Banger British Grand Prix Ends With A Whimper

Perhaps I can at least thank Max Verstappen for the clarity. Before he ran his Red Bull car into the wall on the 49th of the Silverstone Circuit’s 52 laps, the British Grand Prix was shaping up to be too exciting to be coherent. It got off to an uncharacteristically slow start, yes, to the point where I wrote “first half shocking processional for silverstone” in my notes and was prepared to place some blame on the sprint format for the ongoing viewership woes. But shortly after, as though the race heard my complaint, it became, as Silverstone always is, one of the best races of the season.

Where to start? The feral drivers’ parade and their little LEGO minicars? The Verstappen–Lewis Hamilton–George Russell three-way battle for P3? The absurd multiple pass-repass sequences from former teammates Hamilton and Russell during that sequence? Russell’s poor luck with a slow puncture that took him out of the fight? What about the more one-sided squabble for the race win between Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari, who had never won at Silverstone, and Kimi Antonelli in a Mercedes, who was the quickest all weekend and set to win convincingly? And within that, what about Antonelli’s frightening pace during the race, until it all unraveled when he ran over a curb and the vibrations broke his car and he fought retirement to try to squeeze out just one more point for the Drivers’ Championship standings?

Well, Verstappen dictated that it is most narratively compact to start at the end. After Antonelli’s car had already given up, leaving Leclerc and Hamilton in a Ferrari 1-2, Verstappen pushed hard on new medium tires to try to close the gap to Hamilton ahead. On lap 49, he lost his car going into Stowe, and went into the gravel, drawing out the safety car. Verstappen was irate over the radio at his car, but in a more saddened, understated manner than previous rages. The last podium place went to Russell’s Mercedes, improving his championship hopes.

The gamble for every non-Verstappen driver was whether or not to pit for fresh tires. Verstappen’s car had gone off at an optimal point for quick retrieval and removal. But with only three laps to go, it was a coin flip for whether or not racing would resume in time. If racing were to resume, those who pit would be heavily advantaged on a restart; if racing were not to resume, giving up track position would mean effectively downgrading a place.

For Leclerc, pitting was a slam-dunk decision, with more than enough time to his teammate behind for it to be safe. But Ferrari was in the odd place of suffering from being ahead when it came to Hamilton, who didn’t quite have enough time to Russell for a safe stop. By comparison, Russell’s decision was much easier; whatever Hamilton would do, Russell would do the opposite. Ferrari ultimately gambled on the race resuming, and pit Hamilton for new soft tires, leaving him in P3 behind Russell.

And for two laps, it seemed as though Ferrari had made the correct decision. Verstappen’s car was hastily shuttled off the track, and the lapped cars were permitted to unlap themselves. As lap 51 wound down, the timing tower declared SAFETY CAR ENDING, and the Apple TV commentators were, as with spectators, frothing at the mouth for a final lap shootout. But then as the lap count ticked over, safety car driver Bernd Mayländer stayed out, and the display hastily reversed track. In a reverse Abu Dhabi 2021 situation, the safety car did not end at all. And somehow, yet again, Hamilton was on the wrong end of it.

This time, it was the slam-dunk correct decision. (One can imagine that Formula 1 and the FIA would have hammered out safety car legislation to avoid a repeat.) In the Sporting section of the 2026 F1 regulations, rule B5.13.5 explicitly states, “Unless the Race Director considers the presence of the Safety Car remains necessary, once the message “LAPPED CARS MAY NOW OVERTAKE” has been sent to all Competitors […] the Safety Car will return to the pits at the end of the following lap” (emphasis mine). Because the race was not able to restart, the race director ideally would have red-flagged and ended the race with the current order, though that would’ve proven as anti-climactic as the ultimate ending.

So Leclerc finally got his Silverstone win after multiple heartbreaks, Russell got to narrow the gap to his teammate even more, Hamilton got his home podium, and none of it felt quite as consequential or climactic as it could have. Formula 1, right? Sometimes an incredible race loses out on one of the best endings of all time because it was just one lap too short. Unlucky.

If there is one unifying theme of the 2026 edition of Silverstone, it is luck. Hamilton fought hard for a podium spot after a five-second penalty for race start infringement, and yet thanks to good luck (Antonelli’s retirement) and bad luck (no race restart) in equal measure, P3 somehow turned into a bit of a disappointment. Leclerc’s first race win since the United States Grand Prix in 2024 came thanks to a great qualifying lap, and a great race start, yes, but primarily because of a fortunate retirement. Not that that should nullify his excitement; he was so delighted with his victory that his engineer could barely get a word in after the race was over.

And think of poor Antonelli, who did not set a foot wrong all weekend yet did not come out of Sunday with a single point. The race win was his on merit. He put together an incredible first stint, taking only five seconds of time loss for 10 laps on old mediums. On new hard tires, he put in nearly a second to Leclerc in one sector. His pace was such that during a brief virtual safety car period, Leclerc, who was still running in P1, wondered if they shouldn’t just pit anyway, because his prospects otherwise weren’t looking so hot. That Antonelli’s car broke can be partially his fault; his driving style involves a lot of limit and a lot of curb, which ultimately led to the damage. But the safety car nullifying his attempt to squeeze out just one point this weekend—”I can try!” he desperately shouted to his race engineer, after it was highly suggested to him to retire—was just insult to injury.

If Antonelli seemed unusually blessed in the start of the season, the past few races have been a natural turnaround. There was baby’s first engine failure in Barcelona, and now a second brutal retirement at Silverstone. He built up such a cushion in the early stretch of the season that he still has a healthy 25-point lead over Russell. Or another way of thinking about that is that he is one more retirement away from dropping from the top of the standings.

Russell will take the victory. He was not so lucky for much of the race after all. In a slapstick moment during his fight with Hamilton and Verstappen, his race engineer informed him of a “slow puncture, right rear,” to which Russell replied, “Who, me?” Yes, him. He was forced to pit for new tires, dropping him firmly out of contention for the podium, until Verstappen retired from the race. And so, despite lacking on pace all weekend, Russell finished P2, gaining 18 points in the standings on his teammate.

In his post-race interview, Russell still had a sober outlook on his overall performance during the weekend. “If I’m being brutally honest, I’m not going to fight for a championship if my performances continue like that,” he said. He is correct. Then again, this is F1. You take any victory you can get, and especially the lucky ones.