Kimi Antonelli restores Mercedes’ title advantage after Spa win caps busy F1 month

Belgium July 17-19

Perspective is everything. Had you told Kimi Antonelli a few months ago that he would be concerned about a win drought lasting three grands prix, he’d likely have laughed. Such a period brought his closest rivals back into contention for the title. And then he won at Spa to extend his margin at the top of the points once again.

Antonelli planted his Mercedes on pole, with team-mate George Russell third. That left the Briton vulnerable as the field was pinched through the Les Combes complex on the opening lap, contact with Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari sidelining Russell from the race.

Antonelli led from Max Verstappen’s Red Bull and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. Then a virtual safety car for debris bought Leclerc a cheap pitstop – Antonelli and Verstappen had already pitted. Leclerc therefore held the lead, but Antonelli reeled him in and made the race-winning pass on the Kemmel Straight with 10 laps remaining.

Verstappen was third from Hamilton (who served a 5sec penalty for the Russell clash), Oscar Piastri, Isack Hadjar and Lando Norris.

1st Kim Antonelli Mercedes 1:24:42.479
2nd Charles Leclerc Ferrari +1.952sec
3rd Max Verstappen Red Bull +11.586sec

Mark Hughes’ Driver of the day

Isack Hadjar

A wonderful weekend-long performance from the Red Bull driver who knew going in that he would be starting from the back for multiple PU and component changes. Red Bull weaponised this as a Verstappen aid, giving Hadjar the role of towing Verstappen in Q3. He judged it perfectly, with a boost of 0.3sec putting Verstappen on the front row. On race day he used the early safety car to use both compounds of tyres and from there began a superb charge through the field which took him up to sixth place ahead of the fast-closing Lando Norris on much faster tyres. Keeping himself out of the 1sec boost range of Norris before the end required a series of hard and near-perfect laps – which he delivered. He was a massive asset to the team this weekend.

Great Britain July 3-5

Back in the 1970s, the British Grand Prix had a nasty habit of ending amid utter confusion owing to bungling officials. Half a century later we had the same scenario but, appropriately enough for the modern era, it was due to a software glitch.

Max Verstappen’s high-speed spin into the gravel at Stowe Corner, thanks to a failure of his Red Bull’s rear wing, had triggered the safety car with five laps remaining. You’d think that would leave ample time to extract the stricken car and restart the race. Ferrari certainly thought so, calling Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to the pits from first and second positions to have new soft-compound tyres fitted. Mercedes left George Russell out and, by the time the Ferraris emerged from the pitlane, Russell had managed to sneak past Hamilton into second place.

On lap 51 of 52 came the message that the safety car was ending. Surely Hamilton, on new soft Pirellis, would find Russell, on his ageing mediums, a sitting duck in the one-lap sprint to the flag. Not so. The message had flashed up in error. Leclerc, therefore, claimed a deserved first victory of 2026, with Russell a somewhat fortunate second ahead of Hamilton. Lando Norris was fourth from Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson.

Russell had been unlucky earlier in the race when, in the midst of a frenetic battle with Hamilton and Verstappen, he was forced to pit due to a slow puncture in the right-rear tyre. Much worse befell team-mate Kimi Antonelli. The championship leader, who had beaten Hamilton to victory in the sprint race, was hauling in leader Leclerc during the final stint when a deranged left-front wheel shield, damaged in a trip over the Copse Corner kerb, badly affected his steering. Two pitstops were made before the offending carbon-fibre was ripped away. To add insult to injury, Antonelli’s inability to steer led to a track-limits penalty, dropping him from ninth to 15th.

Driver of the day: Charles Leclerc
A major breakthrough after a difficult few races saw him finally getting to exploit the SF-26 fully and he was back to his best, qualifying on the front row just over 0.1sec off Antonelli’s Mercedes and then leading from the start. He was fighting what looked like a losing battle to Antonelli’s better tyre deg when the latter suffered a problem, leaving the way clear for Leclerc’s first win in two years at a crucial point in the season and in the balance of power with team-mate Lewis Hamilton. MPH

1st Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:27:11.335
2nd George Russell Mercedes +0.427sec
3rd Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +0.772sec

Aaustria JUNE 26-28

The frustrations were over. George Russell, without a grand prix win since the opener in Australia, was effectively never headed at the Red Bull Ring. But that’s not to say it was easy for the Mercedes driver.

Kimi Antonelli’s inability to keep his Merc on the track over the opening two laps left him mired in a battle with Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, and both lost out to the Red Bull of Max Verstappen. An extensive aero upgrade on the Red Bull was paying off, but Verstappen couldn’t properly clear Lewis Hamilton, feisty in his Ferrari, for the runner-up position until midway through their second stint, after a thrilling battle prior to their first pitstops.

As the Ferraris went backwards with tyre troubles, Verstappen closed in on Russell to the finish – with Antonelli catching Max. The trio were within 2sec at the flag. Oscar Piastri was fourth from Hamilton and Isack Hadjar.

Driver of the day: Oscar Piastri
In a McLaren without the pace of the two Mercedes or Verstappen’s Red Bull, Piastri kept the lead trio within sight for a long way into the race, taking very little from the tyres while holding down a relentless pace. The foundation to being in that position was his feisty opening lap battle with team-mate Lando Norris, thereby ensuring himself pitstop priority and the track position advantage that bought at the time. Cool, composed but ruthless when needed, it was Piastri at his best. MPH

1st George Russell Mercedes 1:26:37.979
2nd Max Verstappen Red Bull +1.611sec
3rd Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +1.986sec

MONTH IN NUMBERS

5
Consecutive GPs where Aston Martins have been the slowest two cars in qualifying

2.03sec
Racing Bulls gave Arvid Lindblad second fastest pitstop of the season in Austria

293
GP laps led by Kimi Antonelli in 2026. Next up? George Russell – way back on 146

218.4
Fastest speed trap figure in mph, courtesy of Lewis Hamilton in the British Grand Prix

8th
Position for Gabriel Bortoleto at Silverstone and Spa – Audi’s best yet in F1