Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli reinforced his Formula 1 2026 championship lead with an assertive win in the British Grand Prix sprint race at Silverstone.

Home hero Lewis Hamilton had started from pole in the Ferrari, and controlled the early phase of the 17-lap contest - but ultimately had no answer to the race pace of the Mercedes and Antonelli.

The Italian had challenged him already off the line, but Hamilton covered off the attack into Abbey, then established an early buffer as Antonelli came under attack from the fast-starting McLaren of Lando Norris on the run to Copse.

Antonelli was back ahead on the Hangar straight, but with Hamilton a second clear at that point. Hamilton and Antonelli then established a massive buffer over third as the rivals behind squabbled for the final podium position.

But despite Hamilton's efforts in leading the breakaway, around five laps in Antonelli began to close in at speed - and on lap eight the move was done on the Hangar straight.

Hamilton briefly kept pace with Antonelli but had to settle for a second-place finish, 2.7s off the leader in the end - with a further seven seconds separating him and third place. 

Both McLarens - Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri - had got off to good starts, but only Norris could really make it count, fighting off George Russell in the early going and then being aided by Russell coming under attack from Max Verstappen's slow-starting Red Bull.

Though Russell was soon able to secure fourth, he ran out of time to mount another attack on Norris. It means he has dropped to 43 points back from Antonelli in the standings, with Hamilton another four back.

Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) took fifth ahead of Verstappen and Piastri.

A difficult opening lap for Isack Hadjar - which dropped him to 12th - opened the door for a 'midfield' car to score a point for eighth, and ultimately Liam Lawson picked up the slack for Racing Bulls.

After clearing Alpine's Pierre Gasly, Lawson aggressively fought off Hadjar into Stowe late on - prompting an accusation from Hadjar on team radio of "moving under braking" - and held on to eighth by seven tenths, though his defence of position is under investigation by the stewards.

Further down the order, there was contact between Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez early on - Alonso's Aston Martin tapped into a spin by Perez's Cadillac, and Perez forced to serve a 10-second penalty.