Charles Leclerc delivered Ferrari’s 250th Formula 1 World Championship victory at Silverstone on Sunday, claiming his first win of the 2026 season at the very circuit where the Scuderia recorded its first victory 75 years ago, courtesy of José Froilán González in 1951. A dramatic late Safety Car, triggered by Max Verstappen spinning into the gravel at Stowe, froze the race before a restart could be arranged, leaving Leclerc to take the chequered flag ahead of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton in a Ferrari one-three finish.
Leclerc started from the front row alongside polesitter Kimi Antonelli and made a decisive move into Turn 1 at Abbey to seize the lead immediately, with Hamilton also jumping the Mercedes driver in the early corners to give Ferrari a temporary one-two. Leclerc pitted on lap 25, rejoining behind Antonelli before reclaiming the lead when the Mercedes driver made his own stop. Antonelli had looked capable of threatening for the victory, running long on his first stint and rejoining on fresher hard tyres to close rapidly on the Ferrari, but a front wheel shield failure suddenly crippled the Italian’s car, sending him into survival mode and handing the advantage back to Leclerc. Antonelli was subsequently handed a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits, dropping him to 16th in the final classification and leaving him without points for the second time in three races.
Hamilton’s eventful afternoon
Hamilton’s race proved considerably more complicated. A five-second penalty for moving before the start signal forced him to serve time during his lap 23 pit stop, dropping him into traffic and a battle with Russell and Verstappen. A puncture slowed the Mercedes driver, while Verstappen’s spin into the gravel at Stowe with six laps remaining brought out the Safety Car. Both Ferraris immediately pitted for soft tyres in anticipation of a restart, but the recovery of Verstappen’s car took longer than expected and the race was declared finished under the Safety Car. Hamilton crossed the line third, though he was subsequently called to the stewards for a yellow flag infringement — he was cleared and retained his podium position.
A historic milestone and a personal landmark
The win is Ferrari’s second of the season and moves the Scuderia to a landmark 250 victories in the Formula 1 World Championship. For Leclerc it is his first win since Austin in 2024 and his ninth career victory with Ferrari, drawing him level with Rubens Barrichello in eighth place on the team’s all-time winners’ list.
“I’m really proud of the work we have done as a team to get back on the top step of the podium,” Leclerc said. “Coming to Silverstone, we didn’t expect to be this competitive. We were much faster and closer to our competitors than we thought, and just as we analyse our data on challenging weekends, we also have to analyse our data on a strong weekend like this, to understand what really made that difference. We made some changes on my car between Saturday morning to the afternoon, and I got back the feeling I had been missing. This was confirmed in the race today and it just feels really good to take this win home for the team, after a tough few weekends. Thank you to the whole team at the track and back home in Italy for their hard work and dedication. Let’s try to stay on this path to keep bringing home results like this together.”
Full result
Leclerc took the chequered flag ahead of Russell in second, with Hamilton third for Ferrari. Lando Norris recovered from a difficult first lap to finish fourth for McLaren, with Isack Hadjar fifth for Red Bull. Verstappen did not finish, his spin at Stowe ending his afternoon in the points.
Formula 1 returns in a fortnight for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.
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Photo source: Scuderia Ferrari Media Centre