compounding his mechanical failure at Barcelona, the teenage Italian’s points lead is melting before his eyes through no fault of his own.
It looked as if Antonelli would lose Sunday’s race. On Saturday, he won the sprint race and became the first Italian to qualify on pole at Silverstone since Alberto Ascari in 1953. However, his struggles with the race start reappeared. The Mercedes launched well out of the grid box, but had a poor second stint. As they turned the first corner into Abbey, both Ferraris got around Antonelli. Maranello’s chances at a 1–2 finish would be short-lived as race officials would later give Hamilton a five-second penalty for a false start.
Antonelli didn’t get a chance to win due to poor build quality
The decisive moment of the Grand Prix would come on lap 41 of 52. Antonelli began missing corner apexes, and he told the Mercedes pit wall that his car could no longer turn. The wheel shield inside his front-left tire folded on itself, jamming the suspension arms. The team believed the part failed as the championship leader overshot the Turn 9 exit curb. Antonelli fought back, but the damage could not be completely repaired. Despite falling out of the race for victory, the Italian refused to give up and hoped to salvage some points. He finished 15th. After the race, team principal Toto Wolff told Sky Sports F1, “But, you know, it’s on us. A car shouldn’t break down and I don’t think the ride was any worse than any of the earlier laps. He couldn’t turn it anymore.”
The issue that ended Antonelli’s chances 😖
A broken wheel shield 👀#F1 #britishgp pic.twitter.com/is08EJRV7B
– Formula 1 (@F1) 5 July 2026
Before the failure, Antonelli was rapidly closing the gap to Leclerc with a large tire offset. Mercedes’ victory in the British Grand Prix on the centenary was not guaranteed. The safety car was deployed on lap 46 after Max Verstappen crashed out of the race due to a rear wing failure. Red Bull’s Macarena wing failed to close completely like Verstappen’s crash in last week’s qualifying session in Austria.
This is what happened to Max 👇#F1 #britishgp pic.twitter.com/X1BMh6spR9
– Formula 1 (@F1) 5 July 2026
Despite race control saying that the safety car would be withdrawn before the final lap, the race was never restarted. according to espnThe FIA claims the message was caused by a software glitch. The race could not be restarted because the safety car could not legally be withdrawn on the same lap on which the lapped cars of the field opened themselves. The message was canceled eight seconds later, leaving the race under caution with Leclerc as the uncontested winner. With his second-place finish, George Russell is only 25 points behind his teammate Antonelli. One last historical milestone for the weekend: Leclerc’s victory was Ferrari’s 250th victory in Formula 1.
